In a week all the commotion will have died down, most copies of the virus / trojan horse / whatever will have been deleted and only a few will still be doing the rounds. But who, if anyone, should shoulder the blame for what has happened?
Obviously the prime contender is whoever wrote the script in the first place. It is fairly obvious that the intent was malicious, and after Melissa it is widely known what damage these sorts of things can do. But is it fair to pin all the blame here, after all after Melissa we all learnt our lesson, didn't we?
It would appear not, and we risk shooting the messenger. Is the real culprit Microsoft who has left the system so open to abuse? After all they wrote all the code with all the interoperability, and hence all the scope for the security breaches we are seeing. But why wire all the programs together, and make all of them work as one...
...unless it is something that the users have asked for? Could the desk jockies be the problem, wanting all this ease of use and abstraction from the nitty-gritty, so that writing an email is just like a letter is just like all the rest? After all work is dull enougth, let the Microserfs deal with all the boring computer jargon.
It is clear what will happen, and has already started to happen. The powers that be will press release that the villain is the author of the script, that (s)he has exploited security holes to disrupt society, and will be punished.
It will not occur to the media-at-large that perhaps the company that hasn't fixed the problems after Melissa could be to blame. That Microsoft could have been just a little bit negligent and perhaps should have to make an apology, or pay up some expenses.
Finally maybe the general users should get a stern word or two. If they want ease of use and security, they will have to kick up a fuss when they don't get it. How many people have complained to Microsoft as yet? Thought so.
In the end the blame will fall on one person, whereas it should fall on quite a few. Hopefully this time around some more heads wil roll, and people will start to realise that software is just like any other commodity. If it doesn't work you get your money back, or you get compensation.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
Slashdot Mirror
In a week all the commotion will have died down, most copies of the virus / trojan horse / whatever will have been deleted and only a few will still be doing the rounds. But who, if anyone, should shoulder the blame for what has happened?
Obviously the prime contender is whoever wrote the script in the first place. It is fairly obvious that the intent was malicious, and after Melissa it is widely known what damage these sorts of things can do. But is it fair to pin all the blame here, after all after Melissa we all learnt our lesson, didn't we?
It would appear not, and we risk shooting the messenger. Is the real culprit Microsoft who has left the system so open to abuse? After all they wrote all the code with all the interoperability, and hence all the scope for the security breaches we are seeing. But why wire all the programs together, and make all of them work as one...
...unless it is something that the users have asked for? Could the desk jockies be the problem, wanting all this ease of use and abstraction from the nitty-gritty, so that writing an email is just like a letter is just like all the rest? After all work is dull enougth, let the Microserfs deal with all the boring computer jargon.
It is clear what will happen, and has already started to happen. The powers that be will press release that the villain is the author of the script, that (s)he has exploited security holes to disrupt society, and will be punished.
It will not occur to the media-at-large that perhaps the company that hasn't fixed the problems after Melissa could be to blame. That Microsoft could have been just a little bit negligent and perhaps should have to make an apology, or pay up some expenses.
Finally maybe the general users should get a stern word or two. If they want ease of use and security, they will have to kick up a fuss when they don't get it. How many people have complained to Microsoft as yet? Thought so.
In the end the blame will fall on one person, whereas it should fall on quite a few. Hopefully this time around some more heads wil roll, and people will start to realise that software is just like any other commodity. If it doesn't work you get your money back, or you get compensation.
Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.