From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from jazzswing.ncsc.mil (jazzswing.ncsc.mil [144.51.68.65]) by tycho.ncsc.mil (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id EAA16040 for ; Fri, 23 Aug 2002 04:33:26 -0400 (EDT) Received: from jazzswing.ncsc.mil (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by jazzswing.ncsc.mil with ESMTP id IAA03707 for ; Fri, 23 Aug 2002 08:32:20 GMT Received: from mbx.unige.ch (mbx.unige.ch [129.194.8.72]) by jazzswing.ncsc.mil with ESMTP id IAA03703 for ; Fri, 23 Aug 2002 08:32:19 GMT Received: from CONVERSION-DAEMON.mbx.unige.ch by mbx.unige.ch (PMDF V6.1-1 #38753) id <0H1A00901FRNN2@mbx.unige.ch> for selinux@tycho.nsa.gov; Fri, 23 Aug 2002 10:33:23 +0200 (MEST) Date: Fri, 23 Aug 2002 10:33:22 +0200 From: Robert Schoeni Subject: Obj.: Microsoft knick-knack business : Can we stop this ? (We must !) To: "Wagner, Grant" , selinux@tycho.nsa.gov Message-id: <3D65F352.563FD2F@adm.unige.ch> MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 References: <0D2F5426C26FD511A1C400B0D0D0596835521C@deliverance.tycho.ncsc.mil> Sender: owner-selinux@tycho.nsa.gov List-Id: selinux@tycho.nsa.gov Hi to all ! At 1st, sorry for my poor kindergarten level english... I saw once again that "We received a lot of loud complaints regarding our efforts with SE Linux." - "said Dick Schafer, deputy director of the NSA" ref. : http://news.com.com/2100-1001-950083.html (thanks to Sir Grant Wagner) Well... Surely because I live in Europe, I can't undersand why the National Security Agency - of The United States of America, the most powerful coutry in this damn world !!! Can't just say "Shut up !" to the Microsoft lawyers or anything else... SE-Linux is public, but its a Federal Project and it's surrounds the security of the nation, the National Security, isn't it ? Does the business come in the question ? Of course no ! If the NSA needs to play Direct-X games, I would understand why peoples are losing their time with Microsoft complaits, etc. but I don't think so... There is a bunch of people who are able to use the security issues of all the versions of Microsoft Windows, why the NSA isn't just reversing the situation - because the Microsoft stuff insn't safe at all ? How much time, how much money and informations has been lost because of the awful quality of the Microsoft products ? The problem is that Microsoft was everywhere since '80ies and it really began with their BASIC interpreters... Bill Gates and his staff were the cheapers, they were the best for the cheap market of the cheaps family computers like the Commodore 64 and his BASIC V2... And they were cheap enough for the cheap 1st 64KB IBM PC... Now, cheap Microsoft produces comes with cheaps PC clones or cheap Macintoshes (Office, and other knick-knack...) does the NSA need cheap stuff ? It is a cheap agency ? Ok for the PC stuff, it's a good mean to replace >$10'000 UNIX workstations, but isn't Linux a great opportunity to replace a proprietary UNIX with a free clone ? Or to replace a 2D video-game like Windows (it's not really an operating system, it is ? huh !) SE-Linux is the great opportunity for all the goverment's agencies to have a safe taylor made operating system, this project has too much and too big consequences to kill it in the egg with stupid business... That Windows is the monopole in the end users world is quite okay, the IQ of a group is proportionally the inverse of the number of it's members... But I don't think that this "rule" works with the elite people of the NSA and other government agencies... Why people aren't just saying "We don't make a SE-Windows because it's impossible, that's why we are making a SE-Linux !" And "We don't need to play Direct-X games, why should we use Microsoft Windows ?" Well, sorry for my poor english again and to blown a fuse this way, but I believe it's a good reason... Regards, (and sorry again... erm...) Robert Schoeni. N.B. : Why isn't SE-Linux renamed to "NSA-UNIX of death" with a nickname like "Lawsuits and Complaints Killer" ? ------------------------------------------------------------- Robert Schoeni Uni. Dufour Division Informatique Rue du Général-Dufour 24 -robert.schoeni[at]adm.unige.ch- 1204 GENEVE ------------------------------------------------------------- -- This message was distributed to subscribers of the selinux mailing list. If you no longer wish to subscribe, send mail to majordomo@tycho.nsa.gov with the words "unsubscribe selinux" without quotes as the message.