steve.clarke.weblog

Ok, I admit it. I allowed a Slashdot article to get me riled up again, even after my post yesterday.

This time they pointed to a story on Yahoo! called "Is There Any Reason To Buy Microsoft Anymore?" I won't comment on the reasons why I disagree with the basis of the article; the problem I have with the story is in this statement:

"Almost everything enterprises once found unique to Microsoft they can now find somewhere else -- without some of the baggage that comes with Microsoft purchases, like ongoing security concerns and mystifying licensing practices."

I agree with the fact that there are lots of alternatives. That's fine.
I agree with the comment about the mystifying licensing (at times).

But to suggest that if you buy anything besides Microsoft software that you won't have any ongoing security concerns?

I see this myth spread surprisingly often by technology journalists. You'd think that if you buy Linux or Oracle or any other ABM (Anything But Microsoft) software you can just throw away your firewall and never touch your systems again. This is a dangerous myth to propagate because no software is secure. Explain the almost daily emails I get from Red Hat pointing me to security patches. Of course I get my share of security alerts from Microsoft as well, but that's not the point...

The point is this; all software has security issues and if you're not aware that there will always be "ongoing security concerns" with any software you use, you shouldn't be in the business.

Buy ABM software, but don't do it because you want to avoid security issues.