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Teenager comes to Microsoft's aid | |
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| Time: 03:07 EST/08:07 GMT | News Source: BBC | Posted By: Alex Harris | ||
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A teenage computer whizz from Aberdeen has averted a potential crisis at software giant Microsoft. IT specialist Matt Thompson was barely out of college when he discovered a security glitch in Microsoft's Windows operating system. The 19-year-old informed the company and worked with them for six months to solve the problem. But all he received for helping protect Microsoft from hackers was a mention on its website. Mr Thompson discovered a flaw in the company's Jet Database Engine while carrying out work for a client at the firm where he works, Aberdeen IT. | ||
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| #1 By 12071 (203.173.48.70) at 4/16/2004 8:01:52 AM |
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Good on Mr Thompson for working with Microsoft on this vulnerability. Pity he didn't get anything for it, especially given what he could have done with this information, but that's corporate life for you.
Someone now needs to come to Mr Thompson's aid to help clean up all those icons off his desktop! There has to be at least 200 icons on there! |
| #2 By 19992 (164.214.4.61) at 4/16/2004 8:11:13 AM |
| Maybe he should setup mycrowsoft.com. That seems to be a good way to get free stuff out of MS. |
| #3 By 12071 (203.173.48.70) at 4/16/2004 11:24:10 AM |
| Microsoft have been adopting lots of great features of open source over many many years! Majority of it being from BSD. |
| #4 By 12071 (203.173.48.70) at 4/16/2004 11:55:44 AM |
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What does Linux have to do with anything? Oh that's right, nothing, you just feel the need to mention it all the time. Sounds like an obsession there Parkker!!
"Linux is more of a cloner than an innovator. Consider mono ..." Before I move on, I'm curious... What does Linux have to do with Mono? How does Mono impact on what Linux is or is not? Just because is runs on Linux? "The Mono project is an open source effort sponsored by Novell to create a free implementation of the .NET Development Framework." You did realise the hypocrisy in your statements don't you? If you're going to be bold enough to say that Linux is a cloner rather than an innovator then perhaps you should have used another example other than Mono, after all, let's not forget what .NET and C# are a clone of (regardless of small differences here and there). Given that hints don't work on you too well, the answer is Sun's JVM and Java. Having said that, it's interesting that you point out Mono in bad light, I thought that in the past you pointed to Mono as an example that .NET isn't proprietary MS Windows only technology. This post was edited by chris_kabuki on Friday, April 16, 2004 at 11:58. |
| #5 By 1658 (24.15.133.255) at 4/16/2004 12:34:30 PM |
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"Given that hints don't work on you too well, the answer is Sun's JVM and Java."
Given that you obviously lack even the slightest clue as to what you're talking about, care to back up your statement that Sun's Java Virtual Machine technology and the Java Applications Language are merely the same as the .NET *Platform* and C#? The disparities between the two sets of technologies are gaping on multiple levels and you chalk it up to "small differences here and there". Wow. If you can't back it up, I'll come back and slam your book closed with a whole slew of examples and technical knowledge to demonstrate you too are in fact a moron. Perhaps you should seek an MCSD first and then come back... I so rarely post but the blindness with which you defend Linux in this forum is hilarious because it never stands on the technical merits, it's always some opinion of yours generated from an incomplete picture of the facts. This post was edited by aamendala on Friday, April 16, 2004 at 12:39. |
| #6 By 21912 (24.205.202.246) at 4/16/2004 6:45:37 PM |
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(#15) You seem to be making too much of the final product release dates, Parkker. Don't forget that there was a bit of cross-pollination during the development stages between Apple and Microsoft. For instance, Jobs visited Microsoft in August of 1981 and gave a speech there about his own vision for the future of computing. A couple of months later, in October of 1981, Bill Gates visited Apple in Cupertino and got a good look at an early mockup of the MacIntosh. So both of these events took place about the same time you say that Microsoft started developing what would later become Windows. Then in January of 1982, Microsoft agreed to write software for the Mac platform, so it's not as if Microsoft didn't have significant access to the OS work that Apple was doing.
