In Microsoft we must trust

Pro

1 April 2005

Are you angry, frustrated and fed up as a PC user? Well I am and the reason is the seemingly endless revelations of security holes in Windows and the resulting production line of patches issued by Microsoft to fix them.

I ask myself why should users continually have to fix software applications that they’ve paid good money for? The answer in the ideal world is of course that they shouldn’t have to. But this is far from an ideal world – it’s one where one software company has a 90 per cent monopoly on desktop software.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t begrudge Bill Gates his success, but I do believe that a company as profitable as Microsoft ($10 billion dollars for year end to June 2003) should have a moral and commercial obligation to ensure that its products are more secure for its customers.

Already Microsoft is losing out in the court of public opinion. In the US, the company is feeling the heat from angry customers angered by the security glitches in Windows software – flaws that were exploited by the SoBig and Blaster viruses last summer.
On distraught American user, Marcy Levitas Hamilton claims that thieves were able to steal her social security and banking details because of Windows vulnerabilities exploited by the SoBig virus outbreak. This Californian decided to take the groundbreaking step of suing Microsoft for the damaged caused. If successful, Hamilton’s action would do something unprecedented in holding Microsoft liable for damages linked to flaws in its products. But there is something that I must point out at this stage: Once a user signs a user-licence agreement to use Microsoft’s software, they surrender the right to sue the company. Now were you aware of that?

There is some good news at least. Microsoft is at last making some serious efforts to resolve the problems with its software. It has offered cash rewards for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the creators of the SoBig and Blaster viruses. It has also made $4.5m available to help drive the capture of originators of future destructive viruses and worms. In the PR arena, its executives talk up the company’s Trustworthy Computing Initiative – an ambitious plan to improve the security and reliability of its software.

Real action for ordinary users will only come in the form of Windows XP Service Pack 2, which among other things, will turn the built-in firewall on by default, stopping many attacks before they reach users’ computers. The company also plans to make automatic updates easier to find and easier to enable on new PCs. This is all good news. But let’s get the software development right in the first place and then we won’t have a need to log on for these updates. Come on Microsoft: Turn over a new leaf in 2004 by finally ironing out the creases in the software we use most.

06/01/04

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