On Fri, 27 May 2016, Toby Thain wrote:
On 2016-05-27 8:38 PM, Cameron Kaiser wrote:
You can hardly blame windows for the stupidity of people. This could also
happen w/ discreet stupid devices
One word: Therac.
Therac is not the same threat at all. What seems to be missing from the
process that leads to specifying Windows is, indeed, threat modelling. The
threat of a virus scanner disabling the machine is not the same as a virus
disabling the machine, and so on (a proper enumeration of threats would be
quite long).
The point is that the threat model for a "discrete stupid device" is VERY
different from the threat model for Windows. Human error obviously appears in
both lists (and can be mitigated!) And these aren't the only 2 options,
either...
I think we can all agree that when the outcomes are as bad as this, then the
engineering process was faulty. A virus scanner (or virus) is a very easily
foreseen problem.
What I don't understand is why Windows is being used on these devices at
all. It specifically states in the license that it's not to be used with
life-critical systems or infrastructure (like nuclear plants). I wish I
could find a reference - I can't recall where I read that...
The funny thing is, I've been using Windows since Windows 95 and the only
issues I've ever had with it were all self-inflicted. I've never
understood all the hate it gets. (Well except for Windows ME and Windows
8.0 - those were shit-shows. :) )
g.
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