Microsoft black ops

[dsiembab]

I was wondering since microsoft has the money to back up programmers. Do you think they have an elite unit of black op programmers to make programs to attack other operating systems? Now I am not talking the a-team, well maybe, but wouldn't it be financially prudent to have a select group to systematically destruct the kernel and find it's weaknesses and exploit them?

[smoker]

i think they created steve ballmer for this task, and empowered him with FUD technology, but they haven't perfected him yet as he sometimes reverts back to his previous incarnation of 'chair throwing event champion'

there could be a whole ream of 'next model' ballmers developing in a secret lab somewhere south of redmond.

run for the hills!

[billgoldberg]

I was wondering since microsoft has the money to back up programmers. Do you think they have an elite unit of black op programmers to make programs to attack other operating systems? Now I am not talking the a-team, well maybe, but wouldn't it be financially prudent to have a select group to systematically destruct the kernel and find it's weaknesses and exploit them?

I don't think they will take it that far.

If this news would leak, microsofts reputation would be hurt, hurt bad and not to mention the fact that that would be illegal.

[Paqman]

I don't know why they'd bother spending time and money finding security flaws in Linux. Where's the payoff for them?

They almost certainly have a lot of people trying to break into their own systems, though.

[dsiembab]

If this news would leak, microsofts reputation would be hurt, hurt bad and not to mention the fact that that would be illegal.
microsofts reputation would be hurt? I think vista has that covered

illegal? Has microsoft ever done anything illegal in the past?

I just envision a special room full of computer hackers, military style, with special clearance badges and spy oaths and what not.

The payoff I would think would to keep their "well not monopoly" user base full of sheep. Let's say Linux starts surpassing windows as an os then they would have all that data for future use. Your greatest weapon is your enemies weakness.

[eragon100]

No way, I can't believe even MS would do that, definitely not now there are working together with xandros, novell and a couple of others. If they would ruin linux right now, they would ruin their own businnes partners :popcorn:

[SuperSon!c]

I was wondering since microsoft has the money to back up programmers. Do you think they have an elite unit of black op programmers to make programs to attack other operating systems? Now I am not talking the a-team, well maybe, but wouldn't it be financially prudent to have a select group to systematically destruct the kernel and find it's weaknesses and exploit them?

i noticed the wink emoticon, but seriously, give me a break. is this any better than MS spreading FUD? no, it's not. you get some moron reading this and a conversation comes up later and he says to his buddy "i read something today that said that MS uses black ops programmers" and the rumors are off to the races. just hop on IRC and give it a shot.

[Sporkman]

Anybody think that after the next Windows service pack release, Wubi suddenly stops working right?

[Paqman]

Let's say Linux starts surpassing windows as an os

I wouldn't hold your breath. I think Microsoft are feeling pretty comfy about their market share on the desktop. Linux has, what, 2% overall? We're not really a major threat to them.

[kinematic]

If they would ruin linux right now, they would ruin their own businnes partners :popcorn:

MS can't ruin Linux. They simple cannot take the kernel, slap a proprietary license on it and throw it in a dumpster. They also can't ruin it by spreading FUD, we've seen them try it and it didn't work. And we're protected by the GPL wich is a legally binding document.

[drascus]

Nah I think MS's tacticts are mostly politcal not technological. Their programmers are busy enough without having to try breaking into a Gnu/Linux system to release expliots it would be a waste of time. They are busy enoug buying up companies. negotiating cross licenses and Bug checking remember they don't get much help Bug checking. So I don't think we would have to worry much about this type of threat.

[tvtech]

seriously???? you do know that malicious attacks on other peoples computers are illegal. writing malicious virus's even if you don't distribute them is questionably legal. so I"m gessing probably not. they are an enourmous financial target and if some one could prove they did something like this, they'd own them.

[SuperSon!c]

wubi was available well before the official release of SP3 right?

[Fenris_rising]

from little acorns grow.............

fenris

[fatality_uk]

Lol

[Tundro Walker]

Believe it or not, Microsoft has always had the consumer's best interests in mind. Unfortunately, MS is also a business, and so the conflict between doing what's best for the consumer vs. doing what will bring in the most money has been ever-going. Bill Gates started the cycle by using a cut-rate Q-DOS which he melded into the foundation "DOS". It then continued as they created some-what knock-offish versions of GUI's that immitated what Apple was doing more expensively. It's just that in under-cutting the competition, they sometimes did it by sacrificing quality. And thus, you get this huge glut of folks using second-rate stuff because it was cheaper at the time, but is turning out to be expensive in the long run.

As for Ballmer, he's added extra pull on the "let's make a buck" aspect of Microsoft, since he's a businessman primarily. At least with Gates, he was a geek and wanted to do new things, explore new boundaries, and make things better, even if it did get bogged down in the corporate quagmire of a multi-BILLION dollar company. (I'm not emphasizing that to make it sound like it's bad to make money. I'm emphasizing that, because in order to run a multi-billion dollar company, you need lots of people and layers of management, and MS has gotten stuck in that "too many layers of management" crap.)

I doubt MS has some elite team of black hats figuring out ways to screw things up. If they had such a "crack team" of experts, it would make more sense to have them work on making MS Windows more resiliant. It doesn't make sense to have your best guys finding ways to attack the "enemy" when your own "defenses" still sort of suck.

You've been watching too many movies.

[information_entropy]

...when the first Team OS/2 Party was held in Chicago. The IBM Marketing
Office in Chicago created a huge banner visible from the streets. Microsoft
reacted when Steve Ballmer roamed the floor with an application on diskette
that had been specially programmed to crash OS/2

source :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_OS/2

[LaRoza]

http://xkcd.com/225/

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/open_source.png

[SuperSon!c]

lol

[quinnten83]

Believe it or not, Microsoft has always had the consumer's best interests in mind.

really? Have you read some of the emails regarding the vista ready stickers on the computers?

[Sporkman]

The organized hacker teams do exist, I'm sure, in regards to governmental intelligence agencies, as well as criminal organizations.

[SuperSon!c]

that's obvious but has nothing to do with MS. people, leave your tinfoil hats at the door, kthx.

[scouser73]

Mind if I keep my tinfoil hat on?, it suits me.

[k33bz]

lmfao

although i find this highly amusing, but some how doubt even MS will go that low. Maybe, just maybe they freelanced some hackers to create a virus, a trojan, or even a wormm to try and destroy Linux. but i find it highly unlikely.

[Ender305]

Even if they are trying to make a virus for linux, I'm not worried, the kernel is rock solid, there is no way to really cripple a linux system without root access, and only a Wubi-noob would give root to some shady program they just installed

[Glaxed]

This whole thread could be turned around cant it? Organized gangs of 1337X0r l1nUX g33k5 that sit in basements, steal MS code, and crack it?
A plausible reverse conspiracy theory no?

I've read blogs that tout Linux as a hackers OS of choice for writing Windows viruses. Of course, I don't take those seriously for 2 reasons;
* the word 'hacker' used negatively in a computer security context is offensive (to many) and inaccurate, and shows ignorance on the author's part
* how on Earth would you manage to find any valid statistical data regarding the activities (and preferred OS) of said 'hackers'/crackers?

But it's a possibility.

[Flying caveman]

Xandros. :-k

http://www.techtree.com/India/Reviews/Xandros_Desktop_OS_3_OCE/551-66571-610-3.html

Part of FUD campaign? What other Distro has a bunch of crippled versions and trial-ware? ewwww I think I'm going to be sick.