strangest systems I've sent email from

[Sean Conner]

It was thus said that the Great Noel Chiappa once stated:
>     > From: Liam Proven
> 
>     > There's the not-remotely-safe kinda-sorta C in a web browser,
>     > Javascript.
> 
> Love the rant, which I mostly agree with (_especially_ that one). A couple of
> comments:
> 
>     > So they still have C like holes and there are frequent patches and
>     > updates to try to make them able to retain some water for a short time,
>     > while the "cyber criminals" make hundreds of millions.
> 
> It's not clear to me that a 'better language' is going to get rid of that,
> because there will always be bugs (and the bigger the application, and the
> more it gets changed, the more there will be). 

	"Every program has at least one bug and can be shortened by at least
	one instruction---from which, by induction, one can deduce that
	every program can be reduced to one instruction which doesn't work."

  Proof: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEFBR14

> The vibe I get from my
> knowledge of security is that it takes a secure OS, running on hardware that
> enforces security, to really fix the problem. (Google "Roger Schell".)

  We're getting there---on current Macs, not even root can delete all files
anymore.  You can still run unsigned programs, but you have to change a
setting for that.

  For now.

  -spc (Be careful what you wish for)