Remember Dan Geer? He was part of a group of security experts who published a paper that warned that Microsoft’s overwhelming software dominance is bad for our country, and the computer industry as whole.
Mr. Geer, who had been working for @stake Inc., was fired for his efforts, but his push to promote a more diverse computing infrastructure has, at least, gained the ears and thoughts of other computer security experts. According to Wired News, the subject is getting serious consideration from nearly every corner of the industry because of Mr. Geer, including Microsoft. From the Wired News article:
Geer insists there’s been a silver lining to his dismissal. Once it was discussed on Slashdot and other online forums, the debate about Microsoft’s ubiquity gained in prominence.
"No matter where I look I seem to be stumbling over the phrase ‘monoculture’ or some analog of it," Geer, 53, said in a recent interview in his Cambridge home.
In biology, species with little genetic variation — or "monocultures" — are the most vulnerable to catastrophic epidemics. Species that share a single fatal flaw could be wiped out by a virus that can exploit that flaw. Genetic diversity increases the chances that at least some of the species will survive every attack.
"When in doubt, I think of, ‘how does nature work?’" said Geer, a talkative man with mutton chop sideburns and a doctorate in biostatistics from Harvard University.
The article goes on to reveal how the ideas Geer had been promoting have been taking root in the commercial and government sectors. You can find the full article at Wired News.
The Mac Observer Spin:
As companies and government agencies upgrade their current IT infrastructure, while simultaneously recovering from the latest digital viral and worm infestation, any idea that can add a reasonable measure of security against such infestations might be taken far more seriously.
There could even be a cascade effect: Some CIOs might buy one or 2 ‘Test’ servers and desktops of systems based on something other than Microsoft products to see how well they integrate. During the next virus outbreak, these CIOs find that the new systems were unaffected, and so they buy more. Changes won’t happen over night, and Microsoft doesn’t yet have much to worry about, but change is happening.