4 ms·

> This could set a potentially dangerous legal precedent. Microsoft are arguing that the malware operation damages Microsoft's brand, instead of putting the fau

> This could set a potentially dangerous legal precedent. Microsoft are arguing that the malware operation damages Microsoft's brand, instead of putting the fault onto themselves for making vulnerable software. I agree with you. Why on earth would opening a .doc document infect a freaking computer? Imagine opening a freaking json file and getting infected by a crypto virus... The real problem is with Words or whatever software Microsoft has built that allows some code execution VIA a .doc document. They must of have so much technical debt nobody's willing to touch some old code anymore or something... IMHO, this and the fact they ditched their own browser engine in favour of Google's because it couldn't compete says a lot about the state of engineering in some Microsoft teams...

gowld 6y ago
That's fine, you can install Linux or TempleOS or whatever if Windows is bad. The only thing you can reasonably demand of Microsoft is (a) reasonably disclosure of the risk, and (b) not forcing their product into a separate product like your Dell hardware purchase. If you want insurance against imperfect security form MS, be prepared to pay more than $179 per PC.
withinboredom 6y ago
> Why on earth would opening a .doc document infect a freaking computer? It’s more like a friend sends you source code and your IDE compiles it in the background only to discover that the act of compiling it had it shove some executable in ~/bin. For over five years now, the default for Word is not to run code/macros. Some corporate IT has that disabled or they might still be running office 2012/07.
tsimionescu 6y ago
This kind of problem is ubiquitous in native software. Any program that takes user input and is not written in a memory safe language is likely to be exploitable in this way. This is doubly true for programs that execute user scripts. And it is inevitable for programs that support binary file embedding and file manipulation through those scripts - a feature some users of Word actually use.

gowld 6y ago

That's fine, you can install Linux or TempleOS or whatever if Windows is bad. The only thing you can reasonably demand of Microsoft is (a) reasonably disclosure of the risk, and (b) not forcing their product into a separate product like your Dell hardware purchase. If you want insurance against imperfect security form MS, be prepared to pay more than $179 per PC.

withinboredom 6y ago

> Why on earth would opening a .doc document infect a freaking computer? It’s more like a friend sends you source code and your IDE compiles it in the background only to discover that the act of compiling it had it shove some executable in ~/bin. For over five years now, the default for Word is not to run code/macros. Some corporate IT has that disabled or they might still be running office 2012/07.

tsimionescu 6y ago

This kind of problem is ubiquitous in native software. Any program that takes user input and is not written in a memory safe language is likely to be exploitable in this way. This is doubly true for programs that execute user scripts. And it is inevitable for programs that support binary file embedding and file manipulation through those scripts - a feature some users of Word actually use.