-=> MILES MAXTED wrote to KURT WISMER <=-

[snip]
 KW> you'd be surprised... did you hear that consumer reports (yes, that
 KW> consumer reports) commissioned the creation of 5,500 new viruses in
 KW> order to perform tests on anti-virus products using viruses the vendors
 KW> hadn't seen before?

 MM> Difficult to experiment with antiviral remedies if you don't
 MM> maintain active samples of small pox or ebola in a secure lab; and
 MM> most reprehensible if done without doublelocks on everything.

even more reprehensible if you're making brand new viruses...

retrospective testing uses a slightly out of date scanner (ex. a scanner
that hasn't been updated in 3 months) against viruses that have been
released since then... in other words, it's done without the testers
making new viruses... viruses are certainly necessary for testing
anti-virus products, but creating new viruses is not...

[snip]
 KW> well, let's face it... dialing into a bbs is a lot more complicated
 KW> than clicking the blue 'e'...

 MM> Just asking questions in Britannica or suchlikes takes newcomers
 MM> out on the `net to be led into emailing or ftpping by popup
 MM> wizards...   while handing out an freebie autolink to Fidonet
 MM> still strikes terror into the novice heart ... .

well, emailing is pretty familiar to most and depending on the site you
can generally do ftp in the web browser - it's a little less graphical
than one might be used to, but still a 'web' experience to the
inexperienced...
 
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