Text 10617, 71 rader
Skriven 2006-04-08 08:27:38 av Mike '/m' (1:379/45)
Ärende: Microsoft has given up on Windows security....
======================================================
From: Mike '/m' <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/pulpit20060406.html

===
This column isn't about baseball. It is about Windows Vista, which Microsoft
said a couple weeks ago would be shipping later than expected and would miss
the 2006 Christmas season. There has been lots of speculation about exactly why
Microsoft had to make such an expensive decision, and five of those reasons
were covered right here two weeks ago. But this time I am ready to lay the
definitive reason for this particular Windows Vista delay on Dell Computer.

It is easy to forget that Microsoft works mainly through its OEM partners,
which include Dell, HP, and many others. If Microsoft announces a date by which
some future product is going to be available, they can only do so with the
agreement of the OEMs. I know we hear (and I write) a lot about Microsoft
beating up its partners, but Bill Gates can't put new software on a Dell
computer without Michael Dell's permission.

According to those familiar with the way Dell qualifies new software, they are
very careful about their shipping OS/application sets. They put together new
builds every quarter, and test them for a full quarter. This means that to ship
something in October it has to be into a build set in July, which means it has
to be slotted some time in April. And that's just for an application. Now
imagine what Dell's test plan looks like for a whole new operating system.

Remember, Microsoft announced a delay of availability to the public, but
absolutely nothing changed about their Release To Manufacturing (RTM) date. So
what happened is reality finally set in at Microsoft. I'm saying it was Dell,
but it could as easily been HP, which of course has to work that much further
ahead because, unlike Dell, HP manufactures for distribution through resellers.

So Microsoft possibly could have stuck to its original November availability
estimate, but that would have meant a Christmas with Vista available only from
second-tier PC manufacturers, and darned few of those.

The only shocking thing here is that this seems to have somehow taken Microsoft
by surprise. If they didn't realize internally that shipping a new OS for
Christmas means getting final bits to the OEMs in July, they have problems in
the Windows division far beyond just their ability to ship.

But wait, there's more!

Last week, a Microsoft data security guru suggested at a conference that
corporate and government users would be wise to come up with automated
processes to wipe clean hard drives and reinstall operating systems and
applications periodically as a way to deal with malware infestations. What
Microsoft is talking about is a utility from SysInternals, a company that makes
simply awesome tools.

The crying shame of this whole story is that Microsoft has given up on Windows
security. They have no internal expertise to solve this problem among their
60,000-plus employees, and they apparently have no interest in looking outside
for help. I know any number of experts who could give Microsoft some very good
guidance on what is needed to fix and secure Windows. There are very good
developers Microsoft could call upon to help them. But no, their answer is to
rebuild your system every few days and start over. Will Vista be any better?

I don't think so....

===





 /m

--- BBBS/NT v4.01 Flag-5
 * Origin: Barktopia BBS Site http://HarborWebs.com:8081 (1:379/45)