Hi all,

I remember watching a UK TV documentary about 3 years ago where the evil do'ings of hackers was highlighted. If I recall correctly the members of "the cult of the dead cow" showed their skills with back orifice (whoohooooo!!!).

Anyway - during the documentary a spokesperson from Microsoft discussed the role of the security department and how they write patches etc. What was interesting to hear, in relation to this topic, is that Microsoft can and ARE ABLE to write a secure operating system. The spokesperson went on to say that they have to trade off security for user-friendliness (i.e. keep the masses happy).

Now I'm not really a microsoft fan, sure I use it but I also use Suse Linux as my main system. Unlike the majority of computer users, I've taken the time to learn, experiment and become familiar with computers even though I'm only a home-user.

The point I'm getting at is that Microsoft have dug themselves into a big hole with regards to computer security. They have comprimised themselves and their customers in order to keep the dollars rolling in. In addition, their policy to sell software so that all Mr. Joe Average has to do is turn on his computer has led to the problems we see today.

While I'll applaude the rise in computer usage I remain amazed at Microsoft's "keep it easy" mentality. The majority of computer users have no interest or inclination to learn about security simply because Mr. Bill has made it to easy for them.


To finish off here's an example that I saw on a UK TV news item a few weeks back.

During the outbreak of the sobig virus, the news item showed a nice old lady at PC World, she was taking her computer to the service department. The program interviewed her and she said "well the computer was ok yesterday, but now it keeps turning itself off - I don't know whats up with it at all" (hehehehehe - you got to laugh)

cheers
humpy