The toman diaries

Microsoft France thinks source code is a password

fredag, juli 02, 2004

Paris City hall is buying new computer systems, concidering various software vendors, among them Microsoft and various Open Source alternatives. The Open Source software is so cheap to install and run that Microsoft has let its resellers in France cut prices by as much as 60% to get a deal.

Paris says price, ease of modification (because of open source-code) and more importantly, security is the main reason to go the open source way.

Security is something MS has never been very good at. Or at least, they haven't taken it very seriously until late, when they have started saying they care more, even though security holes still pop up like mushrooms in the autumn. (I had to download something like a whole CD-ROM worth of upgrades for a three month old basic Windows XP home system a year ago)

So what is MS saying about Open source and security? From the referenced article:
"'If I have a safe in my room and I give the code to everybody, will it be safer? I don't think so".
How is it that they can compare source code to passwords and security codes?
The valid comparison would be
"'If I have a safe in my room that is built in a known way making it hardened by contantly letting people try to break it, will it be safer? I think it would".
I get pissed when the press leaves such false statements uncommented.