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Switch to Macs has Web all riled up

A Seminole technology security expert is surprised by reaction to his post of frustration with Windows and Intel.

By DAVE GUSSOW
Published May 28, 2005

Winn Schwartau switched his office from PCs to Macintosh computers, a seemingly simple move that created an overwhelming reaction in the online world.

Schwartau is no mere computer user. He's a nationally known technology security expert from Seminole, so when he wrote in his online blog that he was tired of unreliable technology and fending off virus and spyware threats to his office PC he triggered a torrent of attention.

"I just didn't know this was going to be controversial," Schwartau said.

In a column titled "Mad as Hell," posted Monday at the Network World Web site and his blog (securityawareness.blogspot.com) on Wednesday, Schwartau declared that systems using Microsoft's Windows software and Intel processors are "a threat to the national economic security of any organization or nation-state that relies (upon) it."

The Macintosh community, always on the lookout for good news about Apple Computer and its products, started a flood of reaction. Schwartau's blog tracked 9,000 visitors Wednesday, 40,000 Thursday and 12,000 by midafternoon Friday. In a month, it usually gets 4,000 visitors.

According to Greg Hoffman, chief marketing officer for Schwartau's Security Awareness Co., responses were running 10-1 in favor of and praising the switch, which occurred last month.

Some in the Linux operating system community sent notes recommending it, and some fans of Windows and Intel systems, known as WinTel in shorthand, responded with some less than charitable comments. Macintosh computers are less susceptible to spyware and other forms of computer chicanery in part because of the way they're designed and in part because Apple has such a small share of the computer market that spyware code writers don't bother with it.

But, Schwartau says, it's too early for people to draw conclusions about what his switch really means. For one thing, he says he has posted only the first two installments of what he says will be a 30-part series on the subject. Second, he hasn't abandoned WinTel, though he doesn't want to give away the end of his tech saga.

But he clearly is unhappy with the time he has invested in protecting systems from spyware, viruses and other problems.

"I know how to do all this stuff," Schwartau said. "The point is I don't want to do it and I don't think 98 percent of the computing public should have to do it."

Dave Gussow can be reached at gussow@sptimes.com or 727 771-4328.

[Last modified May 28, 2005, 00:08:13]