Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bloom-beacon!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!tektronix!reed!kamath
From: kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple
Subject: Re: comp.binaries.apple2
Message-ID: <8733@reed.UUCP>
Date: 10 Apr 88 23:01:31 GMT
References: <880408163619.772905@DOCKMASTER.ARPA>
Reply-To: kamath@reed.UUCP (Sean Kamath)
Organization: Reed College, Portland OR
Lines: 46

In article <880408163619.772905@DOCKMASTER.ARPA> TMPLee@DOCKMASTER.ARPA writes:
>I don't understand it.  The dangers of promiscuous computing having been
>well demonstrated and explained to all and yet there are 185 presumably
>technically sophisticated people out there willing to risk the
> integrity
>of their data to software of essentially unknown provenance.  Must have
>all believed the CNN story that an adequate defense can be bought for a
>couple of hundred bucks.

Oh, give me a break...  I'm gonna flame here a bit. . .

No one is going to force *you* to download a program and run it on your
chock full 40 meg hard disk.  Dont' tell me I can't.

comp.binaries.apple2 would certainly not be restricted to binaries only, as
I fully intend to put out *my* source code as well as execables.

And what about the other comp.binaries.*?  And what about comp.sources on
the USENET whereby millions of folk get source code (as well as code for
various other machines), where a trojan horse or virous could *rally* do
damage.  So why do they keep doing it?

Viri and other modern computer infections are a fact of life.  If they can
get into comercial grade software, then what's the point in protecting
yourself us?

At least here, there is a little more security, in that given enough
knowledge one can *almost* always find out who posted what.  Then you can
maybe sue him if you want. (Well, I don't know.  Sounded good when I typed
it :-).

I for one will continue to take stuff off the net and the server, and give 
them a spin.  Esp. if I know the people, or can get the source.  Since I
generally want the source to my programs anyway, I feel I am taking less of
a chance getting "PD" software (or shareware) than buying it. Not only do I
know *what* the program does, but I can fix bugs, without having to wait for
the "next release", which may never come.

Think about *that*.

Sean the flamest Kamath
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