Shane and I were talking about M$ products and the government. I thought y'all might be interested too.
First, the Peruvian government is putting through a bill that would eliminate closed, proprietary software (M$ software) from government computers. The General Manager of M$ in Peru wrote a public complaint, and a congressman wrote a response. I was most interested in what he said about security: "To guarantee national security or the security of the State, it is indispensable to be able to rely on systems without elements which allow control from a distance or the undesired transmission of information to third parties. Systems with source code freely accessible to the public are required to allow their inspection by the State itself, by the citizens, and by a large number of independent experts throughout the world. Our proposal brings further security, since the knowledge of the source code will eliminate the growing number of programs with spy code. "In the same way, our proposal strengthens the security of the citizens, both in their role as legitimate owners of information managed by the state, and in their role as consumers. In this second case, by allowing the growth of a widespread availability of free software not containing spy code able to put at risk privacy and individual freedoms." Well said. And if that wasn't enough to stricken M$ crap, check this out (in case you didn't already read it in Shane's sig): "Microsoft has knowingly and willfully concealed information regarding security flaws in computer software from the [National Security Agency] out of fear that revealing such flaws would reduce the number of copies of its products that would be purchased by the government... I have raised this issue internally with Microsoft, and in return have been the subject of both bribes and threats." -ED CURRY, Computer Security Specialist, in a letter to Defense Secretary William Coen In other words, M$ risked national security for the love of money. How unbelievably vile! Just look at how much M$ cares about the security of the 260+ million inhabitants of its home country. I didn't think I could hate M$ as much as I do right now. Anyway, I really hope the US government starts taking notice of how other governments are separating themselves from the evil that is Microsoft. Miark
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