Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 942 windows98 is finished

……

The Chernobyl virus, which has the characteristics of both computer viruses and computer worms, and can cross multiple platforms, has refreshed people's understanding of the degree of damage to malicious computer programs, but it has also paid a lot of tuition fees.

After all, although most computers with damaged BIOS can be repaired by returning to the factory for repair and replacing the chip, whether those files that store important data can be restored depends on whether the goddess of luck is willing to take care of them.

And these are only the most direct losses. As for those indirect and invisible losses, it is difficult to accurately evaluate them.

The Wall Street Journal said that the Chernobyl virus caused a loss of US$100 billion worldwide, which is not an exaggeration at all.

While all walks of life were scrambling to deal with the Chernobyl virus that was raging everywhere, on the fourth day after the large-scale outbreak of the Chernobyl virus, the outbreak of the Chernobyl virus began to decline from its peak. At a turning point, an account in the free and open source software community, believed to be from Russia, issued an open letter.

Its statement: I am the author of the Chernobyl virus; it is purely unintentional, and accidentally leaked this "little thing"; I feel disturbed and sorry for the unexpected damage caused by it; in order to minimize the harm , the source code is now open, and a more effective and appropriate solution will be formed by working together.

Ever since, the Chernobyl virus, which has turned countless people's faces, has been completely "revealed to the world".

At first, many people were very resistant to receiving an email attachment with the source code of the Chernobyl virus.

Hmph, don't try to trick me!

Those previous extremely misleading “cover letters” and “I_LOVE_YOU” emails were really frustrating!
However, when the source code of the Chernobyl virus was confirmed to be correct, everyone's attitude changed immediately!
A computer security company, represented by Symantec, expressed concern, "The publication of the source code of the Chernobyl virus appears to be helpful in clarifying its true mechanism and helping to prevent it; At the same time, it is more likely to be exploited by those who want to breed Chernobyl virus variants."

The attitude of the US security department seems to be speculating with the greatest malice: the author of the Chernobyl virus released the source code at this time, not necessarily out of good intentions, I am afraid that the purpose of adding fuel to the flames is the main purpose. of.

For this reason, the United States requests Russia to arrest this dangerous hacker who has caused tens of billions of dollars in economic losses to the world.

Russia promised very well, but it didn't work out. I don't know if it's because the author of the Chernobyl virus really didn't see the end, or because of years of poor economic performance, it started to break away from the United States.

On the other hand, the technical community, the disclosure of the source code of the Chernobyl virus is full of joy; especially after the in-depth analysis of the source code of the Chernobyl virus, countless people have worshiped it.

……

The author of the Chernobyl virus is simply an alien. How did he come up with such an exquisite mathematical algorithm?

There is no doubt that the author of the Chernobyl virus is a top master who knows the development of computer technology in the past ten years; Defects and BUGs that may be found

The emergence of the Chernobyl virus has made the contemporary computer industry look back and conduct a serious and comprehensive examination of its shortcomings under its colorful aura.

The Chernobyl virus told the public what kind of technology a brilliant hacker should possess.

If you are interested in computer technology, as long as you thoroughly study the source code of the Chernobyl virus, you can become a first-class master.

……

The admiration for Chernobyl virus, its author, and so on, is like the water of the Yangtze River, and the flood is out of control.

After exaggerating, someone thought: No, the author of the Chernobyl virus is so awesome, he shouldn’t have stayed in the desert of the personal computer industry in Russia.

Ever since, the true identity of the author of the Chernobyl virus has been discussed in a hazy way.

The truth is there, it is too easy for such a master who has stepped on the entire computer industry to hide his traces on the Internet, or create a false appearance of his existence on the Internet!
……

Of course, while some gossip is burning, there are also people who are serious about doing practical things.

Fangyuan Company officially announced that it will launch a dual BIOS design solution for the motherboards used in Fangyuan personal computers to resist the Chernobyl virus and its variants, which can cause devastating damage to system hardware.

The corresponding principle is simple to say: one of the BIOS chips is still the popular one that can be erased and written by changing the voltage, so as to facilitate the addition of upgrades and maintenance including support for the latest CPU; and the other one The BIOS chip is the one that can only be erased and written by ultraviolet radiation.Then, when the former is destroyed, resulting in failure to boot normally, a usable backup is provided.

Although the technology launched by Fangyuan Company has no revolutionary gold content, it is better than nothing, showing a serious and responsible attitude of knowing shame and courage, and immediately received a lot of praise, and the industry is also responding.

……

However, not everyone can get a positive return from the review and introspection of the Chernobyl virus.

Because the destruction of computer hardware by the Chernobyl virus has left an indelible impression on people, it is not difficult to guess that when the source code of the Chernobyl virus was made public, some people immediately started researching it , and quickly came to a conclusion.

That is: compared with the indiscriminate destruction of office software files on the hard disk by the Chernobyl virus, its devastating attack on hardware only targets computers with 32-bit and 16-bit mixed architecture operating systems. If you choose a pure 32-bit architecture operating system, or a 64-bit architecture operating system, there is nothing wrong with it.

The reason for this is that if you want to destroy the BIOS on the motherboard, you must change the voltage, which in turn requires the permission of the system to interrupt the call.

It is precisely those 32-bit and 16-bit mixed-architecture operating systems that do not have perfect permission management for interrupts, which allows masters like the Chernobyl virus author to find an empty door to be attacked.

Now that the problem is known, the destruction of computer hardware by the Chernobyl virus is not as terrifying as when it was completely unknown at the beginning.

All the user needs to do is to install a pure 32-bit operating system.

