Operating System Theater Presents…
Another Critical Security Flaw
Douglas Chick
 Microsoft
is struggling to save face, or software, with new claims of even more
security holes in its software products. The more Gates and Ballmer proclaim
how their product is more secure, another peg is pulled revealing yet one
more hole. Microsoft is beginning to look like a sinking ship.
On the same page that CEO Steve Ballmer argues that it is impossible
for Linux to be more secure than any Microsoft product, I read where AOL is
closing its link to MSN Messenger because of its security flaws. Ballmer’s
point was that there’s no way some programmer is China can fix a Linux
security hole more proficiently than Microsoft can Windows. Gee Steve,
perhaps you and Bill should consider not speaking publicly anymore because
it sounds like you guys are out of touch in your own profession. So before
you make another public appearance consider this:
Chinese programmers are writing
programs that expose Windows security flaws, not fix Linux ones. I’m no
Linux advocate, but…code for Linux is distributed globally and not just
isolated to one country. And to correct my earlier statement, exposing
Windows security flaws is also a global affair. I felt like he made the
connection with Linux to China in an attempt to link it to communism.
It is also true that all
software is vulnerable to hacks, but not all software companies are hated as
much as Microsoft. As one hacker put it: “We are only carrying out the
punishment for a company that has already been proven and sentenced to be
guilty, but was never punished.”
You’ve got to wonder where
Microsoft’s future lays. By their own admission their product is riddled
with flaws, more vulnerable because of its popularity, and has more bad
press than the Bush administration. The fundamental differences between the
two are that Microsoft employees only suffer in low stock options, the
mistakes made by the Bush administrators are being paid for in the lives of
our soldiers and citizens.
So what will become of
Microsoft? Will it be the cause of its own undoing? Will Linux ever be
mature enough to replace the desktop? Or will corporate America return to
the dummy terminal and have no need for a desktop operating system? Find the
answers to these question and many more on the next episode of Operating
System Theater.
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your comments to dougchick@thenetworkadministrator.com
