From: Toto <toto@sk.sympatico.ca>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 1997 14:11:44 -0800 (PST)
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Microsoft ammunition
In-Reply-To: <9703272018.AA19999@banshee.BASISinc.com>
Message-ID: <333AF0A6.6C81@sk.sympatico.ca>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


>From Infoworld:

March 24, 1997

            Coda dependency may contribute to the fall of the
            great Gates empire

            Last week's column demonstrated that Microsoft is
            unable to respond to the network computer in its
            usual "co-opt the technology" manner -- a fact
            that may signal the turning point in the company's
            history. (Why am I leaving Intel out of this
            prediction, you ask? Because it is in a far more
            flexible position than Microsoft. Its chips can
            run anything. Microsoft needs them to run
            Windows.)

            Add to this NC threat the mounting troubles for
            Microsoft, and it's no wonder there's no joy in
            Redmond tonight.

            Look at the trends. According to International
            Data Corp., Microsoft SQL Server for Windows NT
            has been losing significant market share for two
            years to competing products that run on multiple
            platforms. Microsoft's Wolfpack clustering
            technology is turning out to be a Chihuahuapack.
            (See "Toothless Wolfpack," March 17.) Seemingly
            endless rapid-fire announcements by ISVs to
            support standards such as Java, JDBC, LDAP, IMAP4,
            and CORBA are shoving Microsoft's TAPI, MAPI,
            ISAPI, "SLAP-HAPI," and a host of other
            Microsoft-centric specifications right out of the
            limelight.

            By now you have undoubtedly heard more than you
            want to hear about the fellow in Germany who
            demonstrated that a malicious ActiveX control can
            secretly empty your bank account. Leaks, bugs, and
            hastily cobbled service packs have been drawing
            attention to the immaturity of Windows NT. And,
            most recently, college kids have found more holes
            in Internet Explorer than it takes to fill the
            Albert Hall. (My apologies to those outside the
            Beatles generation who don't get the reference.)

            Meanwhile, Microsoft has crushed or alienated
            practically every potential partner that might
            otherwise have helped it out of its current fix.

            Network hanky panky

            This latest Microsoft Internet Explorer security
            dustup really isn't a bug, it's a feature.
            Internet Explorer was built to make it easy to
            launch a file, whether that file is on your hard
            drive or sitting on a server somewhere in
            Freedonia. Unfortunately, it took someone outside
            Microsoft to realize last August that the file one
            launches from Explorer could be a Word for Windows
            document packing a malevolent macro.

            Then, in the past few weeks, .URL, .LNK, and .ISP
            files were added to the danger list. Then it
            surfaced that Microsoft's Common Internet File
            System opens the door to network hanky panky. This
            is clearly a company that isn't used to thinking
            outside of the universe of the local LAN. The
            Microsoft patches configure Explorer to ask your
            permission before launching a potentially
            dangerous file type (similar to Netscape
            Navigator). OK, but this solution makes it
            virtually impossible for Microsoft or anyone else
            to integrate a browser seamlessly into the Windows
            desktop.

            If seamless, safe desktop access to remote files
            on the Internet is the goal, Microsoft is spinning
            its wheels. There is really only one way to
            provide these features without introducing a local
            security risk. You have to eliminate the
            possibility that anything you run can affect your
            local drives. Better still, get rid of your local
            drives.

            In short, a Java-based browser is a good way to do
            it, but a Java-based network computer is best.
            Which brings us back to the conclusion of last
            week's column.

            But, if you're tired of the repetition, here's a
            reason you should sit through another sermon:
            RandomNoise's Coda. Coda lets you design entire
            Web pages in Java rather than use a mixture of
            HTML content, tags, and Java applets.

            Most pundits seem to be fixated on the fact that
            Coda gives you a way to display fancy fonts that
            HTML can't handle. Our own Bob Metcalfe is the
            only one I know of who addressed the bigger
            picture. (See From the Ether, March 10). He
            pointed out that Coda may lead the way toward
            replacing HTML with Java.

            A Java-based Web page removes the distinction
            between application and data. It presents data
            just as an HTML page would, but every element on
            the screen has the potential to be an interactive
            part of a sophisticated application.

            In other words, the Web page becomes both powerful
            and safe enough to earn the right to be the new
            desktop user interface to the world. But Internet
            Explorer and Windows are nowhere in that equation.

            So is Microsoft in a batting slump, or is this the
            beginning of the end? Personally, I think
            Microsoft can pull out of this one. All it would
            have to do to fully recover is turn Windows NT
            into Unix, drop Distributed Component Object Model
            for CORBA, phase out its Windows-centric protocols
            for platform-independent standards, adopt
            NetWare's Novell Directory Services, kill ActiveX,
            port SQL Server to several different platforms,
            and abandon the idea of integrating Internet
            Explorer into the desktop.

            Well, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me when all
            that happens.