Re: Fun with M$

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> From: Rich Graves <llurch@networking.stanford.edu>
> To: cypherpunks@toad.com
> Subject: Re: Fun with M$
> Date: Friday, August 09, 1996 8:46 PM
> 
> On Fri, 9 Aug 1996, Jeremey Barrett wrote:
> 
> > Information page with a link to a page which loads the control:
> > 
> > 	http://www.halcyon.com/mclain/ActiveX/
> > 
> > Quote from the page:
> > 
> > Exploder is an Active X control which demonstrates security problems
with 
> > Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Exploder performs a clean shutdown of 
> > Win95 and will turn off the power on machines that have a power
> > conservation BIOS (green machines).

I don't see how anyone can call this a bug. Microsoft has chosen what Sun
should have: leave the security to the user, don't take it away from
everyone. Java has been sverly crippled by the removal of features that
would have made applets truly usefull, like local disk access. By leaving
these abilities and allowing the user to choose whether or not to run the
object, leaves the trusted objects to be truly usefull. Microsoft has even
designed a system of trust verification for these objects throught the
trust chain and the MS download service. For details on the MS download
service look at the july 96 issue of Microsoft Systems Journal. Security
should be a user/parent decision not a general ban to protect a few.

> I don't see how anyone can call this a bug. Microsoft has chosen what Sun
> should have: leave the security to the user, don't take it away from

	Good, leave it to Joe Sixpack who can bareley figure out how
to move files around without deleting half of the system directory . . .

> everyone. Java has been sverly crippled by the removal of features that
> would have made applets truly usefull, like local disk access. By leaving

	Java has local disk access.  Java _APPLETS_ are not allowed to
access local disk (among other things) if the class is loaded from a
network source.  A class which is loaded from local disk has no such
restrictions.

> these abilities and allowing the user to choose whether or not to run the
> object, leaves the trusted objects to be truly usefull. Microsoft has even
> designed a system of trust verification for these objects throught the
> trust chain and the MS download service. For details on the MS download
> service look at the july 96 issue of Microsoft Systems Journal. Security
> should be a user/parent decision not a general ban to protect a few.

	You are just a free to grab the Java class files for an applet
and store them on your local disk as you are a CaptiveX component and let
them have full run of your system.

---
Fletch                                                     __`'/|
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