Microsoft Patching 17-year-old Windows/DOS Bug

[martijnmp]

This bug must have been a 17-year Cicada...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magicicada

 

[JohnnyLucky]

must not have been much of a bug.

 

[mp562]

[citation][nom]idisarmu[/nom]kernal???Use spell check please.[/citation]
Maybe you should take your own advice.

 

[Judguh]

[citation][nom]stoppostingcrapnews[/nom]Well at least they're doing something about rather than do nothing.[/citation]

There WERE just doing nothing about it. Now FINALLY they're doing something about it!

 

[extremepcs]

[citation][nom]idisarmu[/nom]kernal???Use spell check please.[/citation]

It's not a kernel of corn dude...

 

[cookoy]

Take a researcher from a competitor to finally persuade MS to act.
Friendly competition benefits us all.

 

[rammar16]

better late than never?

 

[pocketdrummer]

[citation][nom]xbeater[/nom]oh but I though windows 7 was entirely rewritten from scratch......sons of b***es been lying to us AGAIN!!![/citation]

Do you have any idea how long that would take? Of course they're going to reuse some information if rewriting it doesn't accomplish any tangible benefit. Of course, that also entails that bad code may still be present in the new build. Such is life. I would rather them rehash a few things and get it to me 5 years earlier than wait for them to rewrite an entire operating system.

(And don't tell me "Steve Jobs did it" because he used Unix at a baseline for OSX)

 

[videoguy702]

The actual reason Microsoft is finally getting to this fix is because Pacman's teeth have so much tartar built up, Pacman was having trouble swollowing the pucs.

 

[nebun]

it's nice to see GOOGLE help the world...again

 

[mayne92]

Wow, power of the media. Media portrays bug, plays with the news...M$ patches...

 

[nforce4max]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNqPTOb31S8

 

[belardo]

So will MS be making the patch for Windows98 users.

 

[builderbobftw]

Maybe they will make Vista work in another 17 years...

 

[masterjaw]

[citation][nom]xbeater[/nom]oh but I though windows 7 was entirely rewritten from scratch.[/citation]
There's no way Win7 would be made from scratch and still use those ancient DLL files (the root of all evil) that lurks all over Windows.

 

[r3t4rd]

Too many fearmongering people here. Do you realize what a hacker would need to do to run this exploit? - 16 BIT DOS. Most of you were probably still in diapers when 16 Bit applications were still highly used. Be it, there are still some people and places still using 16 Bit DOS with a GUI, but nowadays, its pretty much non-existent especially with Vista and 7.

64 Bit...OSes pretty much made 16 Bit DOS obsolete. Name someone who still plays the original Larry Suit Leisure....and has a high speed Internet connection on Windows 98???? Wait...many of you probably still don't even know what Larry Suit Leisure is and or what Myth was.

 

[jamesedgeuk2000]

actually windows 3.11 is immune to this despite toms using its picture, it was pre NT

 

[killblade]

With all the superior advances Apple has made consistently producing a secure and stable alternative operating system time after time – why is it such a surprise that Windows is on the verge of death. If it took 17 years to fix this what other viruses are on windows that they have not fixed?

 

[agawtrip]

17 years to fix the bug.

awesome!!!!

 

[crom]

All the more reason for Microsoft to scratch NTFS and any Win32 kernel data and rebuild it from scratch. I remember them talking about a SQL file system years ago, before Vista came out, but they ended up scratching it. Apple did the same thing about 10 years ago and have increased how robust the OS can be. I understand Microsoft has legacy customers, but why not virtualize the old OS, sandbox it, and develop for the new OS?

 

[viometrix]

[citation][nom]crom[/nom]All the more reason for Microsoft to scratch NTFS and any Win32 kernel data and rebuild it from scratch. I remember them talking about a SQL file system years ago, before Vista came out, but they ended up scratching it. Apple did the same thing about 10 years ago and have increased how robust the OS can be. I understand Microsoft has legacy customers, but why not virtualize the old OS, sandbox it, and develop for the new OS?[/citation]

ummm you must not use windows 7, it comes with a virtualized xp for legacy programs. plus it is a fact that windows 7 is actually more stable and secure than osx. also why would i want to use an o/s that doesnt give me full freedom, i want to do what i want when i want to, im a big boy...apple makes products for insecure people that need their hands held every step of the way.

as for this 17 yr old bug, it shouldve never come up. if you are running a crap os that is affected, upgrade. windows xp, vista 32, and 7 32 shouldve just revieved an update.

 

[crom]

You must not use OSX. Actually I do use Windows 7 in addition to OSX Snow Leopard. What Apple did right was gut their aging OS, restart from scratch, and have made a much more robust operating system accomplishing their needs. Its fast, stable, and quite secure. I'm simply saying Microsoft may want to take a similar look.

 

[killerb255]

@Shadow703793:

Server 2008 R2 is x64 only. That's why there's no mention of it.

 

[Guest]

I guess this is a nasty legacy from the days of DOS; surprising though it's taken this long to come to light. DOS allowed the programmer almost complete control over the system- including direct access to the BIOS. Wrapping it up within a more protective OS like Windows was bound to result in security leakage somewhere.

 

[Guest]

please can someone tell me whats the name of the 17 year old bug, please, please. thank you.