Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncrcae!hubcap!gatech!uflorida!mailrus!purdue!decwrl!labrea!Portia!Jessica!morgan
From: morgan@Jessica.stanford.edu (RL "Bob" Morgan)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Morris bashers...
Message-ID: <4178@Portia.Stanford.EDU>
Date: 21 Nov 88 18:26:04 GMT
References: <3481@hubcap.UUCP> <8811141805.AA14106@nsipo.arc.nasa.gov>
Sender: news@Portia.Stanford.EDU
Reply-To: morgan@Jessica.stanford.edu (RL "Bob" Morgan)
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 28


Milo Medin writes:

> ... let's not forget this was a computer problem, not a network problem.

I'd like to see people think of it as a "networked computer problem".

The point is that our major operating systems, Unix in particular,
were designed in the era of unconnected machines, hardwired terminals,
and small, computer-knowledgeable user communities.  We have seen
substantial improvements in ease of use, and we now know how to design
communication hardware and software to get reasonable performance from
systems attached to large heterogeneous networks.  We are still a long
way from any general acceptance of the fact that our networked
environment requires a fundamental rethinking of the concepts of
"users" and "systems", the vigilance with which machines must defend
their integrity, and the protocols and services by which reliable
communication is accomplished.

There's important research going on in these topics.  One can only
hope that the worm incident will encourage more people to pursue this
research, and more computer vendors and system designers to implement
systems based on their results.  If this doesn't happen, the days of
our useful, open networks will be numbered.

 - RL "Bob" Morgan
   Networking Systems
   Stanford University