les_wenninger@brains.uucp (Les Wenninger) (03/25/89)
re: Who's gonna write the ANTI-VIRUS programs?:
Bob_BobR_Retell@cup.portal.com describes a list of non-technical end-users
(with thoughts that they constitute the ENTIRE computer-using community?),
and says, as his "reasons" for withholding info on viruses from we common
rabble:
> None of this "Virus" information is likely to enable THEM to write their
own > protection... indeed, it's hardly likely that it will even REACH
them... and > the danger is, they may not even be ABLE to obtain "virus
killers", or perhaps > even know they're available.
So, just WHO, pray tell, is gonna be allowed the information to WRITE
these much-needed "anti-virus" programs, and is he gonna be willing to
publicly distribute them through Public Domain software channels?
Is this info going to be restricted to the hardware/software developers
only? And do you REALLY think they'd CARE to be considered "responsible" for
developing anti-virus programs for each new virus, and distributing them
rapidly enough that business users may recover their data soon enough to
MINIMIZE the disruption of their computer usage?
Let's face facts! Hardware & software-producing companies make their
money by introducing new, commercially-viable products. If they MUST divert a
trained engineer or programmer to other duties, such as answering technical
questions on the 'phone, or performing "public services", such as writing
anti-virus programs, then that TAKES AWAY from the potential profit that
company can make. As a result, commercial hardware/software manufacturers DO
NOT want to take responsibility for writing "anti-virus" programs.
Let's also look at the teacher/business-oriented end-user of computers:
are they going to WANT to shell out the cash (at anywhere from $50-$100 per
copy) to BUY a new program, every few months, just so they can keep their
files intact?
The independent "hacker", writing programs during his spare time, and
distributing them freely through Public-Domain channels now becomes an
important "link in a software "food-chain", as it were"; he produces the
various utilities (such as anti-virus programs) which commercial companies
haven't THOUGHT of introducing, because they don't USE computers in the same
way, toward the same goals, as the "common rabble on the street".
What you're proposing, Bob, is that the information required to write
anti-virus programs be restricted to people who can PAY to use it -- business
users who have a LOT of cash tied up in their computer usage, and who can
afford to pay programmers to write SPECIFIC utilities (including anti-virus
programs) for their sole use. This leaves an AWFUL LOT of us common computer
users out in the cold, frustrated with our thrashed data files, and
effectively putting computer usage BACK into the "ivory tower" environment
that numerous "hackers" have worked so long to eliminate, when they first
dreamt that they could bring computers down to the price, size, and
useability that was NEEDED by people.
What you're proposing, Bob, is a rather Faschist form of
counter-evolution, and I don't think many people would APPRECIATE it
occurring.
--
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