[mso] Re: exe files
- From: "Colin" <colin.mac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 3 Sep 2003 10:07:54 +0100
Hi Greg,
You make a lot of sense on this argument, no doubt about that.
The only proviso I would put is that some of the enhancements are the
very things that open up the security holes in the first place.
Overall however I tend to agree with you.
Thanks again
****************************************
Colin McDonald
colinmac@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
****************************************
-----Original Message-----
From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Greg Chapman
Sent: 03 September 2003 05:56
To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [mso] Re: exe files
Oh no!! That wasn't my point in this latest exchange at all. The intent
= was to highlight that the loss from not advancing the software has
nothing = to do with the productivity increase the new software might
provide. I have = many reasons to believe that for nearly all of those
'reporters' there will = be no increase in productivity at all. That's
especially true if we bow to the pressures presented by the long,
gradual learning curve of the human = mind. They'll be lost for weeks if
not months but their productivity loss will = be fairly minor!! Bear in
mind as you read this that the perspective I'm = using is from that of a
corporation of at least 150 employees. Whenever I = attempt to place
value on these quanta, it always seems to break over at that = head
count. I'm pretty sure that's what MS marketing people are aiming at as
well.
No, the pressure to move ahead here stems from one mighty and expensive
problem: losses incurred in the battle against this week's worm!! Evil =
plot or not, whether you want to join the software purchasing
merry-go-round = or not, once you've bought the first piece and
installed it in your office = you have bought a non-stop maintenance
problem. And remaining behind the = product upgrade cycle is much more
expensive than to plan on being only one = version behind, or, expressed
differently, no more than 24 months behind the = last release. Those
numbers are based on the rate at which hackers learn the = new system
for truly effective exploits which just happens to coincide = nicely
with the rate at which administrators can learn to manage the new =
package, that a company can plan to spend money and that software
companies can produce meaningful upgrades.=20
The field really is level and that hack ain't no smarter than you. He or
= she merely has less need to spend time actually producing something
that = someone else will pay for. The folks at Microsoft are working on
things much = more complex than you or I which offsets any vast
differences in their IQ's = when placed against the scale of time. And
given that they are normal humans = in that they would prefer to work on
the 'next new thing' instead of the = last old thing (Oh yeah! The next
new thing also means new revenues. The old thing isn't paying the rent
anymore)you can see they are also much more likely to produce fixes
against flaws an exploits in the new things = instead of pumping
steroids into that old, dieing horse, right?<g>
So, reiterated, failing to upgrade your software is extremely expensive
= and the decision about when to upgrade should not be based on feature
set = unless you'd like to say that one of the features is that it's a
new beast to = hack. At this point in computing history, the real basis
for the decision is = to consider the cost of recovery if you don't
invest in upgrading. I'm = pretty sure that at the rates IT people are
paid, the value of the data = generated at the company under seige and
the cost of telling all those reporters = to hang it up for a day or two
while the systems are repaired you'll = quickly exceed the costs you
would have experienced from merely upgrading. Yes, upgrading tools for
MS apps are normally shipped with the product and = they really are less
labor intensive than quarantining laptops as they pass through the door.
Greg Chapman
http://www.mousetrax.com=20
"Counting in binary is as easy as 01, 10, 11!
With thinking this clear, is coding really a good idea?"
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx=20 [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
>On Behalf Of Katherine=20 Driskell Felts
> Sent: Tuesday, September 02, 2003 6:20 PM
> To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [mso] Re: exe files
>=20
>=20
> The thing of it is, Greg, my debating friend, just a few days=20
> ago you said
> that computers (and or increases in tech) were not going to=20
> make the average
> user more efficient. Now you're talking about this company=20
> missing out
> because they haven't kept up (out of a desire to not=20
> constantly having to
> train people on new programs) I know August of 1995 was eons=20
> ago computer
> wise, but how much less efficient can those secretaries be with an old
> version of Word?
>
*************************************************************
You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to
mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the
quotes) in the subject line.
Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will
also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no
mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso
To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group,
send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an
invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group,
you can go here to upload/download files:
http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles
*************************************************************
*************************************************************
You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or
MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to
mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) in
the subject line.
Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow
you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail).
//www.freelists.org/webpage/mso
To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a
request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with
instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to
upload/download files:
http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles
*************************************************************
Other related posts:
