[extropy-chat] Software exposure: was Re: Eugen Leitl, you got Klez

[BillK]

On Tue Feb 10, 2004 04:07 am Eugen Leitl wrote:
> Yeah, they wrote an OS from scratch that couldn't do multitasking,
> multiuser, had no security in mind, nor did have a TCP/IP stack. I.e.,
> they turned the clock back 15-20 years at the time of release.
>
> It's not a result of history. It's a result of a bunch of idiot
> developers and a lucky accident being taken forward by shrewd, very
> unscrupulous businessmen.
>

All mostly true, but I can't help feeling that you are trying to
re-interpret history from a modern POV.
Hindsight is wonderful, I'm amazingly good at it myself. ;)

But back then I don't remember it as being the way you describe.
Computer enthusiasts hacked away on the DOS command line. The mass
market would not exist until a GUI and more powerful CPUs arrived.
Businesses already had terminals connected to mainframes for timesharing
and multi-tasking.
The 'new' PCs were stand-alone office toys for a bit of word-processing,
spread-sheets and games.
TCP/IP? Do you remember the first 2400 bps modems and BBS systems?
Only enthusiasts bothered.

By the way, when I said that MS had now added security as an objective,
my reference to 'too late' implied that they would fail in this
objective. MS requires yet another redesign and upgrades for everyone.
No surprise there, then.

BillK