Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!unix.cis.pitt.edu!dsinc!netnews.upenn.edu!vax1.cc.lehigh.edu!cert.sei.cmu.edu!krvw From: padgett%tccslr.dnet@mmc.com (Padgett Peterson) Newsgroups: comp.virus Subject: Re: Dead vs Live: Commercial Necessity?? (some philosophizing added.) Message-ID: <0014.9105301427.AA10625@ubu.cert.sei.cmu.edu> Date: 29 May 91 16:32:46 GMT Sender: Virus Discussion List Lines: 26 Approved: krvw@sei.cmu.edu >From: mrs@netcom.com (Morgan Schweers) >Of course, a fictional bar scene with all the >principal players would be...frightening. I picture these ten people >suddenly realizing who else is at the bar, and the temperature >dropping twenty to thirty degrees suddenly. Doubt it, I recall a bar in SEA in which automatic weapons had to be checked at the door, handguns were OK. > (A side and sad note... It is not us, the anti-viral researchers, >who will kill the viruses once and for all. It's the OS writers who >will finally produce an OS which supports the protections a machine >needs. It's the users who will finally leave this damned MS/DOS >troublemaker behind. THAT is when viruses will vanish, slowly but >surely, and then we can all have a beer together and laugh about the >nonsense of having to clean up behind Microsoft.) Unlikely that DOS will disappear, it is too much a part of the culture, just like the English language and SAE screw threads. However, nothing is stopping DOS from introducing anti-viral measures and self-checking boot sectors & MBRs. The key is in preservation of the applications and hardware. It is just not going to be in 5.0. Warmly, Padgett