Monoculture: bad for computers as well as farms
Sunday, January 18th, 2004Usually the word “monoculture” refers to agriculture done the wrong way, with lots of identical plants living side by side. If a disease comes along that can infect one plant, it can infect them all, and a catastrophic epidemic results. We’ve seen many examples in the past, from Dutch Elm disease to the Irish Potato Famine. The wise farmer encourages diversity, so a disease that affects one plant doesn’t necessarily affect them all.
Slashdot points to an interesting article about monoculture in software. Most computers run Windows, and when a computer virus comes along that can exploit one of the many inherent vulnerabilities of that operating system, the results can bring whole networks to their knees.
It’s yet another argument against allowing monopolies to exist. Monopolies like Microsoft create a technological monoculture, leaving the whole economy vulnerable to an otherwise small flaw in a piece of software.
