Posted on 05/04/2004 7:30:34 PM PDT by Leroy S. Mort
Security Update 2004-05-03 for Mac OS X 10.2.8 "Jaguar" and Mac OS X 10.2.8 Server
· AppleFileServer: Fixes CAN-2004-0430 to improve the handling of long passwords. Credit to Dave G. from @stake for reporting this issue.
DUH!
As an IT director for many years, I hired security firms and as a consultant, I still recommend security firms to my clients, who have larger tasks than I can handle, alone. As such, if a security firm can't see that the fact that Apple released these patches before a single system had been compromised, is far more important than the wording of the release, then they would have to go on my flake list.
In fact, companies whose only focus is security, have a vested interest in criticizing Macs. After all, if the market were to shift even a little it toward Macs, a lot of them would go out of business, for lack of work. Since one of my several specialties, as an IT consultant, is security issues, I would be one who would be adversely affected by a market shift toward Macs. But, since the most lucrative part of my business is UNIX server related, I'm not afraid to admit that there is a better system out there than Microsoft [anything]. In fact, my email tag line reads, "Microsoft: (n) job security for IT consultants."
Another thing to consider, is that according to a survey that was done last year, Mac users are much more likely to keep their systems updated, than PC users. This was true for both business and personal users. In fact, I recall that the article pointed out that since so many personal WinTel users run bootlegged copies of Microsoft [?], it is even more likely that they do not keep their systems updated. The reason cited by most "registered" Microsoft users, for not keeping their systems up-to-date, was the fact that Microsoft patches are as likely to cause new problems, as to fix old ones. Mac users, by contrast, had no such fears.
What it comes down to is that the real difference in Macs and WinTel is that if a WinTel user keeps his system as up-to-date as possible, he still needs a barrage of security tools to keep his system safe from viruses, worms and hackers, because of the shoddiness of the Microsoft code, while the similarly updated Mac user has no such need, since OSX is much more stable to start with. Then, when you add in the fact that Mac users are much more likely to keep their systems updated, you can understand why the only reason why a Mac user might have anti-virus software, is as a courtesy to his WinTel challenged contacts, so he doesn't accidentally forward an infected attachment to them, that did not affect his system.
The reason cited by most "registered" Microsoft users, for not keeping their systems up-to-date, was the fact that Microsoft patches are as likely to cause new problems, as to fix old ones. Mac users, by contrast, had no such fears.
Here are some random comments from Apple users on a recent security update:
Version: 2004-02-23, 2/24/2004 08:07AM PST "Be careful! Seems like Apple's issued yet another flawed update. I spent about an hour trying everything to boot after installing this, trying everything. Couldn't even boot to a CD! Finally, tried rebooting with the mouse held down and it worked. Come on Apple! You're getting just like Quark & that other platform."
"I had to perform a complete reset of my Graphite Base Station with my ethernet crossover cable after installing this update and rebooting. My base station was locked up after the installation. Everything seems fine, now."
"FYI: I couldn't connect to anything after installing this update. My DSL & 56k could not authenticate (even software update could not connect to the Apple server). I read on macrumors forums that a few other users had this issue."
"So after installing Security Update 2004-02-23, I have no functionality of any Apple made software. The dock says they're open, but the applications do not actually open. What should I do? I've tried deleting the Preferences, repairing the permissions and the disk, and banging my head against the wall, but nothing seems to work! Does anyone have any sort of advice? "
"I too have become somewhat disillusioned with Apple products. My system crases while awakening from sleep at least twice a month now. I had the File Vault problem and lost all of my bookmarks, contacts, etc several times. Had those pref files backed up, but reinstalling them did not fix the problem until File Vault was turned off at the suggestion of Apple. iTunes and Classic will not run on more than one user account at a time. That means, if anothr user forgets to close iTunes, and does not log out, and I log in I can't use itunes or classic despite 1GB of RAM. Kind of defeats the purpose of fast user switching if users have to close thier programs before someone else logs in. Finally, my FW HD often will not mount, even with disk utility unless I restart the computer. Then monuts right up. Collosal time killer whe I have iMovie, iDVD, Power point, Safari, Mail, Quicken, and Word all open, with open documents scrolled to where I am working on them. I have to reboot and re-open all of them just to mount my external hard drive. I don't think it is the HD's fault since a reboot with the FW cable pluged in or not fixes it. I'm done Ranting and raving. Each time it comes time for a new computer, I compare apples to windows and buy whatever has the most features for the lowest price. I've been using Mac since 1990, but I no longer have any loyalty."
and etc.
So don't tell me everything's perfect in Apple Update Land.
Now there's a freaky one. When was the last time you saw Microsoft giving credit for a fix?
that's not my point. When you submit a bug to MS, it goes into a black hole and you never know if it'll be fixed and when a fix is out only the discoverer and his friends know he reported it, unless it gets into the news.
Here, Apple actually gave credit to the person who reported it.
They probably wish they hadn't, due to the bad publicity from the "finder". ;-)
Huh? They do it all the time - almost all their bulletins have an "Acknowledgements" section, like this one...
Thanks. I guess after all the complaints they started doing the right thing.
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