Re: Security NT vs AS/400 -- MIDRANGE-L


  IBM did run a full page AS/400 ad in the Atlanta Journal this past week.

        

On Sat, 11 Jul 1998, John Carr wrote:

> Hi all
> 
> Thought you all would like to hear what's going on with NT security,  
> since the platform is in alot 
> of our shops.    Just read this(Below attached).       BTW,   has anyone
> seen any full page ads for the AS/400  maybe a picture of a AS/400 with
> what looks like a combination lock on it's side?
> 
> John Carr
> EdgeTech
> 
> BTW,   the site is an open forum if you'd like to comment.
> 
> ---------------------
> http://forums.infoworld.com/threads/get.cgi?63055
> 
> Open letter to Microsoft
> 
> Posted by: siteadm
> Date posted: Fri, 10 Jul 1998 
> 
>               Ed Curry ran a company called Lone Star Evaluation
> Laboratories in
>               Texas, the company Microsoft chose to write the security
> diagnostics
>               software that led to Windows NT certification. Ed Curry
> alleges that
> Microsoft misrepresented Windows NT to government customers by telling them
> versions other than 3.5 with service pack 3 were C2 certified. 
> 
> Here is a known fact: Only one version of Windows NT has ever met with U.S.
> C2 certification --
> Windows NT 3.5 with service pack 3. Even then, NT is only certified as a
> stand-alone system (no
> network connection) on the Compaq Proliant 2000 and Proliant 4000 Pentium
> systems, and a
> DECpc AXP/150. 
> 
> Ed has the advantage of credibility. Ed supplied me with a number of
> documents to support his case.
> Those documents verify Ed's qualifications, and they support his claim to
> some of Microsoft's
> promises, although some of the promises are only implicit in the written
> agreements and not
> spelled-out as they should have been. But if you've spent any time
> conversing with Ed Curry (he
> contributes to these forums at times), you'll know he isn't a rabid
> anti-Microsoft hate monger by any
> stretch of the imagination. 
> 
> So I called my contact at Waggoner Edstrom to arrange an interview with a
> Microsoft representative
> by phone so I could get Microsoft's side of the story. They agreed, but
> they didn't want the
> conversation taped (I tape all my interviews because I'm terrible at taking
> notes). So I e-mailed a list
> of questions. (As an aside, I want to praise my contact at Waggoner
> Edstrom, who went to great
> lengths to accommodate me and present my questions.) On the advice of their
> attorneys, Microsoft
> refused to answer. 
> 
> I asked my contact at Waggoner-Edstrom to filter the questions any way she
> liked -- even if it meant
> removing the issues surrounding Ed Curry -- in order to get some answers.
> Once again, Microsoft
> refused to answer anything. You can read this week's full column for a
> subset of the issues they will
> not confirm or deny. 
> 
> What's going on here? If Ed Curry's claims really don't have two pennies to
> rub together, surely
> Microsoft isn't afraid of him. So why the secrecy? Why not simply deny the
> charges? Doesn't
> Microsoft realize its silence looks like a tacit admission of guilt? If our
> tax dollars have paid for
> thousands of copies of Windows NT that should never have been purchased
> because they didn't
> meet government security requirements, I think we have a right to know.
> Don't you? 
> 
> Nicholas Petreley
> 
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