Boston Globe editorial: Microsoft's first duty

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2006/01/23/microsofts_fir
st_duty?mode=PF
 
GLOBE EDITORIAL

Microsoft's first duty


January 23, 2006

 
<http://studio.financialcontent.com/Engine?Account=bostonglobe&PageName=QUOT
E&Ticker=MSFT> MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN Bill Gates believes that Vista, the
Windows operating system to be introduced later this year, will allow the
company to move closer to its goal of integrating personal computing and
home entertainment. As Gates was touting Vista at the Consumer Electronics
show in Las Vegas earlier this month, the disclosure of an unexpected
weakness in Windows underlined the need for Microsoft to make its operating
system less prone to hacker attacks.

An operating system, the backbone of a computer, allows all the other
programs to function. Windows XP, used on home computers today, is far
superior to its predecessors, but it still takes too long to start, is prone
to overload, and is vulnerable to attack through the attached Internet
Explorer.

Microsoft's domination of the market for operating systems on personal
computers gives it extraordinary power, which the federal government does
little to control. The company maintains a $40 billion cash reserve. It has
the resources -- and the obligation -- to devise an easier-to-use,
less-fragile product.

Perhaps Vista will be that system. Microsoft promises it will provide better
security, quicker starts, enhanced ability to access data, and improved
backup if the system fails. At the electronics show, Vista product manager
Aaron Woodman dwelled on the flashier elements of the program, such as
Sidebar, which will allow people to post a sports bulletin service or other
favorite information source on an unobtrusive part of the desktop, or the
companion Microsoft Media Center, which will improve access to
entertainment.

As Gates and Woodman were speaking, computer users around the world were
tying to close a security gap that affected all Windows computers built over
the last eight years and connected to the Internet. A hacker could infect a
computer with a virus through a file intended to facilitate the use of
graphics.

Microsoft learned about the problem Dec. 27, devised a solution to be sent
out Jan. 10, but was shamed into releasing it on Jan. 5 after an independent
software developer dispatched his own fix over the Internet. No great harm
seems to have been done, but the incident illustrates a continuing weakness.
Parts of Windows date from the time when Internet mischief was uncommon.
Microsoft needs to make the operating system resistant to the threats of
today before they infect computers.

The ''digital lifestyle" sketched by Gates last week could be so alluring
that his subordinates will slight more mundane tasks. People who use Windows
machines at work, or rely on them at home, would better appreciate a safe,
reliable computing experience.
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