[Linux-aus] tingilinde: monocultures

[Leon Brooks]

    http://tingilinde.typepad.com/starstuff/2003/08/monocultures.html

    This standardization has allowed for reductions in cost of
    hardware, perhaps in software (although that is debatable) and
    in training. Unfortunately it has turned our society into a
    computational monoculture with many critical elements of
    society - government, finance, police, fire, military,
    transportation, healthcare, etc etc being made vulnerable to
    the threats that monocultures face.

    Even if operating systems and applications packages were
    equally secure, the version that enjoys monopoly is inherently
    more vulnerable - studies in the biological world indicate
    that this vulnerability is non-linear -- a system that has 5%
    market penetration is much safer than a simple ratio (95/5)
    would suggest.

    [...]

    If you are a home user or small organization with only a few
    computers, using something other than the dominant software
    and OS will give you enormous protection. If you have more
    machines and or a robustness requirement, you may wish to
    consider a mix of operating systems (nothing that the safest
    mix would exclude the dominant OS). Publicly held businesses
    should be required to show how diverse their infrastructures
    are (perhaps on their Form 10-Qs) and let investors decide
    where their investments should be made.

    This is not Microsoft bashing - if Linux or OS X were at the
    number one position, the same would apply to them. 

Cheers; Leon

-- 
http://cyberknights.com.au/     Modern tools; traditional dedication
http://plug.linux.org.au/       Committee Member, Perth Linux User Group
http://slpwa.asn.au/            Committee Member, Linux Professionals WA
http://linux.org.au/            Committee Member, Linux Australia