Later, when Apple sued Microsoft for misappropriating too much of the "look and feel" of Apple's GUI, a significant part of Microsoft's defense was "Hey, we both got it from Xerox!" That was precisely the case, too. Jobs had toured PARC in 1979 and immediately set out to build a GUI computer. He just got pissed at Gates for trying to steal his stolen goods (hehe). Anyway, I only mention these bits of ancient history because of your statement that "Windows development started before either of those came out" (referring to VisiOn and Lisa). Your "Windows-centric" viewpoint may reflect the current computer marketplace, but it's less accurate in the historical perspective. Microsoft may have made some tremendous contributions, but they didn't invent computing and they didn't invent the GUI. P.S. Back to the original topic, I'll bet that Microsoft will find some way to compensate the teenager for his efforts and the extensive time he spent showing them their design flaws. |
| #7 By 3339 (64.160.58.135) at 4/16/2004 7:32:00 PM |
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No, Gary, you've got it wrong; Parkker is right... The Lisa just sprang into exist... One day there were these computers and shrink-wrapped boxes at Apple.
MS is the only company that develops anything. What do you think it takes like 5 years to develop an entire new hardware platform, the first commercial GUI, and a complete suite of applications? Oh wait, it does... "In 1978, Apple Computers started on a business system to complement their successful Apple II/III line of home computers. The new project was code named Lisa, unofficially after the daughter of one of its designers and officially standing for Local Integrated Software Architecture. Steve Jobs was completely dedicated to new project, implementing feature after feature and delaying the release of Lisa, until he was finally removed as project manager by then Apple president Mark Markkula. The Lisa was finally released in January 1983." This post was edited by sodajerk on Friday, April 16, 2004 at 19:32. |
| #8 By 19992 (69.170.7.187) at 4/16/2004 7:35:26 PM |
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#18 GaryM
The Xerox PARC was not the original either, it was inspired by work done by Douglas Englebart in 1968 for a GUI with a mouse. That said, Microsoft has certainly provided some innovations for the IT world, but I would argue that they have been of the incremental improvement variety rather than major breakthroughs in IT/Computer Science. |
| #9 By 21912 (24.205.202.246) at 4/16/2004 8:10:12 PM |
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This whole subject (off-topic though it is) brings to mind the recent trend toward increased software patents, regarding incremental change versus monumental breakthroughs. Extensive software patents might seriously hinder the process of incremental change -- what if Englebart or Xerox had patented their ideas? Apple and Microsoft would have had to choose between licensing some of the GUI ideas, or spending extra time to develop non-infringing alternate concepts. Maybe there will be a news item to spark that discussion.
BTW, Parkker, I'm sorry if I exaggerated your position, but it seemed to me like you were trying to place the genesis of Windows at a point significantly before Gates saw Apple's GUI work. I just wanted to make sure that Microsoft's early access to Apple's technology wasn't obscured by the actual release dates you mentioned. |
| #10 By 11888 (64.230.32.72) at 4/16/2004 10:26:07 PM |
| I'm sick of Parker or Parkker or whatever he's calling himself now. Can he be banned again? Those few hours without him were nice. |
| #11 By 12071 (203.217.20.114) at 4/17/2004 1:31:11 AM |
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#11 So you call me a moron to show us all how mature you really are and then you point to some Microsoft certification. You're funny, I'll give you that!
