Re MS responsibilty, was espam

[D. Metzler List Mail]

Actually, there are many ways in which MS has been derelect in their 
responsibilities to produce reliable and secure software.  They
apparently simply don't test software adequately (a major source of
the security windows in Windows seems to be memory overflows which should
be detectable with adequate testing).  There was something of an uproar
a while back when a prominent security expert claimed that in expanding
the number of ports in Windows to the number in Unix, MS was not
incorporating all of the security features of Unix to protect them.  He
predicted disaster.  He was prominent enough that MS called him in for
a consultation.  Their answer to him was nothing is perfect, if we
fix the problems you found, the hackers will just find others.  In other
words, don't lock your door because the thieves could always break in
some other way.  I'm not a legal or OS expert, but from what I have heard
over the years I am amazed that there hasn't been a major legal suit
based on negligence.  By the way, even the monopolisitc issues contribute
to the problem since the spread of a malicious organism is much faster
in an artificially uniform environment than in a healthy heterogeneous
environment, whether you're talking about agriculture or technology.

Doug Metzler

On Fri, 22 Aug 2003, Mac OS X Newbies wrote:
> 
> Good evening,
>          I am not sure if I understand how this is Bill Gate's fault that 
> some technological freaks decided to write malicious code?  Yes, Windows 
> has problems but can't we say that if people worked long and hard enough 
> trying to find holes it could be found in any software?
> 
> Just my thought
> 
> Tom
> 
>