Re: Be very careful from now on...

[James Rich <james@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 17 Feb 2004, Adam Lang wrote:

> The reverse is also true, which is the theory behind open source.  The good
> guys get to see the code now also and can see what holes there are that only
> MS knew about.  that is why your comment "clearly seeing things that we
> can'" is wrong.  Now you can see as much as the bad guy can see.  The code
> being out there puts everyone on even footing in regards to knowing how
> things work.

In this case that isn't necessarily true.  With open source, the good guys
do get to see the code, and do far more than the bad guys bother to.
However, the good guys don't want trouble with MS and don't want to
violate any copyright laws or use technology without license or taint
their ability to work unfettered.  Looking at the MS code can cause all of
these problems.  Because of the license of the code, the good guys aren't
looking at it.  They don't want to jeopardize their careers by looking at
unlicensed code, and I don't want to either.

James Rich

"As for security, being lectured by Microsoft is like receiving wise words
on the subject of compassion from Stalin."
      -- mormop on lwn.net