From: nick at virus-l.demon.co.uk (Nick FitzGerald)
Subject: [OFFTOPIC] Zone Alarm

Shawn McMahon <smcmahon@....com> wrote:

<<snip>>
> There are people on the Internet for whom their PC represents a year's
> labor, and a new router represents months.  ...

Which rather neatly sums the whole problem up in one sentence.

Odd as this will seem to many of today's (relative) youth, there was a 
time when seatbelts were generally viewed as an eccentric, expensive 
and largely unnecessary option in automobiles.

Ditto crash helmets for motorcycle riders.

Ditto many other things now generally considered necessary, although 
that position has largely come about because of legislative 
mandate...

The appalling state of "computer and Internet security in general" 
(that is, a far wider issue than just the current thread topic) 
suggests that computer development is, in many senses, perhaps at the 
"Model T" stage of evolution.  As the industry has shown time and 
again that it cannot develop reasonable standards and police itself, 
perhaps the age of "needing" strictly enforced legislation is rapidly 
approaching?  It will be a chronically bad thing in many senses, but 
it seems the focussed self-interest of the world's richest men is not 
furthering standardization and safety (in fact, their continued 
clamouring that the software industry needs to retain its special 
exemptions from general trade legislation requiring products and 
services to be "fit for purpose" shows their true colours, given we 
are supposedly entering the age of Trustworthy Computing, or already 
in the age of unbreakable software, depending on which oracle you 
ascribe to).  History suggests that the corporate robber barons may 
not be allowed to continue unfettered much longer, although in the 
short term, with such short-sighted folk (who are themselves part of 
the pigopoly) in power in the US, the date of comeuppance may be 
delayed somewhat.

If computers and the Internet were ready for prime time _and_ the 
computer industry had to play by the same rules as everyone else 
_from the outset_, we would never have had to have this discussion...

(Now, to stretch the car analogy for some fun...  It seems Gates and 
Microsoft are in the position Ford was around the time of the Model T 
-- PCs running Windows do not totally dominate, but they are well 
ahead of the rest of the market.  Perhaps we should take heart that 
Ford is not in that position now?  And is it just me, or are Gates et 
al., with their TCPA/NGSCB nonsense, doing the computing equivalent 
of turning their Ford into an Edsel?)


-- 
Nick FitzGerald
Computer Virus Consulting Ltd.
Ph/FAX: +64 3 3529854

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