Uninformed Bearded Man Confuses Malware with iPhone Unlocking

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Roger_L._Kay-189x244.jpg

Roger_L._KayThe Apple nay-sayers love to pretend that Mac OS X and all of Apple’s other products are destined to be destroyed by hackers. Although Apple has marketed its products as being far less hackable than Windows, someday, the Mac will just be riddled with viruses. It’s inevitable! Except that it’s never happened, and what do you know, Mac OS X is far less troubled by malware than Windows is.

Still, the notion persists, and Apple detractors such as the bearded man at right, Roger L. Kay of Endpoint Technologies Associates, will continue to draw irrelevant correlations between minor software hacks on Apple products and overall platform insecurity.

Hilariously, Mr. Kay is under the impression that iPhone jailbreaks and the major unlocking project “Project Pwned” are somehow indicators that virus writers will soon over-run all of Apple’s products. Riiiiiiight. Because individual users finding ways to maximize the value of their own machine is exactly the same as a random prankster taking control of someone else’s machine. His poorly reasoned opinion, courtesy of BusinessWeek, argues that unauthorized iPhone apps will stink, and people will blame Apple for no apparent reason:

Apple, welcome to Microsoft’s world! This is an environment in which you have to support thousands of developers of varying quality, and all sorts of apps, well made or not. Some of these developers make you look good, but others end up trashing your reputation. And despite your best efforts to monetize what they do, it’s not always possible. The elegant simplicity of your platform just makes hacking easier. There is no such thing as real security. All you can do is throw up roadblocks–which, by the way, make it harder for both crooks and law-abiding citizens to drive on your roads.

Wait, what? You think Apple will feel bad that some of the jail-broken apps will suck? That will provide additional evidence that Apple is right to lock down the iPhone. I think the iPhone should be a lot more open than it is, but the only possible conclusion to this situation is the opposite of what Kay argues. But who am I to disagree with a man who has this to say?

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6 responses to “Uninformed Bearded Man Confuses Malware with iPhone Unlocking”

  1. Steve says:

    *boggle*

    “Apple, welcome to Microsoft’s world! This is an environment in which you have to support thousands of developers of varying quality, and all sorts of apps, well made or not. Some of these developers make you look good, but others end up trashing your reputation.”

    Uhm, Apple was there before Microsoft ever dreamed of it. In fact, Microsoft was one of the developers Apple had to support!

    “And despite your best efforts to monetize what they do, it’s not always possible.”

    Duh. How does this support your argument?

    “The elegant simplicity of your platform just makes hacking easier.”

    Do you have ANY idea what the $#!% you’re talking about? I DARE you to hack into my Mac. I’ll give you a week. Give me your PC and 10 minutes, and we’ll see who has control of who’s machine.

    “There is no such thing as real security. All you can do is throw up roadblocks—which, by the way, make it harder for both crooks and law-abiding citizens to drive on your roads.”

    You’ve drank too much Windows Kool-Aid.

  2. 21st Century Gal says:

    I don’t know, but judging by the photo, that guy is still stuck somewhere in the 80’s.

  3. Andrew DK says:

    Is the Macalope contributing to CoM now?

    Seriously though, Kay doesn’t know jack.