3 ms·
In many of the same ways that open software is usually better than closed software. In particular, greater scrutiny of specifications and microcode ought to le
by duncan_bayne 9y ago
In many of the same ways that open software is usually better than closed software. In particular, greater scrutiny of specifications and microcode ought to lead to better quality outcomes.
This whole debate feels eerily similar to the emergence of open source software into the public eye, back in the 90s.
- pjmlp 9y ago> In particular, greater scrutiny of specifications and microcode ought to lead to better quality outcomes. Which given the CVE entries per day isn't necessarily true, in spite of pull requests being reviewed.
- duncan_bayne 9y agoNo - open source is a specific case of the general rule that there is no such thing as a silver bullet :) But it does make possible a bunch of superior workflows that are impossible with proprietary software, and makes certain types of failure common to propriety software much harder.
- pjmlp 9y agoI am yet to see any open source project subjected to the same high quality workflows as commercial propriety software targeted for high integrity computing deployment. Could you provide an example?
- duncan_bayne 9y agoDoes this qualify? http://www.xtratum.org/files/xm_rtlw09.pdf http://www.xtratum.org/files/xm_rtlw09.pdf
- pjmlp 9y agoThanks, kind of. It doesn't seem to have been deployed into production, though.
- StreamBright 9y agoI am not sure when this mantra will stop that open source is safer when we know that it isn't.
- duncan_bayne 9y agoThat's not what I said; please stop putting words in my mouth. Also, I hope you're not posting that from an Intel machine ;)
- imtringued 9y agoAnecdote: open source software has the same rate of flaws as proprietary software but with proprietary software you're at the mercy of the vendor who might decide to not release or delay a patch. Opensource software in my experience usually gets patched quickly.
- duncan_bayne 9y agoMy anecdata agree with yours :) I remember switching from .NET to Ruby and being able to fix defects instead of submitting bug reports to Microsoft, and waiting _years_.