======================================================================== SECURITY ADVISER: P.J. CONNOLLY http://www.infoworld.com ======================================================================== Wednesday, November 24, 2004
Network protection commentary by: P.J. Connolly DUMPING MICROSOFT ISN'T ALWAYS PRACTICAL By P.J. Connolly Posted November 19, 2004 3:00 PM Pacific Time November reminds us that reality is a cold and windy state. ADVERTISEMENT -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- The Enemy in Your In-box: Perimeter Email Strategies that Will Work Join experts from Network World, Meta Group and Proofpoint for this new, on-demand webcast as they identify the top 10 concerns for email managers and action steps to address them. http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A1B60D:2B910B2 -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Earlier this month, I discussed the links between social engineering and spyware. Peter Jespersen, technology architect at Nike, wrote in to advocate his "straightforward technology fix": In short, dump Microsoft. Specifically, lose ActiveX, Internet Explorer, and Outlook. As one may recall, that's more or less what my homilies on "Why your next PC should be a Mac" lead to. But that's not terribly realistic, is it? I can't be the only person who remembers that IE is so inextricably intertwined with Windows that removing it completely is impossible. Even if one installs Firefox and makes it the default browser, end-users still need IE to access important services such as Windows Update. Granted, many corporate shops have their own patch-deployment scenarios that don't use Windows Update or the soon-to-be-retired Software Update Services. But that leaves an overwhelming majority of Windows users dependent on these prerolled solutions. I'm still using Outlook as a personal e-mail client, and why not? I have more than seven years' worth of mail, contacts, and notes to myself that I really don't have time to triage. On top of that, my "anti" software -- that's anti-virus, anti-spam, and whatever else is in the box -- works pretty well with Outlook. But the day after it's released, I'm gong to figure out whether Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0 plus my preferred "anti" package can download my mail from multiple POP accounts to my obsolescent-though-well-within-spec Windows box without barfing. This is what I and others refer to as the "tyranny of the installed base." Although I'm not emotionally locked in, getting out requires more concentration than I can muster at this time -- and this comes from someone whose press releases proclaim him to be an expert. This is also why I face such an uphill battle with Her Majesty, Support Customer No. 1 (that's Mom, to the rest of the family). I missed a great opportunity to get her off Windows when her hard drive croaked this summer, and it may be another year before I can spare the time to replace her Pavilion with a Mac. Yes, my loved ones and I are in the position of the cobbler's children who run around barefoot in winter. But these compromises should be second nature to anyone in IT. After all, we don't deploy perfect systems; we deploy what's available and within our budget. Microsoft created much of the problem when Bill Gates and his underlings insisted that integration at the expense of security was good enough to ship. But the cold and windy landscape isn't entirely Microsoft's doing, and it's not a result of global warming, either. Brrr. P.J. Connolly is a senior analyst at the InfoWorld Test Center. ======================================================================== Ever wonder how others keep up with web services? Your peers will tell you, although your competitors probably won't. This is how more than 63,000 people keep up with the fast-moving news about web services: the Web Services Report newsletter. Scan its quick summaries of the week's biggest news in web services, then move on or click through for the full story. It may not be the only way to keep up with web services, but it's the easiest. Subscribe at http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A1B609:2B910B2 ADVERTISE ======================================================================== For information on advertising, contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] UNSUBSCRIBE/MANAGE NEWSLETTERS ======================================================================== To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your e-mail address for any of InfoWorld's e-mail newsletters, go to: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A1B60A:2B910B2 To subscribe to InfoWorld.com, or InfoWorld Print, or both, or to renew or correct a problem with any InfoWorld subscription, go to http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A1B60C:2B910B2 To view InfoWorld's privacy policy, visit: http://newsletter.infoworld.com/t?ctl=A1B60B:2B910B2 Copyright (C) 2004 InfoWorld Media Group, 501 Second St., San Francisco, CA 94107 This message was sent to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
