The Eternal

In fairness to Microsoft's OS, I'll go on record that Mac OS X and Linux (and VMS, and, and, and...) are all pretty open to attack. (pwn2own 2011 demonstrated that neither Safari nor IE 8 have what it takes to stop a technically advanced attacker.) However, Microsoft's approach of tightly integrating applications (e.g., Internet Explorer, Microsoft Office) with the base OS cause vulnerabilities in the application to have a deeper impact than - from a security design perspective - they should. Apple seems to have followed this path with OS X/Safari, as well, although I haven't yet seen any data yet that indicates they integrate their productivity or home user software packages into the base OS. And this deep integration, while making a lot of things nifty and helpful for end-users, also reduces security. Which is why I regularly recommend that people use a) a browser that is not manufactured by their OS vendor, and that supports ad-blocking features, whether natively or via plugins, and b) application software that does not tightly integrate with the OS. In reality, however, most people just use what's there. Security is hard.

Tholia wrote:Windows is the safest and most secure commercial operating system on the planet.

References, please?

{And please understand - my intention is neither to incite nor to attack; I am an engineer, and the data I have from decades in the computer industry drive my positions. That said, I am an engineer, and realize that my data may be outdated, minunderstood, or misinformed, and so am always happy to receive new data (Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard, be evil! ) and - where warranted - change my positions.}

here's an article about the guy that won a string of pwn2own contests on apple hardware/software.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0412/ ... iller.html

I do remember another interview where he did state IE had the same flaws but they actually hide where the data goes compared to apple so it's harder to implement in a windows environment.

Atelo wrote:As for making Facebook work, the only two needed approval for me are Facebook.com and Fbcdn.net (for Canada).

hehehe. fbcdn is facebook content delivery network, not facebook canada

Bees wrote:hehehe. fbcdn is facebook content delivery network, not facebook canada

Either way, it's required to make facebook work. They run half their scripts off that site.