WebOS Doctor Tool Reveals Eos, Upcoming Features

It will be no time at all before the Pre is completely "jailbroken". Already, of course and as noted somewhere or other, folks are writing and running applications (probably Javascript still) that bypassed Palm's theoretical certification process completely.

Since Palm's intent was that almost all applications on the Pre be pure Javascript it will be no time at ll that all such applications are open-sourced.

SeldomVisitor wrote:
That is to say, open source doesn't stop the badguys - doesn't even appear to slow them down.

So, how many "bad guys" had taken advantage of that vulnerability before the patch was released?

The advantage of opensource is that a whole lot of "good guys" are looking at the code as well and finding the vulnerabilities before they are exploited. No "guarantee" of course, but I prefer it to the typical method of waiting until one of the "bad guys" has actually started using the vulnerability before a patch is released.

WebOS is not supposed to be opensource, so I am in no way suggesting Palm has any advantage here.

Hey Palm! Where's my PDA with Wifi and phone capabilities?

twrock wrote:
SeldomVisitor wrote:
That is to say, open source doesn't stop the badguys - doesn't even appear to slow them down.

So, how many "bad guys" had taken advantage of that vulnerability before the patch was released?

The advantage of opensource is that a whole lot of "good guys" are looking at the code as well and finding the vulnerabilities before they are exploited. No "guarantee" of course, but I prefer it to the typical method of waiting until one of the "bad guys" has actually started using the vulnerability before a patch is released.

I think you're partially right. Open source certainly allows the code to be patched faster than closed source can be. In that sense, it accelerates the speed of the arms race between "black hats" (to differentiate them from "hackers") and developers. On the other hand, it's an open question (no pun intended) just how many people are manning the walls, so to speak. If most people who install open source software never actually look at it, it doesn't make much of a difference.

I'm certainly not saying that's the case. All I'm saying is that how much of an advantage open source software is over closed source software (in terms of security) isn't a simple question of how many people have access to the code. And I think the more that Linux is adopted, the more that'll matter.

mikecane wrote:
>>>Blah, you people are the same ones who think Windows is more secure than Linux just because it's proprietary/closed source. Open Source Software (webOS's Linux foundation is GPL) is inherently more secure than closed source since vulnerabilities and fixes can be vetted by the community.

webOS is not supposed to be open source. And that Palm hasn't commented on this leak - and I said they should, via Twitter - really makes me shake my head about WTF is really going on here.

Is it a true leak? Or it is a deliberate leak to keep buzz going and give people a peek at the innards prior to the SDK?

I don't know for sure that it's a "true" leak, but WebOS is based on Linux, so I doubt that people seeing the code is something Palm loses sleep over. There are few better ways to boost their app store than to have a bunch of Linux apps ported over to WebOS.

It's kind of a double-edged sword, though. Knowing how to root your Pre and get it to do all kinds of nefarious things? Pretty cool. :) Someone else knowing how to root your Pre and do all kiinds of nefarious things? Um, not so much...