Disclosure of vulnerabilities

For more than a decade the cry has been for vendors of software to publicly document vulnerabilities within their applications….

And now for a new opinion…maybe that wasn’t such a good idea says one of O’Reilly’s guru’s. While there are pluses and minuses on both sides of the argument I do not think that really matters. IMHO the author of these comments is swayed more by the behavior of Apple.  Apple is always tight lipped concerning any news regarding their stuff. The author is only trying to avoid being too much of a hypocrite.

From one perspective — non-disclosure would all but eliminate most of the would-be cyber-criminals who simply wait for a vendor to post a vulnerability. Script-kiddies best describes them.  These types correctly assume that most folks will not patch their computers even if a fix is available. The question I would pose is what percentage of the malicious software do the script-kiddies create.

The battle of the dual-core processors

Dell predicts dual-core Xeons to top AMD in 2006 — Chairman Michael Dell’s claim is rather hollow when you step back and consider that his company cannot build a system based on the AMD processors. Since Dell doesn’t produce an AMD based PC Dell’s fortunes in the end depend on Intel improving their products.
GamePC has an article on details of the new Intel ‘Paxville’ Dual Core Xeon. It looks like Intel has a bit of catching up to do.  This article is consistent with benchmarks posted by other independent hardware oriented websites.

This makes me wonder about Apple’s decision to switch from PowerPC processors to Intel.  Had they instead went with AMD, the processor switch would be more consistent with their Think Different advertisements. Steven Jobs wouldn’t have looked so stupid for saying “we will never switch to Intel!”  It could have been an interesting marketing coup for Apple comparing a faster AMD based Macintosh against the lagging Intel based PCs of the largest PC manufacturer…Dell.

IMHO the issue is the quality of Apple’s and Dell’s manufacturing processes.  Ever since the original Pentium math bug Intel has maintained a more conservative approach.  Despite the marketing hype Apple and Dell quality control for their manufacturing processes would have a difficult time with the hotter AMD chips.

Slashdot | EC Watching Microsoft Security Moves

This one makes me smile. Over the last few years revenue for Symantec and the other security vendors has grown faster than the problems. It seems clear that they haven’t been getting the job done. And there’s financial incentive for them not to get it done as well.

Many non-technical folks have told me that it doesn’t take much imagination to believe that someone on the payroll of these huge security vendors is writing the viruses. While I don’t totally agree with that I believe that Jonathan Zdziarski of “Ending Spam” had it right. There’s no business model for doing the job too well. He was comparing the difference in accuracy between commercial and OpenSource antispam filters but Jonathan’s statement applies to security products as well.

Many-to-Many: The State of Email

Dealing with email and all the issues around it like spam, viruses, running out of space and all the newbie questions make me wonder if it is worth the trouble. This article though presents a few positive alternatives…
Many-to-Many: The State of Email

Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP

Microsoft Shared Computer Toolkit for Windows XP

This looks like a good solution to help folks manage shared computers at home.

A few points need to be tested:

• How resilient is it to spyware and viruses?
• What games and other fun stuff will not work with it?
• Just how easy is it to manage?