Gates speaks about worms

CNN/AP ^ | August 29, 2003

[Hal1950]

Gates blames SoBig on customer updating process

DETROIT, Michigan (AP) -- Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, known for helping to make the computer a common tool, said Thursday that new breakthroughs in information technology are on the horizon despite the economic difficulties facing the industry.

"It's an exciting time to be involved in digital software," Gates said during a speech to the Detroit Economic Club at the Cobo Center. "The same kind of excitement I had when I started Microsoft at age 17 I still have today."

Gates envisions that by the end of the decade people no longer will need pagers, mobile phones, headphones and personal digital assistants as separate devices. He said they will be incorporated into one, easy-to-use product.

"We're making those things a lot better," Gates said.

Microsoft's responsibility
Gates said it is Microsoft's responsibility to make computing trustworthy, adding that computers should have built-in patches to guard against viruses such as the "Sobig," which slowed e-mail systems worldwide last week.

"In every case there has been a virus attack, we actually had improvements in the system that would have prevented it before the virus came out," Gates said. "What was weak though was the ease in which our customers could keep their systems up to date."

The 47-year-old founder of the Redmond, Washington-based software giant last spoke to the club in April 1997.

[lelio]

"We're making those things a lot better," Gates said.

So you can now get details on Your Movie via your cell phone and headset!

[Chad Fairbanks]

"In every case there has been a virus attack, we actually had improvements in the system that would have prevented it before the virus came out," Gates said. "What was weak though was the ease in which our customers could keep their systems up to date."

Bingo...

[trebb]

What was weak though was the ease in which our customers could keep their systems up to date

A seemingly straight-forward comment, butdoes it mean that he thinks that Microsoft should have even more control over you and your computer (How many of you updated Media Player to version 9 and didn't realize it uniquely tags your computer identification?) or that they ought to make the process easier. Right now, a lot of people wish to stay more anonymous than Microsoft allows.

[adam_az]

Gates speaks about worms

Gates: "I am a worm!"

[Bush2000]

A seemingly straight-forward comment, butdoes it mean that he thinks that Microsoft should have even more control over you and your computer...

It's a difficult problem to solve. If you require user intervention for updates, you run into the current situation. People don't update their software. They don't understand the threats and could care less about this stuff.