Microsoft chief technical officer Craig Mundie says the software company “may offer new security abilities on a paid basis,” according to a CNET report. Mundie was presenting Microsoft’s trustworthy computing initiative yesterday at the RSA Conference 2002 in Paris.
Defending the company’s refusal to accept legal responsibility for security related to its products, Mundie claimed that if Microsoft were to accept security responsibility for its products, its prices would be a million times more expensive: “If we took that responsibility, say for a big contract at Airbus, I would have to take out a giant insurance policy from Lloyds or another insurance broker, and pay a giant invoice. The product would then cost not 50 euros, but 50 million.”
There are so many things wrong with that statement, it’s breathtaking. It’s shocking that apparently no one at the conference called Mundie on the million times more expensive claim. And I’d like to see any product that Microsoft would deliver under a “big contract” to a client like Airbus that cost 50 euros.
Here’s another incredible Mundie statement that seemingly went unchallenged: “Asked why it has taken Microsoft 25 years to get trustworthy computing into the forefront of its efforts, he said, ‘Because customers wouldn’t pay for it until recently.’”
Buckle up, folks. It’s clear that Microsoft is setting out to turn security into a profit center.
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