4 Small Rivers

Four Small Rivers: a chaotic ramble of notes from my travels; from my life; from my professional world; and musings on the Meaning of Life. Related website: joeinc.tv/Personal NOTE: the notes in here represent personal opinions not those of any entity I may otherwise be affiliated with (employers, customers, etc.)

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Software gripe

Some months ago I stopped using Microsoft Explorer, because of all the security holes it has; switching to Mozilla hasn't been flawless -- it's a better browser UNTIL you try and use Acrobat.

MSFT software today is like U.S. cars in the 1960s. Manufacturers then wanted nothing to do with safety, resisted terribly such ideas as seat belts, engines that don't crash onto driver's legs in front-end collisions. That was because they'd designed the cars as cheap, and unsafe. Only when, first, Volvo put safety in as a design consideration from the day the car's design started did we start to get safe cars. Today, MSFT is bolting safety patches on flaws and pushing sandbags against holes. When do we get to the point where the software is designed prima facie as secure?

"Microsoft Windows is like an expensive car parked in a bad part of town with the door unlocked and the keys in the ignition. The only thing lacking is the owner's signature on the title showing the transfer of ownership. Where Microsoft comes in is that it is not completely the owners fault: the car locks don't work all the time and the key is welded in place."
|| Unknown, 2:27 PM

2 Comments:

Interesting quote. Where's it from?
Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:33 AM  
Slashdot.org unknown poster originated it ...
Blogger Unknown, at 10:43 PM  

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