Re: [ OT] Special security Alert!

[jonhall]

You seem to be forgetting the numerous auto-executing viruses that have hit Outlook since BubbleBoy back in 99. Every single of these viruses could have been rendered impotent by simply allowing users to disable html email, and it has been a conscious decision on Microsoft's part, not to provide that option. It's very easy to blame them for that, and for not remedying it in the 4 years since BubbleBoy. How would you propose educating users on how to defend themselves from these kinds of viruses? Tell them not to read their email? -- mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Monday, September 22, 2003, 10:51:24 PM, you wrote: JM> I stopped using Outlook recently, but mainly because I finally found a JM> way to move all my old email over to my Mac. JM> It's somewhat unfair to blame Microsoft for the virii being passed JM> around, although it's typical of society - if you don't properly educate JM> yourself on how to use your software and then you get infected it has to JM> be someone else' fault. If you stab yourself in the eye with a pencil JM> it's not Dixon Ticonderoga's fault because they didn't make your pencil JM> dull, it's your fault because you don't know how to safely use the tools JM> you're given to work with. JM> You would think that after 3, 4, 5, 20 virii make their way to your JM> Outlook inbox and infect your machine that you would take the time JM> necessary to learn how to protect yourself, but alas, as we Americans JM> typically do, we go to the opposite extreme and demand that someone else JM> do something to shield us from having to learn something that may be JM> harder than making toast. JM> Anyway, I'd challenge anyone out there to put their email client in the JM> hands of several million uninformed, novice users and see if it could JM> withstand the inevitable onslaught of virii that would be written JM> specifically to exploit its weaknesses. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~|
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