Marcus J. Ranum rants.

There is no "monoculture" here. My system isn't just Windows. My security is effected (and affected) by a bewildering combination of default settings, software patch levels, default firewall rules (I just plugged it in, honest!), browser settings, and antivirus signature sets. We're not in anything like danger of becoming a "monoculture" unless every system was running the same software load-out, security policy, antivirus product, and patch level. In spite of the dearest wishes of countless system administrators, that simply isn't going to happen! So, as much as I hate to say it, Sun's marketing people may have been right, "The network is the computer" - and the network sure as hell isn't going to become a "monoculture" unless Microsoft builds all the firewalls, all the routers, all the switches, all the web accellerators, all the SQL databases and establishes everyone's security, routing, DNS, and update policies.

Geek chic is to hate Windows. But it is Outlook that does the damage. For Joe Average user, Linux is a solution in search of a problem (in fact, it's just a problem). I think it would help Joe Average to use an email program other than Outlook, but that doesn't inspire a cause celebre among geeks.