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Thread ID: 136380	2014-02-23 06:04:00	iPad alternative	Cicero (40)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1368489	2014-02-26 20:34:00	As much as everyone loathes Microsoft, they are still supporting XP (till April anyway) with security updates, it was released in 2001, over 13 years old product! Snow Leopard is only 5 years old (2009) and they are leaving these users out in the cold. Apple Patches Mavericks SSL Flaw: Update Now www.informationweek.com ... Security update patches "goto fail" flaw that enables attackers to intercept communications, but won't help the 23% of Macs running older OS X. ... While the new OS X security patches are good news, they leave about one-quarter of Apple users out in the cold. According to Net Market Share, as of January 2014, while 42% of Apple OS X users were on 10.9, 19% on 10.8, and 16% on 10.7, a fair number still use 10.6 (19%), and even 10.5 (4%). ... Unlike Microsoft, Apple -- which has promised to begin issuing major operating system updates on an annual basis -- has published no official policy detailing how long it will support older operating systems. Apple's Monday updates continued the company's December decision to stop supporting OS X 10.6, a.k.a. Snow Leopard. As a result, anyone who's using OS X 10.6 -- or older -- is now vulnerable to a number of known security flaws.	Geek4414 (12000)
1368490	2014-02-26 20:45:00	As much as everyone loathes Microsoft, they are still supporting XP (till April anyway) with security updates, it was released in 2001, over 13 years old product! Snow Leopard is only 5 years old (2009) and they are leaving these users out in the cold. Apple Patches Mavericks SSL Flaw: Update Now www.informationweek.com ... Security update patches "goto fail" flaw that enables attackers to intercept communications, but won't help the 23% of Macs running older OS X. ... While the new OS X security patches are good news, they leave about one-quarter of Apple users out in the cold. According to Net Market Share, as of January 2014, while 42% of Apple OS X users were on 10.9, 19% on 10.8, and 16% on 10.7, a fair number still use 10.6 (19%), and even 10.5 (4%). ... Unlike Microsoft, Apple -- which has promised to begin issuing major operating system updates on an annual basis -- has published no official policy detailing how long it will support older operating systems. Apple's Monday updates continued the company's December decision to stop supporting OS X 10.6, a.k.a. Snow Leopard. As a result, anyone who's using OS X 10.6 -- or older -- is now vulnerable to a number of known security flaws. Yup, that's pretty normal for Apple. OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) came out in August 2009 so that makes it 5 years old. Apple has always had a policy of terminating support for legacy software after a certain period pretty much since Jobs came back to Apple in 1997 so its nothing new. They've done the same thing with iTunes and the iPod through the various iterations. Apple has always been able to get away with doing that as it has only ever catered for the consumer market which is more suited to adapting to shorter product life cycles. Enterprise customers have tended to scream blue murder in the past when Microsoft has looked at replacing an OS in anything faster than a 3 year cycle simply because its a lot harder and can cost multi millions of dollars to update, test and replace 100,00 - 300,000 desktop images from Windows XP to Windows 7 or 8. It also takes a year or more for all that to happen.	Webdevguy (17166)
1368491	2014-02-26 20:47:00	Interesting take on the new BYOD trend ... Why Apple Is IT's Arch Frenemy www.informationweek.com "Apple products are nice, but they are not really suited to the enterprise because we have no means of ensuring their security," says one respondent. "Apple is slow to release security updates for known exploits. Their products are fine for home use and small business, but they have an outdated approach to security that is not really acceptable for Fortune 500 companies." Mavericks: The end of Macs in the enterprise? www.zdnet.com Summary: Macs have never been that popular in business. But if Apple is indeed no longer supporting security updates for older Mac OS X versions, Macs won't have any place left in the enterprise office. ... We all know what happens when a company reveals security holes don't we? Yes, that's right. We get zero day attacks: Lots and lots of zero day attacks. It's like giving every junior-high hacker in the world a free treasure map. What's that? The Mac has no security problems? Please, ever hear of the Flashback Trojan? Icefog? Backdoor:OSX/KitM.A? You would have if you'd been paying attention to Apple security. They're all successful Mac malware programs. No, Macs don't have the dozens of new malware attackers every month that Windows PCs have ... yet. But then, we never had a major, widely used Mac OS without the latest security fixes either. So, if you're running Mountain Lion, you should run, not walk, to your Mac and download Mavericks today. That's no real hardship right? I mean Mavericks is free, so other than the couple of hours it takes to download the multi-Gigabyte update and then install it, updating your operating system isn't going to hurt you is it? Wrong! Yes, Mavericks looks pretty darn good and the upgrade is, outside of the time it takes, as smooth as silk. I've installed it and I like it. So, what's the problem? Well, I'll tell you what the problem is. If I'm a CIO, I'm being forced by security concerns to upgrade my users' Macs to an untested operating system. Maybe my company's programs will work with it, maybe they won't. I don't know. As a CIO all I really know is that Apple is forcing me to choose between opening my Mac desktops to attacks or taking a chance that everyone in my office is going to come screaming to my door with complaints about broken programs. In fact, some of you may already be facing the latter problem since it's been confirmed that if your company uses Google Gmail Internet message access protocol (IMAP) for corporate e-mail you're very likely to run into a show-stopping bug with the Mavericks mail client. Whoops! This is the kind of dilemma that causes CIOs to lose their hair. This is not a headache any IT manager ever wants to face. So, if Apple really is taking a leaf from their iOS book and no longer supporting their older versions, the long-term answer is to simply start walking away from Apple no matter how pretty their computers are. Microsoft may really, really want you to move to Windows 8.1, but they're still supporting Windows XP. Linux desktop distributions are constantly delivering security upgrades. Only Apple demands that you either upgrade your PCs to a major unproven upgrade or leave yourself open to attackers. No IT department ever wants to face a choice like this.	Geek4414 (12000)
