[Full-Disclosure] Re: Gates: 'You don't need perfect code' for good security

[Charles E. Hill]

Gates spoke as a politician.  His comments were very narrowly tailored.

Read them close.  He spoke almost exclusively of Win2003 Server -- which has 
very minimal deployment and is brand new.  I don't know anyone who has 
actually installed Win2k3, yet.

The comments about "anyone who patched didn't have these problems" and "the 
patches proceeded the incidents" *WAS CORRECT* -- for the last half-dozen 
issues over the last month -- which is what he was talking about.

It wasn't a general statement on MS security, though it was ambiguous enough.  
He mixed a lot of generalisms (layered security, Windows a target because it 
is more widely deployed) with a lot of non-sequitur specifics (Win2K3 hasn't 
seen a lot of exploits [duh! it isn't widely deployed!  See the last 
sentence!]

Keep in mind how Mr. Gates handled his deposition in the anti-trust trial...

'At other points, Gates has claimed he doesn't know what his interrogators 
mean when they use terms such as "concerned," "ask" and "non-Microsoft 
browser."'


-- 
Charles E. Hill
Technical Director
Herber-Hill LLC
http://www.herber-hill.com/