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OFF: (waaay off topic) RE: LISTADMIN: No attachments to list messages PL

• From: Tim McCune <timm@c...>
• To: "'David Megginson'" <david@m...>, "'XML Developers' List'" <xml-dev@i...>
• Date: Mon, 29 Mar 1999 09:19:53 -0700

Damned eloquent David.  But I'd put the poster at #1 on that list for being
ignorant enough to open a Word document that was attached to an e-mail
message.  Your comment about technical diversity indicates to me that you've
never been a system administrator. ;)

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-xml-dev@i... [mailto:owner-xml-dev@i...]On Behalf Of
David Megginson

As became clear in the follow-ups, the posting was done by a worm that
hides in Word macros (the Internet's equivalent of animal dung,
apparently) exploits gaping security holes in Outlook to mail itself
out to everyone in a person's address list.

In other words, the original poster did *not* post the attachment to
xml-dev, the worm did.  His only mistakes were (a) using Microsoft
Windows, (b) opening a file in MS Word, and (c) not uninstalling
Outlook from his computer the first time he booted up.  If you had
summarily unsubscribed him, then you would simply have added an unjust
punishment to the embarrassment he was already suffering.

In fact, all three of the mistakes were probably mandated by company
policy; if so the true blame belongs in three places, in diminishing
order of culpability:

1. The poster's company, for ignoring the importance of technical
   diversity and mandating the same operating system and software for
   everyone (it's much easier to write a worm or virus when everyone's 
   using exactly the same software).

2. Redmond, for ignoring security whenever possible.

3. The creator of the worm.

If I'm right about corporate policy, then most of the blame goes to
the company -- Redmond just wants to sell software, and the worm
creator just wants attention, but the company failed to act in its own
self-interest.  Technical diversity is critical for good operation:
I'd no more want to see an all-Linux shop than I'd want to see an
all-Windows or an all-Mac shop.

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