"Peter Gordon" <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
My statement was that, should Microsoft actually fix
their security holes and design practices, it would likely break
backward-compatibility quite severely, as well as preclude the need for many
anti-malware packages. This, in turn, would drastically harm the business
of these companies as well as force software companies that made use of these
"features" (*ahem*) to fix their software - which could create quite large
potential costs. This, in turn, makes them charge more for the software,
which in turn reduces the potential total amount purchased (price-demand
curve), which in turn means that people will not purchase as much Windows
software and support (*ahem*...if that's what they call it). This, in turn,
means that people will be much less inclined to use anti-malware products,
and the cycle continues.
Thus, should MS fix these things, they and many other companies potentially lose
quite a lot of money.
You left out Microsoft income from:
- Charging for support. Customers will pay for information as to how to
overcome or work around the various flaws and bugs.
- Charging for training. People will pay to be trained and certified in
the "Microsoft Way" of using and maintaining M$ systems. This is
especially true if those systems are inscrutable due to obscure flaws
and bugs.
- Charging for the next upgrade. Once Microsoft pulls the plug on
supporting a particular product, the product is worthless due to the yet
to be discovered flaws and security holes.
Given Microsoft's near monopoly position, they have significant
incentive to continue shipping the same level of bug infested, unstable,
unreliable security jokes they always have. This situation will
continue to exist until they start losing enough market share due to
these problems that there is more money to be made by providing a high
quality, stable, reliable, secure product. They have no incentive to
fix them until that time.
Cheers,
Dave
--
Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.
-- Ambrose Bierce