1368492	2014-02-26 20:51:00	Yup, that's pretty normal for Apple. OSX 10.6 (Snow Leopard) came out in August 2009 so that makes it 5 years old. Apple has always had a policy of terminating support for legacy software after a certain period pretty much since Jobs came back to Apple in 1997 so its nothing new. May be it is nothing new, but does it make it ok? Interesting comments from the article above ... This is what most people say about Android OEMs, so are they on the same boat? ... But I'd like to point out the most important point that the author missed: Apple makes abandonware ... ... The point is that if Apple ever ... EVER tries to twist my enterprise's global arms ... the deal's off baby. I never do business with tyrants - only with optimists and people that have a "can-do" attitude. Apple devices are the epitomy of "cannot-do".	Geek4414 (12000)
1368493	2014-02-26 21:01:00	May be it is nothing new, but does it make it ok? I don't think it has ever made it "ok" but that hasn't stopped consumers from buying lots of iProducts over the years. So maybe its more of an issue for some people than it is for others :thumbs:	Webdevguy (17166)
1368494	2014-02-26 21:11:00	I can understand why IT depts don't like the move towards BYOD, it makes them feel like they are not in control any more. And companies about being forced to adapt to consumer needs inside a 6-12 month time frame rather than having policies that may have taken 18-24 months to complete. End users are expecting their Desktop and UIs to be far more user friendly and more in line with the UIs on their phones and tablets than some old horrible UI that was developed by some tech nerds in a windowless back room. As for corporate security around BYOD... that is involving a whole re think of the way things are done, which is actually a good thing :thumbs:	Webdevguy (17166)
1368495	2014-02-26 21:17:00	May be it is nothing new, but does it make it ok? Interesting comments from the article above ... This is what most people say about Android OEMs, so are they on the same boat? ... But I'd like to point out the most important point that the author missed: Apple makes abandonware ... ... The point is that if Apple ever ... EVER tries to twist my enterprise's global arms ... the deal's off baby. I never do business with tyrants - only with optimists and people that have a "can-do" attitude. Apple devices are the epitomy of "cannot-do". From what I understand, Apple doesn't usually approach enterprise to do deals, it's normally the corporates that approach Apple to try and figure out a solution to changed business process that has been brought about by the introduction of the iPad and consumer demand. And if there is any "arm twisting" going on it's more from the end user than from Apple. Apple certainly does play hard ball on deals but from my understanding it has more to do with deals over music and video content for iTunes from the likes of Disney or Comcast.	Webdevguy (17166)
1368496	2014-02-26 21:17:00	I can understand why IT depts don't like the move towards BYOD, it makes them feel like they are not in control any more. And companies about being forced to adapt to consumer needs inside a 6-12 month time frame rather than having policies that may have taken 18-24 months to complete. End users are expecting their Desktop and UIs to be far more user friendly and more in line with the UIs on their phones and tablets than some old horrible UI that was developed by some tech nerds in a windowless back room. As for corporate security around BYOD... that is involving a whole re think of the way things are done, which is actually a good thing :thumbs: It is not all about "pretty", people are running a business that depends on their system, it is not an ornament. Rolling out major system changes is not like simply changing one's own computer, there are a lot at stake and ramifications to consider, you can't just change things at a whim. This point really hits the nail on the head ... As a CIO all I really know is that Apple is forcing me to choose between opening my Mac desktops to attacks or taking a chance that everyone in my office is going to come screaming to my door with complaints about broken programs. In fact, some of you may already be facing the latter problem since it's been confirmed that if your company uses Google Gmail Internet message access protocol (IMAP) for corporate e-mail you're very likely to run into a show-stopping bug with the Mavericks mail client. Whoops! This is the kind of dilemma that causes CIOs to lose their hair. This is not a headache any IT manager ever wants to face. So, if Apple really is taking a leaf from their iOS book and no longer supporting their older versions, the long-term answer is to simply start walking away from Apple no matter how pretty their computers are.	Geek4414 (12000)
1368497	2014-02-26 21:37:00	Interesting stuff. Our friend who's Windows computers I have successfully looked after in my limited capacity over the years tells me he is buying new computer. Asked me to recommend one for him. Found just what he needed and rang him about buying one. Then his kids got at him. They all have macs and he reckons he should get one so as to be on the same platform. Also they said, another great selling point is that they don't have viruses so won't need to worry about being bugged. I said that was fine but rule me out for help in the future. Getting to old to learn new stuff! No problem he says, The kids will look after it for him. Two of them live in NZ 1 up north and one in the SI, then the other one in the UK. Fine says I :thumbs: I am watching developments with interest. SWMBO says I am a mean old bastard. :D Ken	kenj (9738)
1368498	2014-02-26 21:41:00	I can understand why IT depts don't like the move towards BYOD, it makes them feel like they are not in control any more. I dunno, last large company I worked at, we had the ability to remote-wipe any and all devices that they brought along with them. They used Lotus Notes (Ugh) and Lotus Traveler, but it meant that we could remote-wipe anything that connected to us, and we got the staff to sign a disclaimer that basically said "Yeah sure, bring your own phone, but if you leave the company and we're forced to remote-wipe your phone, then any and all photos you have of baby Jr will also be wiped too, so it's up to you to keep them backed up". Every single staff member who was interested, agreed. Same thing for Google Apps, there's a Device Policy you can enforce. Easy. This works for both iOS devices (iPhone / iPod Touch / iPads, we connected the lot) and Android. So definitely not a "not in control" thing, quite the opposite, it puts the IT group even _more_ in control!	Chilling_Silence (9)
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