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Safe Computing
Geek Speak column
[Published in the Key West Citizen Locals Guide on July 30, 2010.]
Safe Computing
We humans must protect ourselves from accident and illness by leading healthy lives and being careful. What’s true for our biological health is also true for our cybernetic companions – our personal computers. Back in the late 70s when Steve Jobs introduced Apple computers, and a few years later when IBM and Microsoft introduced the PC, the concept of “Safe Computing” was hardly imagined. But the lowlifes seeking new paths for their vandalism and greed took note.
By the time I joined the OS/2 design team in the mid-80s, there had already been virus outbreaks on Apple computers and on PCs. In those days a personal computer would often start up (boot) from a floppy disk, and insidious hackers had already used them to spread viruses such as “Elk Cloner” (on Apples) and “Brain” (on PCs). The new OS/2 operating system featured better virus protection, but Microsoft soon dropped their support for OS/2 and continued with newer (less secure) versions of Windows. (more…)