4 ms·
Autorun was introduced in Windows 95. The security world, especially on consumer OSes, and especially again on Windows 9x, was very, very different back then. C
by jarek 16y ago
Autorun was introduced in Windows 95. The security world, especially on consumer OSes, and especially again on Windows 9x, was very, very different back then. CIH wouldn't come around for another three years. CD-R burners were pretty expensive and pretty rare, cheap USB drives were a twinkle in someone's eye that wouldn't materialize for another five years at least. We don't know that the problem wasn't noticed; maybe it just wasn't considered to be crucial. Consider the magic-like benefits it would have been weighed against: all you have to do is put the CD in!
Edit: the USB specification and first USB consumer products weren't released until 1996. Further food for thought.
- nandemo 16y agoWell, I don't really understand how that contradicts what I'm saying. I still think a decent tester should have been able to point out the problem back then and mark it as "critical". For me it's so uncontroversial it could even be an interview question. Viruses and trojans already existed back in 1995, and I don't think anyone would claim then that CD-R burners would remain expensive for long.
- jarek 16y agoSaid tester would have been overruled by a PM.
- ghshephard 16y agoSecurity versus Flexibility - from 1995-1999 Microsoft, Flexibility frequently won out. It's better to have a monopoly on the world's operating systems, but be insecure, than to have the worlds most secure operating system, but have some other company be the market leader.