Posted on 02/14/2008 11:59:08 PM PST by dayglored
Microsoft researchers are hoping to use "information epidemics" to distribute software patches more efficiently.
Milan Vojnović and colleagues from Microsoft Research in Cambridge, UK, want to make useful pieces of information such as software updates behave more like computer worms: spreading between computers instead of being downloaded from central servers.
The research may also help defend against malicious types of worm, the researchers say.
Software worms spread by self-replicating. After infecting one computer they probe others to find new hosts. Most existing worms randomly probe computers when looking for new hosts to infect, but that is inefficient, says Vojnović, because they waste time exploring groups or "subnets" of computers that contain few uninfected hosts.
...
... a worm starts by randomly contacting potential new hosts. After finding one, it uses a more targeted approach, contacting only other computers in the same subnet. If the worm finds plenty of uninfected hosts there, it keeps spreading in that subnet, but if not, it changes tack.
"After it fails to reach new uninfected hosts a fixed number of times in a row, say 10, it moves on to find new groups using random sampling," explains Vojnović. This approach performs almost as efficiently as the strategies using prior knowledge.
...
(Excerpt) Read more at technology.newscientist.com ...
WOW what a great idea!!!
What could possible go wrong???
Tech Gone Wild Ping-a-ling!
BAWHAHAHAHAHA...exactly....
I really don’t know what these guys use for brains, but it smells like the south end of a northbound horse.
Would the updates be voluntary? Otherwise, there could be shades of [not quite Big Brother, but some freedom-crimping authority figuratively pushing things on people].
That concern is way too late.
My Windows boxes are set to "Download and notify but NOT install" updates. Right?
Bullsh*t. Microsoft designates certain patches as sufficiently important that they override that setting, and FORCE A REBOOT of my computer against my wishes.
Cheeky bastards.
so you spread a worm, realise later there is a bug and release a new worm to fix the last worm...
Are you john connor?
must watch terminator again to get an idea how this will pan out...LOL
jeeze dude, i didnt know that..voluntary updates until i say it isnt voluntary...wow the joseph stalin approach to software...excellent...where do i sign up?
That sounds about right...
Microsoft should just buy server space and time from Amazon whenever they release a new, major update. Once the initial high volume is done with, they can have their gateway/update servers point to their in-house hosted update servers.
Or if they want to continue along this train as a secondary strategy, they can implement a version of peer-to-peer cross downloading whereby the update server will distribute an equivalent file of a torrent, which is opened up by the Windows Update software, authenticated against Microsoft’s server, and then it registers with the distribution server as a peer. The first download holds a description of the file, and the distribution server then facilitates connections with other nearby peers with priority ratings assigned by apparent speed, and proximity. The file downloads, the final download is authenticated, and then the local update software goes onto the next step.
Pretty much. Oh, have you heard about WGA (Windows Genuine Advantage), the Microsoft-spawned virus that arbitrarily (and often falsely) decides that your system is a pirate, revokes your license to run your computer, and forces it into crippled shutdown?
No I'm not kidding.
> excellent...where do i sign up?
"Run Away!! Run Away!!"
Amazon? Maybe, but why not Akamai?
Remember when, in 2003, Microsoft's own web servers for www.microsoft.com crumpled under the load, and they had to buy server cycles and bandwidth from Akamai? The irony was that Akamai's servers run Linux. So Microsoft's website was running on Linux for a couple of weeks.
> Or if they want to continue along this train as a secondary strategy, they can implement a version of peer-to-peer cross downloading whereby the update server will distribute an equivalent file of a torrent...
Yep, torrents would probably be a great way to go, if they're looking to distribute the load.
That’s how Blizzard patches WoW. Seems to work very well.
This has already happened... years ago I wrote a little disk formatting program for the Commodore 64 and released it into the wild... it got copied and copied and little errors seeped into the code... some crashed the app beyond recovery and other errors were innocuous, but some made things run better or quicker... over and over, copied and copied... until one day my little formatting program came back as a complete Windows accounting package with payroll and expert tax preparation. All by random error addition and survival of the fittest program...
Who would'a thunk it... digital Darwinism...
Seriously, this idea of viral upgrades was vetted years ago... and rightly shot down because of the very real possibility of lawsuits from businesses who's bread-and-butter applications could crash even with a well intentioned upgrade. I am surprised anyone would even think of such an idea in this litigious society.
I see you felt the same icy feeling running down your spine I did.
Rage of the machine, indeed. Battle of the viruses in cyberspace.
This IS a science fiction movie isn’t it? Isn’t it???
Sounds like they have worms on the brain.
From the outside in, or the inside out?
Looking at some of the application packages my IT group is supposed to support for the Finance Dept., I think your little formatting program is still out in the wild mutating and growing....
Last I saw of it, it was being used to manage the DMV in California... I hear there have been reports of it being seen in the Social Security Offices in some outlying districts...
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