If transportation technology had kept the same pace as computers...
A well-known saying on the state of affairs in
computerdom is based on a comparison between computers and cars, and it goes
about like this:
"If transportation technology had
kept the same pace as computers, a Rolls Royce would cost about one Dollar and
would go about thousand miles per gallon of fuel."
But this is an euphemism or simply a
make-believe. A more correct statement would be:
"If transportation technology had
run the same course as computers, we would all be using battle cruisers or
armored transports and tanks, for driving to work, to the supermarket, or to the
disco."
Closer scrutiny of the design principles of
current computer systems yields a classic case of obliteration of the mobility
factor in the basic "mobility-security-firepower" triangle of the military that
was presented above. The classic design aim of current systems is
Firepower: "to get a bigger bang for the buck", indicating the featuritis
that is the current rage of the industry. The issue of Security is mainly
centered around protecting the interests of the SW vendor's copyrights. The
dominant Industry-Political Security Factor is: "Don't Sell Winchesters
to Indians". It doesn't increase the profits of the SW if the Users become too
powerful or too productive.
With present system failure levels of the Win-XX
standard, Security for the User seems to be as low as any time.