This is not a difficult task, and there is still plenty of room for choices, including StudiOS_i of Zheru Software Company and Windows_NT of Microsoft Corporation.

However, this research conclusion has brought disaster to the operating system windows_98 launched by Microsoft this year for the consumer market.

It must be admitted that the newly launched windows_98 has won a good market response through learning from others' strong points; especially because of the anti-monopoly lawsuit of Zheru Software Company, Microsoft has gained room to play.

However, in order to maintain compatibility with 98-bit applications that still have a considerable market space, windows_16 adopts a mixed architecture of 32-bit and 16-bit, instead of Zheru Software Company equipped StudioOS_i with a virtual machine with more complex technology.

In this way, in the face of the Chernobyl virus that can damage computer hardware, windows_98 has become a typical example of the most helpless operating system.

You should know that a safe operating system will have a protection mechanism for Interrupt_Description_Table--Interrupt Description Table, that is, IDT, to avoid changes in program codes including computer viruses.

However, windows_95 and windows_98, which are mainly targeted at the consumer operating system market by Microsoft, do not have this protection mechanism, and they were sieved by the Chernobyl virus.

Because the protection mechanism of the interrupt description table designed by the operating system is too core and too low-level, the value of the modification of windows_98 is not great.

After all, rather than wasting resources tinkering, it would be better to develop a completely new replacement that is perfect enough.

In other words, after the Chernobyl virus was so rampant, Windows_98, which Microsoft enjoyed for a short time, may be coming to an end.

To be more precise, Microsoft has lost the foundation of trust in the entire windows_9X branch of the consumer operating system market.

……

Seattle, Microsoft headquarters, Gates, Steve Ballmer and others are discussing how to deal with the entire windows_9X branch product line.

This is not just a waste of windows_95 and windows_98, because after seeing the good market response of windows_98, Microsoft excitedly developed the next-generation version for the millennium, namely windows_ME.

In this case, canceling the windows_9X branch product line means giving up the two operating systems windows_95 and windows_98 that are still on sale, as well as the successor windows_ME that is under development. The resulting loss is really heart-wrenching.

Steve Ballmer still had a fluke mentality, thinking that the windows_ME under development could make up for the defect that the windows_9X branch product line was penetrated by the Chernobyl virus.

So he said: "Since Microsoft decided to develop a graphical user interface operating system in addition to MS-DOS, the windows_9X branch product line was born. .1.0, to windows_2.0.X, which began to contribute profits, and even the current windows_3 and windows_95, it has been very difficult to develop all the way, and it has condensed our countless hard work and feelings. Now is a good time to collect returns, so let’s try our best to make up for it .”

Gates smiled wryly, but did not answer right away.

He is well versed in technology, and he understands very well: the windows_9X branch product line has become a quagmire, the more reluctant to thump and struggle in it, the faster it will sink!

The only solution for now is to act decisively and shift Microsoft's operating system layout to the windows_NT branch product line, which has a significantly better architecture.

Looking around at the subordinates present, Gates opened his mouth, and suddenly felt that he was too angry.

If it is said that windows_98 is not as skilled as others and was defeated by competitors, Gates will admit it; A computer virus has forced him to have no place to stand. It is really too aggrieved to die. How can people be reconciled?
Gates picked up his cup, took a sip of coffee, extinguished the small fire in his heart, and then said slowly: "Although I am emotionally the same as you, I don't want to admit that the windows_9X branch product line has come to an end, but the fact is that So brutally unchangeable."

After the lyric was finished, Gates' speech speed increased significantly.

He showed the courage of the entrepreneur and the decisiveness of the boss, and then instructed: "The research and development of the windows_ME project will be stopped immediately; the windows_9X branch product line will be transferred to the maintenance state; our next-generation operating system has only one, and that is the 5.0 version of windows_NT." .”

Seeing that Steve Ballmer was reluctant to speak, Gates waved his hand, "For the windows_9X branch product line, the market can sell as much as you can, but the company's focus in the operating system field must be completely shifted to windows_NT. The branch is up, and the relevant materials must be prepared immediately, I will hold a press conference as quickly as possible, and announce to the public that the 5.0 version windows_NT, which is currently in the research and development stage, will be launched next year, and the commercial name will be windows_2000."

Steve Ballmer has known Gates for more than 20 years, and he knows it very well.

Therefore, when he saw the other party acting like this, he knew in his heart: this is the final decision!
Steve Ballmer can understand what Gates is thinking: the windows_9X branch product line has been completely ruined by the Chernobyl virus, which has affected investor confidence and caused Microsoft to suffer. Stock prices fell.

In this case, Gates must regain the outside world's confidence in Microsoft by betting on the 5.0 version of windows_NT.

……

The fact is the same. Gates held a well-prepared media briefing for windows_2000, which is still in the research and development stage.

He said: Windows_2000, which will be introduced to the market next year, will be divided into two versions: server and workstation; the workstation version will be subdivided into professional version and home version;

……

When it came to the interactive session, the reporter asked very shamelessly: What kind of ending will Microsoft give to the Windows_9X branch product line?

Gates replied vaguely: "In view of the superiority of the architecture, Microsoft will of course choose the windows_NT branch product line to undertake the company's future mission."

……

In this regard, Wired magazine, which focuses on reporting on the impact of technology, made a very straightforward title, "windows98 is over".

The specific content of the report is emotional:

We saw the dangers of the Chernobyl virus everywhere, and thought that was all there was to it.

but it is not the truth.

I want to tell you that at least Microsoft will have to change its business strategy because of the Chernobyl virus, and even abolish a very popular operating system!

(End of this chapter)