I remember when John Gruber was someone I knew because he worked for Bare Bones, makers of the delicious text editor BBEdit. He would post sensible solutions to problems people faced with various Bare Bones applications on the BBEdit-Talk mailing list, answer support requests, and presumably do lots of other behind the scenes work that the rest of us don't know about.
Then a couple years ago, he left Bare Bones. Shortly thereafter, he started a weblog, Daring Fireball. He started writing articles that are of interest to the high-octane power users of the Mac.
Today he posted Good Times, in which he basically blames corporate IT departments for the major problems that SoBig and other major email viruses are causing companies everywhere. The crux of the argument is this: if corporate IT departments built email systems that are inherently virus-proof (i.e. NOT based on Microsoft Exchange), we would all be better off. The reason they don't, he says, is that supporting an inherently virus-proof, highly reliable email system is much easier than supporting Exchange. It would therefore require fewer people, and lots of IT workers would lose their jobs.
I agree with that so far. From there, he goes on to say that most corporate IT workers are nothing more than hacks who can't do anything else useful with computers, but still like them and want to work with them, so they get some certifications and work in IT departments. Now, I haven't worked in a corporate environment, but I'd find it very hard to believe that these guys are idiots. I think John goes a little too far there while making his point.
However, the most important part of his argument is nothing but absolute, irrefutable truth. Microsoft Exchange and Outlook are horrible things that no one should be using. They directly cause major internet problems for the community at large, and major computer problems for the individuals that are affected. Microsoft maybe have patches available for these exploits months in advance, but they don't publicize it, I guess out of fear that people will start to think of Windows as insecure, and stop buying it. It's already too late for that, but I don't know when, or if, that's going to matter.
If you use Outlook, or Outlook Express, on a Windows computer, do yourself a favor and switch to something better. In this case, "something better" is equivalent to "anything else, for the love of Pete!" Like John says, this isn't about regular people, or even nerds, debating whether Mac or Windows is better. There are smart, creative people that use both. It's about stopping people from screwing up your machine, and other people's machines.