I didn't want to run down a full comparison of .NET vs JVM because there was no need to, I was just pointing out what a ludicrous statement Parkker had made, your blindness obviously missed that. Obviously there are multiple technical differences between the two, some of which are more important that others. However, .NET framework and C# came after Sun told Microsoft to go stick it after they had added their own extensions to the JVM. If you remember back to this time, Microsoft really liked Java, they were getting right behind it. The problems started as soon as Sun started telling them what they could and could not do with it. Battle of control if you like. So out of all of that, suddenly Microsoft gave birth to .NET framework and C#. Even a blind person could see the resemblance of C# to Java (and not just purely in syntax) although C# has more C++ qualities to it (a plus in my book). Now let's compare, very abstractly, how the whole thing works. In .NET you code in one of the several languages provided (which you can also do in Java), this code is then translated into Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL) which is language-neutral, and is analogous to Java bytecode. The IL code then needs to be interpreted and translated into a native executable. The .NET Framework includes the Common Language Runtime (CLR), analogous to the Java Runtime Environment (JRE), which achieves this goal. The CLR is Microsoft's intermediary between .NET developers' source code and the underlying hardware, and all .NET code ultimately runs within the CLR. So, as I said, yes there are many differences, but overall, if we take a look at how the whole thing works, it's not that different to the JVM/Java! "I so rarely post but the blindness with which you defend Linux in this forum" Quite honestly the only times I "defend" Linux are when Parkker and Sodablue come out with the most amazing FUD you've ever heard in your life. e.g. One of the latest ones was that foreign agencies and terrorists (I wasn't sure if they meant mainly the Chinese and Russians or ONLY the Chinese and Russians) are planting backdoors in Linux to use against the US of A - knowing full well that the American agencies would never actually check the code they are running. If you can't see the FUD in those sorts of quotes from those two brainiacs, then there's nothing I can say to convince you, most people wouldn't be able to pick apart the bits of those comments where there is no FUD! #12 "When a bunch of OSS fanboys jump into a discussion to criticize Microsoft" In the first 7 comments before you brought Linux into the equation, which OSS fanboys were criticizing Microsoft? I'm no OSS fanboy, am I'm no MS FUD machine either, but the only person I criticised was Mr Thompson for having his whole desktop littered with icons!! You just have an obsession =) |
| #12 By 12071 (203.217.20.114) at 4/17/2004 3:44:03 AM |
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So no-one was critisicing Microsoft then?
"And you have no sense of humor at all." I'm amused by the FUD you come out with on a daily basis =) "And I was never banned ... I do sometimes go on vacation." Did you forget the password for parker? |
| #13 By 21912 (24.205.202.246) at 4/17/2004 5:35:34 PM |
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(#31) I gotta admit, that Parkker-meter is funny!
I'll probably wait for the real-time version, though ;-) |
| #14 By 12071 (203.217.20.114) at 4/18/2004 4:28:49 AM |
| #36 "If MS were open source, " they would disclose the full and complete details of ALL of the bugs they've fixed in their patches, rather than just mentioning a couple to try and keep the numbers low. |
| #15 By 12071 (203.185.215.149) at 4/18/2004 8:03:57 PM |
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#39 "(while at the same time fixing an identical bug)"
We don't know if it was identical or not, it definetely wouldn't have been in the same class given that the BMP fix was applied to imgbmp.cxx. What we DO know if that Microsoft failed to DISCLOSE this bug (and god only knows how many others which we do not know about!). "40 or more vulnerabilities a week in open source should not be covered up or ignored by you" When have I ever covered up or ignored the quantity of vulnerabilities in "open source"? Where you get a little ahead of yourself with all these numbers is that you don't realise is that: a) some of the bugs you list are repeated multiple times, usually once for the bug itself and then once per distro that has packaged that bug. b) not all of the bugs listed will apply to the end user. Linux is NOT Windows, people don't apply patches for software and services that they do not have installed or use! If there happen to be 12 different ftp applications included in your favourite distro, you will not install all 12, you'll make a choice out of those 12 which to install (if any). Therefore there may be 1 billion bus fixed for kftp, but if you're not running it, telling everyone that OSS has a billion bugs per year is irrelevant! Additionally, and I've said this multiple times, the quantity of bug fixes isn't an issue in my book, all that is relevant is that any bug which do exist get fixed in a timely manner and that they are all disclosed to the end user so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to apply the patch, and what they will need to test after applying the patch. You can say whatever you like, but all you've done so far is proved time and time again that OSS disclose the details of the bugs that are fixed. "I try to look at Microsoft security record in context." No, you look at the bits you want to focus on, like W2K3 Server which you mention all the time as being the pinnacle of MS security, even if we are talking about desktop OS'. If Windows improving - hell yes, by leaps and bounds over Windows 9X! Does that mean I should ignore the fact that they come out and claim they release patches as fast or faster than OSS as part of some PR stunt? no. Does that mean I should ignore the fact they don't disclose all the bugs they fix? no. "Open source, on the other hand, is a buggy insecure mess" You forgot to add that it's constantly being infiltrated by those Chinese and Russian foreign agencies and terrorists! |
| #16 By 12071 (203.185.215.149) at 4/19/2004 12:18:50 AM |
| ignorant hypocrite |
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