Every night, these programs go out onto the Net and probe systems looking for weakness. You will watch the lights blink. I mentioned last week that OpenBSD, upon which part of Rhapsody is based, has been through a year-long security audit to close holes and fix security problems. Rhapsody will probably be the most secure OS you can buy on the open market. But no system is 100 percent secure.
Constant monitoring is still necessary.
To make matters worse, there is a tremendous demand for 24 x 7 Internet access. U.S. West is now deploying ADSL in some areas, and many people in Canada and the U.S. are getting cable modems. Technically speaking, your computer can puke its guts out while you sleep. You will watch the lights blink. First of all, we need to be able to both monitor our system's past performance and make inquiries about its current status.