They never knew how to write secure code in the first place!

Story: Comment of the Day - January 3, 2006 -Total Replies: 2
Author Content
qcimushroom

Jan 03, 2006
9:38 AM EDT
In the beginning security was sacrificed for convenience, there is no proof that they ever knew or cared to know how to write secure code.

While I believe that the insecure code in not deliberate, I believe that the lack of effort to fix it is !
number6x

Jan 03, 2006
9:57 AM EDT
If the product sells, the corporation that makes the product has no reason to improve or change the product.

They might talk about security. They might change their sales pitch a little. But as long as the product sells, there is no incentive for the corporation to spend one dime to improve the product.

If the product sells and generates several hundred % profit, allowing the corporation to fund 6 of 8 divisions that are losing money, and still end up with an 80% profit margin the coprporation would be foolish to change the product.

Microsoft sells crappy software because people are willing to buy it. I'm hoping that consumers wise up.

It happened to Chrysler in the seventies, it could happen to Microsoft now.

tadelste

Jan 03, 2006
12:27 PM EDT
Interestingly, Sun Solaris 2.4 was a popular OS and was a security nightmare. In their case, they had no agenda for creating lousy software. At the time, few people could crack a site and few people were online.

Solaris 2.6 became rather tight from a secuirty point of view.

Gates didn't think about the Internet until 1995 and he never tightened up his software. Even today, what MS calls security is a firewall which from the point of view of an OS like OpenBSD is back asswards.

Who knows if MS has discovered weak security creates revenue opportunities. I have heard that when they meet to discuss issues that the first question they ask is "can we monetize this?".

If that's the case and I'm not saying it is, then they would certainly look at the monetary benefits and if they were there, they'd go with it.

So, the assumptions made in the comment aren't all that off if monetizing problems is the goal.

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