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All
Mac Considered
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Short
Takes (10/25/02)
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© 10-25-02 Joe C. Carson
It might just be me, but it is looking like the media
is tending towards mostly bad news reports about the
high tech sector, and about the computer industry
in particular. Then again, the reportage might just
be the result of a serious flaw that the media has...
the tendency to replace true journalistic pieces with
flashy pseudo-news items based mostly on news directors'
efforts to grab attention by leaning towards the bad
news fashion du jour. Being a Macintosh user,
I have seen Apple as the target of a lot of this over
the past 20 or so years. Apple has always been the
safe company to lambaste... the facts be damned. However,
for once perhaps I shouldn't get too upset when it
it portions of the Wintel Hegemony that get targeted.
After all, the bigger the institution the more tempting
it is for the media to turn it into a target. Apple
is looking like too small a target by comparison.
Microsoft is a much bigger and easier target.
Lets take a look at a few juicy news items...
Windows Closed At UCSB
What goes around, comes around...
On October 10, the Macintosh oriented help site OSXFAQ.com
posted an article by Thomas Vincent, "UC
Santa Barbara Bans Windows 2k/NT In Student Dormitories
- Hell Yes !!" that told an interesting story.
It seems that the University of California at Santa
Barbara has banned the use of Windows in the dormitories.
The IT staff at UCSB posted a notice of the ban at
the school web site.
"We have to consider the overall health of our
network when dealing with vulnerable operating systems,
virus protection, and network security threats."
-- UCSB Staff notice
Although they do concede that it is theoretically
possible to secure Windows machines, at least in a
controlled environment, that is not likely to be the
case for students in the dormitories. Therefore to
protect the University computer network from DDoS
attacks, hacker invasions, and general computer mayhem,
it was deemed necessary to ban Microsoft operating
systems with their inherent insecurity.
This move does not bode well for Microsoft, considering
the increasing string of security failures of Microsoft
operating systems, server software and desktop software.
Even the Gartner
Group (IT analysts) says Microsoft is not taking
security seriously. Microsoft might dispute that considering
that they issue a security patch on the average of
one very six days or so... but that would only serve
to highlight the failure of Microsoft to design a
secure operating system or secure server software.
One of the problems that any mixed computer network
has is that if the system is mostly secure, as are
almost any Unix based systems such as Mac OS X, the
inclusion of a single insecure system (such as Windows
- any flavor) compromises the entire system. It is
through the one insecure Windows computer that a hacker
gains entry to wreak havoc on the otherwise secure
system.
I do confess to having trouble feeling sorry for
the Wintel Weenies at UCSB who now have to suffer
the fate they so often tried to inflict upon their
fellow students who happen to be Mac users.
Dell Dude To Seek Gainful Employment?
An anonymous Reuters copywriter obviously could not
contain him or herself and asked the rhetorical question,
"Dude, are you getting a pink slip?"
The article "Is
'Dell dude' Steven done for?" indicates that Dell
may be dropping the Dell Dude series of commercials.
It seems that Dell is getting a little concerned over
the dumb airhead image they are getting from their
Dell Dude ad campaign. Dell wants to move to a somewhat
less undignified image. I don't know why, after all...
the Dell Dude and his airheaded ways pretty much sums
up Dell's computers. On the other hand, the airhead
Dell Dude has been replaced with newbie Dell interns
who always seem to be asking the wrong questions.
I wonder if that is really an improvement or not?
The agent for New York University student Ben Curtis
who plays the Dell Dude has publicly denied that he
is being dropped from Dell's advertising campaign,
although some rumblings from Dell seem to indicate
that Ben Curtis may actually have to go out and get
a real job now. I shudder to think of what he may
actually have majored in at NYU. It certainly wasn't
acting or diction.
Microsoft Fakery Exposed... Again!
Oops!
Okay, Microsoft has done it again. Not satisfied
with showing a poorly faked video to a judge as trumped
up evidence at the DOJ vs. Microsoft trial, then claiming
to have mail-in support ... from dead people... and
then sending testimonials to potential political supporters
from people paid to send in conveniently provided
form letters, etc... now Microsoft's very own switcher
ad campaign has joined the long list of fakery and
fraud Microsoft is prone to employing.
Posters at Slashdot.org
noticed that something was wrong with Microsoft's
anti-Apple switcher campaign. The picture of the purported
switcher was a stock image from from GettyImages.com
and the switcher in the ad did not exist. You can
get a sample of how the Slashdot posters reacted to
discovering the fakery here in a posting by "Pudge",
"Microsoft
Tries a "Switch" Campaign". Being mostly Unix
and Linux geeks, the Slashdot crowd seemed to revel
in Microsoft's discomfort.
"Who was that mysterious Windows user?"
-- Ted Bridis
Ted Bridis of the Associated press, being a good
reporter, got wind of the Slashdot postings and did
some digging to find out who this imaginary switcher
really was. He revealed what he found in his article
"Microsoft
zaps Mac attack ad; Shoreline woman is mystery convert".
Who was she? Well Bridis discovered that the mysterious
switcher to Win XP away from Mac (or so she claimed...)
was none other than Valerie Mallinson. Ms. Mallinson,
who far from being a "freelance writer" (as the Microsoft
anti-Apple ad claimed...), was in fact an employee
of the ad firm, Wes Rataushk & Associates, employed
by Microsoft to run their ad campaigns.
Sadly, the links to the phony switch ads at Microsoft
are now dead. Microsoft has pulled the fake ads. Even
the mentioned Google.com
cache is now expired and dead. I think the embarrassment
was a bit much, even for Microsoft execs.
Not only did Ms. Mallinson falsely claim to be a
freelance writer, the text of the faked ad implied
several falsehoods, as pointed out by David Pogue
in his article, "Ad
Campaign Leaves Pie on Microsoft's Face", posted
for October 19, 2002 at the New
York Times web site. Free registration
is required.
"AppleWorks pales in comparison to Microsoft
Office XP. There's no equivalent for the versatility
of Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint."
Umm... didn't Ms. Mallinson ever notice that Microsoft
Office for the Mac exists complete with Word, Excel
and PowerPoint? If she had reallly ever been a Mac
user she would have known this.
"Internet Explorer 6 does more for me than Netscape
Navigator ever did...I can name and organize my
Favorites any way I want."
Ummm... once again she (the imaginary switcher) failed
to notice that Internet Explorer is also a Mac product
as well. She also failed to note that Netscape Navigator,
Like MSIE, also permits naming and organizing bookmarks.
In fact Navigator invented this capability
long before MSIE ever existed!
If I tried telling that many lies in business I would
be in jail! Why is it that no one prosecutes Microsoft
for their chronic false advertising? I guess it's
the old rule... "Money talks", and Microsoft
has a lot of money to convince a lot of people in
positions of authority to look the other way.
- Joe
Carson
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