[118421] in Cypherpunks
Re: On Misplaced Power
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anonymous)
Mon Sep 27 11:30:31 1999
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 17:08:28 +0200 (CEST)
Message-Id: <199909271508.RAA28935@mail.replay.com>
From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Reply-To: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
>>>>> RProcess <rprocess@nym.alias.net> writes:
> Is it an accident that Windows is so full of security holes? Are
> these programmers really this incompetent...?
Have you ever actually *examined* Windows source code? I have, and I
can assure you that the answer is a resounding YES. As one of my team
members put it, it looks as if it was written by a class of seventh-
grade programming students.
(A look at Microsoft's software engineering process, opposition to
peer review, hiring practices, and perceived reputation within the
industry should persuade you that the answer can hardly be otherwise.)
This is not to say, of course, that the NSA isn't delighted by the
widespread popularity of an insecure OS, nor that they haven't been
quick to take advantage of its many holes. But my experience of the
NSA has shown them to be throughly competent, and I'm convinced that
they would do a much better job of introducing intentional backdoors
than the juvenile security flaws we see in Windows.
"Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by
incompetence." --Napoleon
