On Friday, October 15, 2004, Jim Burnham wrote: > While the Macintosh OS is not exactly a "new" technology (more a "niche" > technology unfamiliar to the majority of computer users), I feel that > the Mac OS is a valuable 'tool' for helping protect both businesses and > individuals from the flood of cyber-attacks that they have to deal with > every day. Perhaps the donors, rather than spending huge amounts of > money on virus protection, training, and recovery of systems and > networks once they are attacked, should help developing countries > purchase Macintosh's. The initial up-front cost differential (Macs tend > to be more expensive than PC's) will be more than made up for by the > considerable savings in support.
Both MacOS and GNU/Linux, unfamiliar through lack of hands-on exposure to the majority of computer users, are largely immune to cyber-attacks (I use MacOS myself, and am attempting to get savvy enough to use GNU/Linux) but this is (mostly) not because of superior technology. Arguably, the donors should spend more money promoting GNU/Linux, which is Open Source and mostly Free Software, thus reducing the cost of acquisition tremendously. Support for most users is also free (note the difference between capitalisations), and collaborative, which is good for society in general. Computers themselves are a niche technology, unfamiliar to and remote from the lives of the vast majority of humans on this planet (I can't ;-) speculate about the humans who live off-planet). Yet their influence is undeniable. It behooves us to seek ways to ensure that this impact is mostly good, rather than mostly bad or mostly unknown, for that matter. Creators of cyber-attacks follow the principle of low hanging fruit, and therefore over 90 per cent of personal computer users who run MS Windows are usually at risk from such attacks. Cyber-attacks are a societal problem, and creating laws and battalions of cyber-savvy law enforcement agencies is merely fire-fighting, not getting to the root of the problem. The Net itself is global, while different countries have different levels of openness and attitudes to law making and enforcement. No single rule will fit all, I fear. -- Vickram ------------ This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by the dot-ORG USAID Cooperative Agreement, and hosted by GKD. http://www.dot-com-alliance.org provides more information. To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd For the GKD database, with past messages: http://www.GKDknowledge.org
