Re: How to Save The World

["Perry E. Metzger" <perry () piermont com>]

"Marcus J. Ranum" <mjr () ranum com> writes:
> Side-note:
> YES, ATMs run Windows inside. Another example of the kind of
> pervasive IT stupidity I was referring to, earlier. Rather than run
> a custom locked-down minimized O/S it runs a full Windows
> distro that has been locked down with a layer of software. Why?
> Because it's too much work to develop a new video player rather
> than use Windows Media Player, etc, etc. So rather than spend
> $400,000 to own a solution that's "done right" corporate IT would
> rather pay $150/ATM for a turd, and millions of dollars in turd
> polish to overcome the flaws in the turd. And, of course, turd
> polish is a recurring expense whereas just doing it right the
> first time is a gift that keeps on giving.

Side note to side note: I recently had the pleasure of watching an ATM
reboot. I won't mention the bank that it was at except to say that it
was Chase. Yes, it was, of course, running Windows. It appeared to be
completely stock Windows, too, given figures like disk consumption and
the nature of the boot sequence.

It occurred to me at the time that the difficulty of doing Extremely
Evil Things to the ATM networks of banks that use Windows based ATMs
is far, far lower than that of the (theoretical) banks running
something else on their ATMs. That implies, of course, that at some
point someone is going to victimize the stupid banks, which will
doubtless produce a scramble among them to use other, safer
software. I suspect that such mass victimization alone will produce a
change in their purchasing decisions.

Perry
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