What you gain in one you usually will lose in the other. Fred Cohen, a security specialist who performed the first research on computer viruses, says Microsoft may be only the largest of a group of offenders. After all, he says, one could write a version of Microsoft's Office for Unix that would cause much the same sort of trouble. And Netscape's Internet browser and mail program is not only highly popular among Unix users but also quite insecure from a security specialist's point of view. They deserve it.
Specialists say the lure of the quick and easy remains powerful.
It is anyone's guess how long the love affair with simplicity will last. The German government said Friday that it was considering dumping Outlook altogether in the wake of the latest virus outbreak. Other operating systems have been designed with security at the forefront. Part of it may be just maturity. For now, Lipner says, the company is working to improve its security practices while giving customers what they want.