No more second chances for Microsoft?
In a remarkable declaration earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security--a bureaucracy set up to deal with stuff that generally falls under the category of national emergency--called on all users of Windows software to install a new security patch issued by Microsoft.
This wasn't your garden variety flaw. The fear in Washington was a repeat of something like the chaos caused by the MSBlast worm in 2003.
By now, Chertoff's people must be thoroughly frustrated that Microsoft still turns out poorly designed products. What with terror plots being uncovered overseas and threats of airline bombings, cybersecurity obviously is not the top headline this week.
If you want to find someone to blame, Gates says, point a finger at the "malicious people" out there looking to "take advantage of whatever things there are."
What did you expect him to say? That it's Microsoft's fault? That would be too hot to handle. Gates and the rest of the brass stick closely to the script but clearly know that Microsoft can't keep turning out finished products that are as porous as Swiss cheese.
Here's something to consider: If bridge builders or airplane designers applied the same standards to their labors, do you believe that the public would so easily forgive the regularity with which bridges would collapse and airliners fall out of the sky?
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