OK, I fear that this discussion is quickly going to digress into a Ford?s and Chevy?s bickering match between proponents of Microsoft and everyone else. I am hoping to avoid that however. I am angry about something Microsoft has done and would like to debate the ethics and thought behind it rather than whether or not Microsoft is a corporeal manifestation of a subdivision of Hades. Here is what I would like to discuss:
I am a network administrator for a small company. We primarily use Microsoft products throughout. Having had many years of experience with Microsoft, I have learned the hard way to test all patches, updates, service packs, etc. that ol? Bill sends out before applying them across my network. Semi-recently, the Melissa virus struck and was followed by a rash of copy cats (to digress briefly, isn?t it amazing how the pathetic refuse that distribute viruses are similar to ants? Meaning that one adventurous, imaginative or unlucky one will diverge from the beaten path and venture into the unknown and will quickly attain a following of mindless drones who head down the same path.) So, back on topic, Melissa and all her progeny struck and with it?s usual sluggishness, the Microsoft juggernaut slowly stirred into action. They released a security patch for Outlook to prevent this type of attack and placed it on the Microsoft Update site so everyone could apply it and the world would once again be safe (insert Superman trumpet fanfare here)! In fact, they were so pleased with themselves that they incorporated this patch in their second service pack for Office 2000.
