🚀 go-pugleaf

|> >All these posts about users needing to know source code of their OS
|> >and having the sophistication of a Unix administrator is ridiculous.
|> >It's like a comment made by a friend of mine (a linux fanatic) who
|> >claimed that all artist should know the chemical composition and    
|> >properties of the paint they were using.  Otherwise they couldn't be
|> >considered "competent enough" to use their tools.  
|> 
|> >                S. Johnson
|> 
|> Never-the-less, the code should be available for public scrutiny which is why 
|> the source code for PGP is.  Cryptographers around the world can, if they so 
|> wish, check the algorithms and logic to try to identify weaknesses.  The point 
|> is, source code should be available for anyone who wishes to check to see 
|> that the code does what it is supposed to do and doesn't do what it isn't 
|> supposed to do.  M$ will not let anyone (not even the US Govt!) have the 
|> source code.  Do they have something to hide?
|> 

I wasn't going to reply to this, since seems too idiotic, but...

Yes they have something to hide: their product implementation.  If you
show everybody how to implement your product and ideas, what's to stop
them from doing so?

This is why operating systems and applications are typically distributed
as binaries and not source code.

Now I'm hoping the "something to hide" question was being posted by
a 12 year old.

-Joe

P.S. Do 12 year olds use words like "cryptographers" these days?