Monad Shell Removed From Vista

hggs writes "According to Stephen Toulouse at Microsoft, because of the possible virus threat that targets Monad the shell will not be included in Windows Vista. CNet is reporting that, even though Monad is not to be included on Vista, it will be included on a major server operating system for servers from Microsoft. Codenamed Longhorn server, that edition is due out by 2007." Update: 08/06 04:45 GMT by Z : As Mr. Toulouse states here, the submission here adds one and one and gets three. Monad hasn't been in Vista for about two months. The CNet article is clarifying a previous report stating that Monad could potentially be the first source of viruses in an OS which incorporated it. The interesting news about Monad in the server edition was obscured by the factually incorrect submission, which at first blush seemed to make sense. Mea Culpa.

Poster Wrong.

[AdroitOneX]

I RTFA and it does not even imply that MONAD will not be included in Windows Vista because of the virus threat. In fact, MS announced almost two months ago [slashdot.org] that Mondad will not be included in Windows Vista (then Longhorn).

Dear God MORON...

[Manip]

Mohad was NOT in Vista before all this sudo-virus junk appeared. It was taken out MONTHS ago! Microsoft have been saying for MONTHS that it will not appear in Vista but WILL appear in Longhorn Server.

Now some attention seekers claim they created a virus, which is no more powerful than anything you could currently do in VBScript and gets headlines. Now you link to a blog that says "There is no virus threat [TRUE!] and Mohad will not be in Vista [TRUE]" and conclude that A == B?! Dear god you people!

The summary couldn't have been more inaccurate!

[xiphoris]

A clue should've been the title of the article linked to [technet.com]: "A virus for Windows Vista? Wrong."

From TFA:
"First of all, in examining the details of the reports, there is no Windows Vista virus described in them. ...The viruses do not attempt to exploit a software vulnerability and do not encompass a new method of attack."

If one had read either of the two articles linked, one would realize that the so-called "viruses" are nothing more than malicious scripts. No software hole is exploited; the viruses are no more dangerous than any arbitrary piece of code running on your system.

They are not viruses; they only have the privileges that a user gives them. They're the same as any other executable file.

If a stranger sends you an executable, be it a script or a compiled program, and you run it, you're already in trouble. These scripts are nothing special.

Did the article author even read what he was submitting? The author states, "because of the possible virus threat that targets Monad the shell will not be included in Windows Vista", which could not be more deliberately misleading, and is contracted by both articles he links to!

Worst. Slashdot summary. Ever.

[mcc]

Or at least the worst in several years. The blurb says basically the exact opposite of what the link says. May I suggest one of the /. editors add a little "update: the above is wrong in every way" to the end?

Re:tsk.. tsk.. /.

[MightyMartian]

The problem here is that NT has lacked a decent shell with scripting capabilities since the very beginning. The joke is that *nix has had them for decades, but in the 21st century, MS still can't do it.

BOGUS STORY SUBMISSION

[bonch]

Here, read the linked article yourself. The submission says the reason for Monad's removal is the previous Slashdot story about the proof-of-concept "virus." But the article has no mention of that and merely points out that Monad won't be in Vista, which we knew months ago. The submitter made the connection up:

A virus for Windows Vista? Wrong.

Hi everyone, Stephen Toulouse here. There's been some commentary the past couple of days regarding a potential Windows Vista virus and we wanted to weigh in with some details. First of all, in examining the details of the reports, there is no Windows Vista virus described in them. Instead, the reports are regarding potential proof of concept viruses in the form of malicious scripts that are developed to affect a new interactive shell codenamed "Monad", which is currently in early phase of beta testing.

Now to be clear, these reports pose no risk for Microsoft customers. The viruses do not attempt to exploit a software vulnerability and do not encompass a new method of attack. Furthermore, "Monad" is not widely available for general use. It's a beta, and we do not recommend or support the use of beta software in a production environment. Microsoft continues to analyze the feedback from testers as Monad continues to be developed.

But most important, "Monad" is not included in the beta release of Windows Vista or in Windows Server 2003 R2.

Monad will not be included in the final version of Windows Vista and there is no relation between Monad and Windows Vista Beta 1. Monad is being considered for the Windows Operating System platform for the next three to five years. So these potential viruses do not affect Windows Vista or any other version of Windows if "Monad" has not been installed on the system.

It's hard to predict what type of malicious software criminals might develop to attack future versions of operating systems. But rest assured we're on the case! The MSRC will be here to investigate and provide the guidance to help protect customers no matter what attacks may impact customers.

Stephen Toulouse here.

[Stepto]

Hi,

Thanks for all those who pointed out I never said what the submission is commenting on. I have submitted a correction to the /. submit story item and hopefully we will see an update to the story soon.

And as for all the other Windows Vista comments in the thread: Thanks for the feedback, we'll take it under advisement. ;>

S.

Re:FP

[falsified]

Insightful? Microsoft isn't using it as an excuse. MSH wasn't ready for release by the time Vista will be. One has nothing to do with the other. Monad's insecurity was to be expected since it's still in alpha or maybe early beta. Therefore, it's not being released.

As an aside, am I the only person who likes what he sees so far as MSH goes?