May 4, 2006
Mac's Exposed Core

Here we go again. When Microsoft said it wasn't going to make the fall release of the consumer version of Vista, I knew we'd see delays in the enterprise and commercial editions. Sure enough, that's exactly what Gartner is predicting.

When all is said and done, Vista could be the thing that haunts Microsoft down the line -- more than five years in development, numerous delays, countless revisions and untold promises that will never be fulfilled. The mistake Microsoft made so many years ago was raising expectations to the point where we, the resellers and users of the ill-famed operating system, believed it would vanquish all of our ills and change our lives for the better. Vista will have plenty of bells and whistles, but I'm adjusting my expectations.

What's more curious is that in the time Microsoft has spent building and rebuilding Vista, the world and its priorities have changed. When the plans for Vista (once called Longhorn) were unwrapped, fixing the OS's security problems was the top priority. Now, media enablement, virtualization and 64-bit computing are in vogue. And the business model continues to change. In 2002, Google was still a flickering light on the Microsoft radar; now it's a full-blown threat. Ubiquitous broadband is making remote and grid computing more feasible. And Microsoft, in looking to its future, is rapidly transforming itself from a software company to a media conglomerate.

Take this nugget of intelligence: While CTO Ray Ozzie was leading a retreat of Microsoft's best and brightest on the company's technology future, CEO Steve Ballmer was in La-La-Los Angeles wooing companies such as Nestle. Microsoft is moving beyond just providing software as a service and advanced, sponsored search engines to media production. So Microsoft will be producing online content, such as mini-sitcoms and dramas, to attract a new class of online audience. In the not-too-distant future, we'll have more Microsoft-produced entertainment than software. Need proof of this model? Just look down the road to the marriage of Apple and iTunes; it works!

The day will come when Vista does hit the shelves -- although I won't hazard a guess on when that will be -- and it will be a significant event for Microsoft, its channel partners and Windows users. But, as Microsoft continues to evolve its priorities and business model, we should all be asking ourselves how we'll fit into the Microsoft multimedia world.

What do you think? Share your thoughts with me; shoot me an e-mail: lwalsh@cmp.com.

May 1, 2006
Apple's Increasingly Exposed Core

I used to chuckle at Mac users whenever they said their computers were more secure than Windows-based machines. They were under the illusion of immunity because, historically, Macs are rarely infected with viruses.

Well, the joke is on them. Today, the SANS Institute will release its biannual Top 20 vulnerability list, which catalogues the most severe holes in our IT infrastructures. Last year, the security research and training outfit added Mac OS X to the list of vulnerable operating systems. Today, it is adding Safari, the premier Mac Web browser. And, to add a little icing to the cake, the number of Mac vulnerabilities discovered in 2005 nearly doubled over the previous year.

So much for invincibility.

Granted, these numbers pale in comparison to the number of Windows vulnerabilities, which tallies in the tens of thousands. In fact, for the first quarter of 2006, there were nearly 1,600 vulnerabilities discovered across all of the major computing platforms, according to Carnegie Mellon's CERT Coordination Center.

What's changed? The easy and most obvious answer is Apple's switch to Intel-based machines. Now that you can run Windows on Mac hardware, you're open to some of the same attacks as Windows. Perhaps, but the processor switch is still too new to have such a dramatic impact. Some even say that the risk of the dual boot is far less than what some security pundits claim.

Blame the iPod for Macs' increasing vulnerability to hackers and viruses. The runaway popularity of the MP3 devices has rekindled consumer and corporate interests in the Macintosh computing platform. During the past three years, Apple's notebook and desktop sales have had healthy increases after years of stagnation. The result is a larger deployment base, which also means a larger target for digital malcontents.

Again, Windows has been attacked 1,000 times over because the code base of Windows NT, 98, 2000 and--to a lesser degree--XP and Server 2003 have more holes in them than George Bush's rationale for going to war with Iraq. But part of what made Windows a target of opportunity is its large deployment base--300 million machines worldwide.

When viruses and worms like LoveLetter, Code Red and Nimda struck Windows machines, they raced around the world at lightning speed. The network of vulnerable machines was so large that these malware writers could watch their creations wreak havoc in real time. This is an important consideration for these dark geeks living in their mother's basements. The digital underground is a meritocracy, at least for the earlier portion of the decade. Hackers earned their stripes by the size and scope of their exploits. If they release a virus and no one sees it, they don't earn points.

There have been examples of viruses that target Linux and Mac operating systems and applications, but they've had little impact because there simply weren't enough available targets to make users feel pain. Some hackers would argue they tried writing exploits for Mac because it was a greater challenge than Windows. But their efforts fell short because, again, no one could really see or--dare I say--appreciate their malicious achievements.

During the past couple of years, the modus operandi of the digital underground has changed from the demonstration of technical prowess. Hackers want access to your machines so they can steal identities, credit-card numbers, access credentials and more. Mac users have money, too (we know this because Macs also cost a little more than many Wintel machines), so why shouldn't they share in the threat?

So Mac users, welcome to the Windows Club. As you continue to add to your ranks, you will find yourself an increasingly larger target of opportunity for hackers, virus writers and security critics. Enjoy!

NEXT: April blog entries