Vulnerabilities (Was: [Simh] Fwd: VAX + Spectre

[Fred Cisin]

On Tue, 17 Sep 2019, Paul Koning via cctalk wrote:
> I could easily imagine a computer science exam question "Describe in one 
> paragraph the specific design error that enabled the Meltdown attack".

I used to have some related questions in my microcomputer operating 
systems class.  One student (who later became my best friend and buddy) 
skipped the technical details and said, "The primary design error for 
MacOS and Windoze (sic) is that they placed a lower priority on security, 
than on being able to transparently and without user action, add 
smell-o-vision, dancing kangaroos and yodelling jellyfish."

(YES, that's where I got that phrase from.)