Windows 7 to hit consumers with known security problem

Quoting:FSFE: Microsoft's neglect highlights value of Free Software

Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, is currently shipping with a potentially serious defect. Ahead of the product's global launch on Thursday, Germany's federal IT security agency (BSI) has issued a warning [1] about a high-risk vulnerability in the SMB2 protocol. This can be exploited over the network to shut down a computer with a Denial of Service (DoS) attack.

This incident illustrates how proprietary software often poses a security risk. "Only Microsoft can fix the problem. But they have apparently closed their eyes to this vulnerability for a long time, hoping that it wouldn't spoil the retail launch of Windows 7 this Thursday," says Karsten Gerloff, President of the Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE).