Mail systems that do not allow executable code in messages would be helpful. Creeping featureism seems to be rampant. If you want something secure and robust, you try to avoid huge amounts of code and inherently risky features. It's back to the tradeoff between security and usability. If you want a computer to do something for you, you have to have a notion of acceptable risk.
Operating systems can help minimize the impact of that risk by partitioning.
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