[SLL] Linux Comes out on top in Workstation Security Contest, apparently...

[Bill Campbell]

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008, Xeno Campanoli wrote:
>Lee Colleton wrote:
>>Saying that Linux is "unhackable" is misleading. 
>
>I was also concerned that the Linuxes may have been treated lightly 
>because they were less interesting as targets.  I saw nothing hinting to 
>this explicitly, but it would be interesting to ask the participants. 
>One of the biggest criticisms of Linux security is that it doesn't get 
>hit because it isn't as interesting to crackers, and wouldn't tend to 
>result in as much press to someone succeeding.  I don't think this is 
>completely a balanced argument, but I do think it is a legitimate one 
>sometimes or to a certain extent, and that it's a healthy reason to not 
>rest on ones' laurels.

Nick Petreley addressed this well in this article:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/security/security_report_windows_vs_linux/

>> There were other easier
>>targets available.
>
>Yes, but it's a matter of organic advertising, if you will.  Linux is 
>quickly turning into the long predicted better choice for workstations. 

Linux will only become a better choice for workstations when things Just
Work(tm) without hassle over codecs, drivers, and general
interroperability.  Linux is better today in most respects than Windows,
but it has a long way to go to catch up with Apple for desktop applications
for most users.

Apple's main strength for most desktop uses is that they provide the
desktop applications in iLife and iWork that are good enough for all but
the serious professionals with easy integration of iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie,
iDVD, etc.  There are excellent tools for people doing professional work
such as Final Cut Studio, Aperture, and all the Adobe software.

Alan Cooper in his book, ``The Inmates are Running the Asylum: Why High
Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How to Restore the Sanity'', goes into
depth on the importance of design in human computer interaction, and why
the software development process generally is very poor at this.  He says
that the only company truly designing systems for people to use is Apple.
Far too little of the business application software I've seen over the
years has been designed by people familiar with how the business actually
runs, but is written to make life easy for the developers.

Bill
--
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