Re: Macs in Astronomy Updated; Canon 20D under Mac & Windows

From: Chris L Peterson (clp_at_alumni.caltech.edu)
Date: 03/01/05 

Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 22:52:31 GMT

On Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:21:53 -0500, Davoud <star@sky.net> wrote:

>Maybe you do get it just a litte bit. But it still turns back to "a
>properly configured Windows installation." There's got to be something
>fundamentally wrong when millions of computers under the control of
>expert IT managers are improperly configured, allowing destructive
>viruses and malware to install themselves.

Yes, there is something fundamentally wrong. The OS has been in the past
(and still is to some extent) misconfigured in its default state. All
I'm saying is that this says nothing about the OS security itself. I
could easily configure OS X to be insecure, and I could do it to someone
who wouldn't realize there was even a problem. The difference is that OS
X needs to be configured into insecurity, and XP needs to be configured
into security. That just shows that MS hired some idiot (or idiots) to
manage security. But still, the problem is with the defaults, not with
the OS itself. I don't need any third-party products to make Windows XP
secure.

> You say that it's not the
>fault of the OS, it's the fault of users who don't know how to
>configure the OS -- IT professionals and grandmas alike, with you being
>the sole exception, the world's only Windows user who deploys no
>defensive software, yet has never encountered malware.

No, I say it is the fault of the deployment scheme. I have a secure
environment set up at the small school whose network I manage (only
about 20 stations). Nor am I the only person who thinks antivirus
software is a cure that is worse than the disease. I don't do anything
extraordinary to prevent infection, other than the obvious- maintaining
a firewall, blocking HTML email, and providing warning on executable
attachments.

> I say there's
>something wrong with the OS.

And I disagree. I know from experience that the OS is secure, if
correctly configured. The configuration issue is absolutely a problem,
but I wouldn't say with the OS.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

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