Daniel Geer, the now-unemployed author of a report critical of monopolistic technologies, doesn't understand what all the hoopla is about. The long-time network security specialist, who was trained as a bio-statistician, explained that all he wanted to do in his recent study was alert Washington insiders and the IT world to the risk of IT technologies as they relate to business risk. That study, CyberInsecurity: The Cost of Monopoly -- How the Dominance of Microsoft's Products Poses a Risk to Security, is now widely believed to be the reason Geer is no longer associated with @stake, the Boston-based computer security firm that he co-founded. "This [work] was simply business as usual," he told internetnews.com on Friday during a brief telephone interview.
On Wednesday Geer presented the white paper, which said the government's increasing reliance on Microsoft desktop software makes federal systems "susceptible to massive, cascading failures." He presented the study to the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA), a trade group that promotes open systems and networks, which has been critical of Microsoft (Quote, Chart) in the past. @Stake later confirmed that Geer is "no longer associated" with @Stake as its chief technology officer. In a statement, @Stake said Geer's report was not approved by the company and that the "values and opinions of the report are not in line" with the company's views.
News source: boston.internet.com
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