How NOT To Do American National Security

A fellow security blogger,
Michael Farnum, has posted a piece that I felt compelled to respond to. In
the post
he essentially complains that most of the pro-pc/anti-mac commentary he
reads at Computerworld get modded down, while the pro-mac/anti-pc stuff he
sees usually gets modded up.

He goes on to write:

I can help you, Michael. The problem is that just as some Mac fanboys are
too rabid about loving their Macs, you’ve become too emotional as well — but
in the opposite direction.

The fact is that there are extremely compelling reasons to be using a Mac
instead of a PC — especially if you’re in information security. OS X is more
stable, more secure (the reasons why is a separate discussion) and gives you
access to UNIX power and great package management systems all from a highly
usable GUI. These are the reasons people love it.

Look at
Jeremiah Grossman. Look at
Marty Roesch. Do you think they are silly fanboys on a bandwagon? Hell, just go
to any serious security conference and see what most of the speakers are
using. In the vast majority of cases it’s OS X or Linux. Most high-end
security guys that I know who use Windows have to do so because of
where they work, and they’re pissed about it.

There’s a reason for that.

Seriously, man, don’t be emotional about it. I agree the fanboy frenzy is
annoying at times, but the reactions you’re seeing are actually powered by
truth. Spend a month using OS X exclusively and see if you don’t agree.: