I am almost speechless in my outraged incredulity! (those of you who know me, know that it takes a lot to render me speechless) But I'll pull it together to 'speak' anyway...
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M$ makes it sound as if they just found out about this problem last year, and now they've gotten the message and by golly, they're really gonna handle it!
Maybe it's just me, but I can clearly recall reading quite a few articles in computer magazines ten, twelve, maybe even fifteen years ago, when this relatively new OS, Windows, was beginning to become very popular.
These articles, written by programmers and other computer professionals, warned that Windows was inherently weak from a security perspective, and that it was designed to permit (or not designed to deny) easy exploitation by any competent programmer who might want to cause trouble.
And this was Windows 3.1 that was being criticized. Didn't they 'rewrite the code from the ground up' in the development of WinNT? And again with ME, and again with XP? Did their programmers just keep making those same mistakes, over and over, and keep missing those pesky security holes? Dang!
It's not like this is news to them folks. These guys (M$) are as bad (or as good, depending on your perspective) as politicians are at Spin and Damage Control.
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PS - I read some M$ spokeperson admit recently that 'they ignored security for years, in favor of adding features, because features are easier to sell than security or lack of vulnerability'.
kbeartx