Patrick Gray

Get It Try It

Patrick Gray of ZD Australia is so stupid you almost want to hug a fanboy. With C4 sewn into his chest. And pubes. Patrick Gray is lower on the food chain than even the Goober. And that's really low. Maybe the editor for technology at ZD Australia should be alerted to the situation?

Your editor Patrick Gray is a total boob. It's not right for technically incompetent journalists to write articles like this.

Listening to Mr Gray, one would assume there are no significant differences between MS Windows and OS X aka FreeBSD Unix. This is because Mr Gray doesn't have a clue how either of these systems really work. His brain power is too wee to even appreciate things might be just a bit more complex than his feeble intellect can handle.

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- Windows NT hit the market a full two years before the web revolution of 1995. At that time the only dangers were from viruses borne via boot sectors and executables and through floppy diskettes.

- Windows NT was certified C2 through a process that precluded the possibility of interlopers. Perhaps Mr Gray has read the Orange Book and the NT certification report?

- Perhaps Mr Gray has lectured in Windows NT security programming and OS X and Unix security programming?

- Perhaps Mr Gray would like to give a brief outline of MS-DOS 'FAT' directory entries, before and after the advent of 'VFAT' 'long file names', in particular the six bits of the attribute byte that are used to control files?

- Perhaps Mr Gray would like to give a brief outline of NTFS access controls and how NT access control entries work?

- Perhaps Mr Gray would like to enter into a discussion of file permissions, the 'ugo' of Unix versus the nonexistent security on MS-DOS files as used in most NT installations of today?

- Perhaps Mr Gray is an expert as well in Unix? And can therefore explain why the 70+% of the world's web servers running Unix and Apache are not continually compromised?

- Perhaps Mr Gray would like to discuss the relative merits of a system originally created as a 'server' operating system versus another system initially created as a 'hardware interface'?

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Our advice to you - and it already may be too late - is to keep a tighter leash on Mr Gray. He's a blowhard of an incompetent boob. If you only wanted to do a 'Dvorak', you've succeeded through 'phase one', but the difference with Dvorak is he's able to recuperate and establish a solid stance after he makes his minimal corrections. In your case with Mr Gray, we fear he's already done such a muck-up that nothing will save him. It's as if he's got a sign painted on his brow in big red letters.

VACANCY!

The Apple ad is not malfeasant. It's a thirty second spot. Please tell the rabid Mr Gray this and make him understand.

No system is completely secure but OS X does not have 114,000 viruses and no version of OS X, no matter market share, will ever have either. It's UNIX. It might not be the best or the safest Unix (and it isn't) but it's still Unix. And it's not Windows.

Save your reputation, which in some areas of the world is still considerable. After all, you've written nice pieces about us in the past, have you not? No: let the jackasses of the world empty your paper bins instead and leave the journalism - especially the technical journalism - to people who are educated in the technology.

Mr Gray makes your organisation look stupid. He brings disgrace to you. He's making you look the fools. Poor you. So do something about it.

Buy a leash.

PS. Homework for Mr Gray.