Wednesday, January 11, 2006
What will it take...
...before people decide the current direction of closed-source operating systems is unacceptable?
The most recent Windows security weakness is actually not a result of its closed-source nature, but the fact that a third party beat Microsoft to the punch in offering a patch is interesting.
Newer Microsoft operating systems may be more resistant to some attacks, but they'll probably be much more resistant to any third-party fixes. There is definitely something to be said for setting things up so that applications can't willy-nilly change the operating system, but Microsoft's designs go beyond that.
Fundamentally, Microsoft et al. want to make it impossible for the owner of a computer to really know or control what it's actually doing. In theory, it should be possible for any malware to break through the OS security barriers. Unfortunately, if any malware does so, it will be impossible to remove or possibly even detect.
Some very dangerous possiblities there...
The most recent Windows security weakness is actually not a result of its closed-source nature, but the fact that a third party beat Microsoft to the punch in offering a patch is interesting.
Newer Microsoft operating systems may be more resistant to some attacks, but they'll probably be much more resistant to any third-party fixes. There is definitely something to be said for setting things up so that applications can't willy-nilly change the operating system, but Microsoft's designs go beyond that.
Fundamentally, Microsoft et al. want to make it impossible for the owner of a computer to really know or control what it's actually doing. In theory, it should be possible for any malware to break through the OS security barriers. Unfortunately, if any malware does so, it will be impossible to remove or possibly even detect.
Some very dangerous possiblities there...
