{"id":3157,"date":"2001-08-10T15:00:16","date_gmt":"2001-08-10T20:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smperformance.wordpress.com\/2013\/08\/03\/stratvantage-consulting-llc-mikes-take-on-the-news-081001\/"},"modified":"2001-08-10T15:00:16","modified_gmt":"2001-08-10T20:00:16","slug":"stratvantage-consulting-llc-mikes-take-on-the-news-081001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stratvantage.com\/index.php\/2001\/08\/10\/stratvantage-consulting-llc-mikes-take-on-the-news-081001\/","title":{"rendered":"StratVantage Consulting, LLC — Mike’s Take on the News 08\/10\/01"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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From Evernote:<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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StratVantage Consulting, LLC — Mike’s Take on the News 08\/10\/01<\/h1>\n

Clipped from: http:\/\/www.stratvantage.com\/news\/081001.htm<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

T<\/strong>he News \u2013 08\/10\/01<\/h1>\n

A Grand Conspiracy Theory <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Alert SNS Reader David Dabbs sends along a pointer to Robert X. Cringely\u2019s polemic, \u201cThe Death of TCP\/IP: Why the Age of Internet Innocence is Over<\/em>.<\/strong>\u201d This was actually one of the top links listed on Blogdex <\/a>, which was covered in a recent <\/a> SNS.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anyway, Cringely blames Microsoft and its \u201cbusiness decision\u201d not to include security in its operating systems or applications for the sorry state of affairs today.<\/strong> Any enterprising moron <\/a> can create and release a virus based on Microsoft\u2019s Visual Basic and its ever-helpful Outlook email client.<\/strong> Cringely states that the impending Windows XP \u201cis the first home version of Windows to allow complete access to TCP\/IP sockets, which can be exploited by viruses to do all sorts of damage.<\/strong> Windows XP uses essentially the same TCP\/IP software as Windows 2000, except that XP lacks 2000’s higher-level security features.<\/strong> In order to be backward compatible with applications written for Windows 95, 98, and ME, Windows XP allows any application full access to raw sockets.<\/strong>\u201d If you\u2019re not sure of what raw sockets are, basically what Cringely is saying is that XP is bad because virus writers and crackers will have tremendously more power to wreak havoc.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Cringely doesn\u2019t stop there. He says he\u2019s heard from several sources that Microsoft\u2019s Grand Plan is to make the TCP\/IP protocol that runs the Internet unusable so the company can ride to the rescue with its own proprietary protocol.<\/strong> He even postulates that Microsoft would get Congress to mandate the new protocol to solve kiddie porn and other disgusting Net problems. It is a tribute to Microsoft\u2019s already considerable conspiratorial efforts that this \u201crumor\u201d doesn\u2019t sound implausible.<\/strong> The company is already pushing its Passport technology as the standard for managing users\u2019 personal information on the Internet, for a fee, of course.<\/strong> Hook Passport to a proprietary protocol from Microsoft, and you\u2019ve got a pretty believable scenario for Web hegemony.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Personally, I\u2019m skeptical that Microsoft would be willing to damage the Web in order to gain control over it.<\/strong> I\u2019m much more willing to believe that the addition of raw sockets access without sufficient security is just another blunder by a company that can\u2019t seem to buy a security clue (despite $12 billion a year in research).<\/strong> Nonetheless, I do not doubt that Microsoft will employ its very effective \u201cembrace and extend\u201d technique to try to gain control of the Internet.<\/strong> I fully expect to see some kind of \u201cvalue-added\u201d proprietary communications protocol come out of the monopoly.<\/strong> But it seems very unlikely that Microsoft would sabotage one of its products to bring about total control of the Net.<\/strong> But that\u2019s just my opinion, and I could be wrong.<\/strong><\/p>\n

PBS <\/a><\/p>\n

Briefly Noted<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n