[arachne] Re: Adobe swings and misses as PDF abuse worsens
- From: "Greg Mayman" <gmone@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: arachne@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 03 Mar 2009 08:46:03 +0930
Arachne at FreeLists---The Arachne Fan Club!
On Mon, 02 Mar 2009 11:22:41 -0500, L.D. Best wrote:
> Strangely, I originally smirked at his suggestion... but after Greg's
> laughter I had a sobering thought:
> What if we *could* convince Adobe to write software ports to DOS? Or
> should I say "start with DOS?" If they would do that, they'd be far
> more likely to discover the errors and loop-holes and vulnerabilities in
> their code BECAUSE DOS WON'T WIPE THEIR NOSES LIKE 'DOZE DO!
> Give me clean DOS code and you've got a good start to making a decent
> 'doze or penguin port, one that is far less bloated and far more secure.
> Whatcha t'ink 'bout dat???
It's a lovely thought, and what you're saying makes perfect sense.
But when has "perfect sense" ever driven anything in the marketplace?
I very much doubt that software writers care even a little jot about
discovering and removing all the errors and loopholes in their products.
They will only concern themselves with the really bad ones that show up
in the first few weeks. You have to remember that, by the time the
products get to the marketplace and errors start to show up, the writers
are already halfway through generating the next version, usually with a
completely new set of errors and loopholes.
And even if they did care, they would have to find time to check all
possible ways the software could be used, in all possible hardware, all
possible operating systems, while operating with all possible TSRs or
multi-tasking with all possible software.
And also test all possible ways the software could be misused.
Even testing the software in isolation in one set of hardware, with one
operating system, takes an enormous amount of time. Every possible path
through it has to checked, bearing in mind that every conditional
command generates a completely new set of pathways.
As someone once said, the time taken to check all possible iterations of
a piece of software goes up as a power of the complexity of the
software.
Most software is tested in the marketplace. Hey, so is most hardware!
That's why there are so many recalls of various products from television
sets to automobiles.
Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
"Desiderata", Max Ehrmann, copyright 1952.
,-./\
/ \ From Greg Mayman, in beautiful Adelaide, South Australia
\_,-*_/ "Queen City of The South" 35d 01'44"S 138d 32'13"E
v
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