This week a group of computer security experts released a report that says the almost total reliance on software from the Big Monopoly is a threat to national security and the economy.

The report, entitled "CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly," said that to rely on a single computing infrastructure such as Microsoft’s Windows operating system created unnecessary risks to national infrastructure — particularly given the company’s recent history of security flaws. Moreover, new security features being implemented in products by Microsoft simply made the problem worse, by locking customers even more tightly into the company’s software, the authors said.

Not long after the report was released one of those security experts was fired by the company he worked for. I guess when you’re in bed with the Big Monopoly you better not complain. But, of course, the BM says they had nothing to do with it.

I have no expertise in computer security but I can tell there’s something wrong when the school system I work for is spending huge amounts of time and money fighting viruses and worms while my Mac and I just go on working. And to think that one of the big arguments for our system moving to one platform was that it would cost less to support. I think the real reason was that everyone in our IT department was trained by the Big Monopoly and had no clue about alternatives. I’ll bet nobody over there criticizes the BM.