[Am-info] M$ profits and security concerns

[Jeff Wasel]

Hi gang,

I'm back in the States for a few weeks, and caught an interesting note in
today's SF Chron, regarding M$' just released profit statement. Apparently,
"the software company signed far fewer new contracts with corporate
customers than it had expected. The drop was disappointing, analysts said,
and stemmed in part from businesses' concerns over software security." That
last bit, to me at least, is significant. It appears the usual sycophants
are finally wakening to the fact of the emperor and his clothes... This is
the first note I've ever seen in the mainstream press that puts no spin, nor
provides some lame M$ retort in regards to "the total commitment to security
at Microsoft" or some other lame statement. The caveat is, though, is the
reluctance based on M$' poor product, or security in general? Given all the
latest corporate moves to Linux, it would point to the former in my
estimation, especially given that security is much a human factors issue as
much as technology.

Thoughts?

Hope you're all well!

JJW

Jeff Wasel
Doctoral Researcher
Department of Information Systems
The London School of Economics
Fifth Floor, Tower 1
Houghton St.
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