What would you say if I told you that there was a nation that was at the forefront of technology, an early adopter of ecommerce, leading the world in 3G mobile adoption, in wireless broadband, in wired broadband adoption, as well as in citizen-driven media. Sounds like an amazing place, right? Technology utopia?
Wrong.
This nation is also a unique monoculture where 99.9% of all the computer users are on Microsoft Windows. This nation is a place where Apple Macintosh users cannot bank online, make any purchases online, or interact with any of the nation’s e-government sites online. In fact, Linux users, Mozilla Firefox users and Opera users are also banned from any of these types of transactions because all encrypted communications online in this nation must be done with Active X controls.
Where is this nation?
South Korea.
Sounds like Bill Gates’s view of paradise.
I’m a big fan of freedom, but it would make things easier in many ways.
It’s why corporations do this – ease of support, etc. A state forcing it would be totalitarian, but I understand why people would do it.
good for them
but it would make things easier in many ways.
Yeah, like easier to create millions more zombie spam machines, easier to spread virues, easier for M$ to charge more then they already do.
You are truly a moron.
Well, I guess they know what they’re doing. Still, there’s been some talk lately about security problems.
Cool.
Funny thing, South Korea is one of those places that this board always brings up as having the highest broadband speeds, distribution and lowest costs. It is possible that the monoculture that supports the Windows dominance also helps the broadband market.
As they say, Il Duche made the the trains run on time (apocryphal or not).
Just sayin.
7. “It is possible that the monoculture that supports the Windows dominance also helps the broadband market”
Maybe you can explain how the choice of operating systems could somehow affect broadband infrastructure. In the US Windows is 95% of the market. If your wacky theory is true, shouldn’t broadband in the US be about 95% equivalent to South Korea?
#8. ditto.
#9. the 5% Mac and Linux users ain’t dragging down the 95% Windows, it is the latter that are the source of the problem – spam-spewing zombie machines, or distributed DOS attacks come from all those unpatched Windows boxes.
The real problem with broadband in the US has nothing to do with OS, it has to do with the greed of the ISPs, who took all those government subsidies to roll out fiber to the curb and then didn’t do it.
and I have to say, ROK’s is very counter to the philosophy of the Web, which was supposed to be OS agnostic.
This reminds me of a line from the movie Freaks (1932).
“We accept you, one of us!
Gooble Gobble!”
Steve
Maybe it’s because Korean end users are not like the end users of the rest of the world AND KNOW NOT TO CLICK on every thing that pops up on their windows.
Plus, apparently Windoze is written in Korean and everybody knows how software written in another language behaves with spam written in another language.
#4 You are truly a moron.
At least he isn’t an asshole.
And he’s right. Common platforms are easier to deal with.
Mmm… nice girl. Good choice, SN.
South Korea haven’t learned. I guess they need to buy something from abroad to even up the trade balance…
#13 – Or worse… you.
#14. “pulling at the legs of the mac fervent crowd ”
that’s the first time I have ever been called a ‘mac fervent.’ Anyone who points out the huge problems with Windows is certainly not necessarily a mac fan, they could just be fully aware of the deficiencies of the OS they are using at that very moment ….
And he’s right. Common platforms are easier to deal with.
That’s what the spammers and hackers say too.
#4, #18
Similarly, it would easier to fix the problem when it was found.
I would venture to say that every major corporation predominately uses one platform. What does that tell you about their evaluation of the cost of spam, spyware and viruses against the tremendous cost savings in development and support?
#18
Spam, viruses, etc, are serious issues. But if Mac surged to a 95% market share in a year, then all those issues would be at Mac’s doorstep.
Macs aren’t more secure because they have a better OS. They are more secure because there is no point in attacking them.
If you wanna call someone a moron, well, that’s why James Hill is allowed to post here. But the guy you tagged simply stated a commonly held opinion… commonly held amung IT managers and business professionals everywhere.
Not only do Linux, Mac, Safari, Firefox, Opera, et al not work on Korean financial sites, but even MS Vista can not do secure financial transactions in Korea.
More information here.
The link didn’t work, so here is the URL for the article I read: http://www.kanai.net/weblog/archive/2007/01/26/00h53m55s
What does that tell you about their evaluation of the cost of spam, spyware and viruses against the tremendous cost savings in development and support?
And Thomas if you knew anything about corporate America, you would know that spam, viruses and spyware are one of the biggest problems today. They clog up corporate networks and email servers. Thousands of lost hours for IT staff to patch, fix and basically un-fuck windows systems.
Macs aren’t more secure because they have a better OS. They are more secure because there is no point in attacking them.
Another clueless statement, that could have come from the PR department at Redmond. The Mac OS is better designed then Windows when it comes to security. Its not bulletproof, but its a hell of a lot more secure then any version of Windows.
#24 – I’d be quite happy with a job in PR for Microsoft. Good salary, good benefits, and I know the company will be around for a long long time.
That doesn’t change the fundamental truth of what I’m saying. If one wants to take control of a machine to turn it into some sort of zombie, or one wishes to attack an OS with malware and viruses, what makes more sense… Attack the niche market Mac with its small user base? Or attack the OS with the giant bullseye painted on it?
Mac, Windows Blah Blah Blah.
Look at the lips on that army gal…
#21 – Not quite… The Mac OS has been inherently more secure than Windows since Mac OS X. The OS is built on the BSD Unix platform, which considers security it’s #1 strong-point. And having competent programmers helps, too. But you’re right, you would make a good MS public relations stooge.
#14 Ooops!
I meant that The Windoze version used in Korea has to be in Korean, damn spanglish of mine…
27. Yeah, big deal, so why does it crash constantly? And dont fucking tell me it doesnt, I’m a Mac tech (not by choice) and I see it constantly, and its not hardware causing it.
Back to the article…
The South Koreans are entirely dependent upon the United States to deter and stop the North Korean million-man army. The South Koreans must be extremely friendly towards the United States.
All the money spent on Microsoft applications slows the trade imbalance, which makes the U.S. government happy. This is VITAL. Technically, they are still at war with North Korea. No warning or ultimatum needed.
I’m afraid you guys are slipping back into the pre-9/11 mentality that countries, especially the U.S., are invulnerable.
#24
Frankly, I know quite a bit about how corporate IT America systems work and how decisions about those systems are made since that is the field in which I work. There is no question that spam, viruses and spyware are problems. Yet, despite those problems businesses still choose to standardize on a single platform (whether it is Windows, Linux, Unix or Mac). The simple reason is that the cost of development and support against multiple platforms is far more expensive than the cost of increased virulence due to a single platform.
#31, Macs don’t bring enough money back.
Microsoft always builds bigger, to force the public to buy newer, more powerful computers. They cut off support for older applications for the same reason. This makes the American government happy. This is why they leave the Microsoft monopoly alone.
The American government hopes that the revived AT&T will be able to do the same thing. But it can’t; the brains have been drained to other companies.