From: "Geo." 

"Thees Peereboom"  wrote in message
news:u5jruu0e8gb4cngjqn76k53reivbgcakpa{at}4ax.com...

> So, in your perception it has been hackfree and thus 'safe' for 5
> years, right?

That was my opinion 3 weeks ago, that is not my opinion now. It's the same
software so what this means is that my previous opinion was incorrect (or
my current opinion is incorrect).

If I go by the logic you are using then all I have to do is pass a law to
make it illegal to tell anyone but the vendor about an exploit and suddenly
all software is secure because nobody knows exploits exist?

BTW, I don't consider NTmail insecure, the exploits we discovered are just
ways to get around the filters, it's not a way to gain access to the
machine. I think the word "defective" probably fits better than
insecure although the defects could lead to compromise of client machines
by allowing virus and other attachments to pass.

> >I don't think it's any worse, I just don't think it's any better either.
>
> If it's the same, OSS at least is free.

Yes, I certainly can't argue with that 


> Yes, but the user could choose to continue with his current version
> and choose his own development path. Something you can't with 'named'
> software.

Named software doesn't mean you can't buy source, I've done that with the
software we use at PPE to do order processing and inventory control. I
think you meant to say closed source software and you are correct, this is
a difference and one well worth considering when you go looking for
software that you are going to depend on.

> Since you have access to the sources and the right to modify, you
> could always hire a programmer - no need to be one yourself.

I think in most cases it would be cheaper to move to a commercial product.
Most software today is developed by teams of programmers. Think about the
programming effort required to maintain something like apache or samba.
Even Knoppix, you might be able to replace Klaus with a single programmer
but he's working with hundreds of other programmers to keep the
distribution development going. Maybe those people keep working on it,
maybe they go with the buyout.

Geo.

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