Rebirth of the Tech Madman

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

After all, although most of the damaged computers can be remedied by returning to the factory for repairs and replacing the chips, whether the documents with important information can be recovered depends on whether the goddess of luck is willing to take care of them.

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

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Chernobyl virus has caused US$10 billion in losses worldwide, which is not an exaggeration.

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

Its statement: I am the author of the Chernobyl virus; I accidentally leaked this "little thing" out of my mind; I feel uneasy and apologetic for the unexpected damage caused thereby; in order to minimize the harm , Now open the source code to form a more effective and proper solution with teamwork.

Since then, the Chernobyl virus, which has made countless people hear about it, has completely "made out the world."

In the beginning, many people were very resistant to receiving email attachments with the source code of the Chernobyl virus.

Humph, don't want to fool me! The previous very confusing "cover letters", "__" and other e-mails, can be miserable!

However, when the source code of the Chernobyl virus was confirmed to be correct, everyone's attitude immediately changed!

A computer security company represented by Symantec said anxiously, “The publication of the source code of the Chernobyl virus, on the surface, seems to help clarify its real mechanism and help prevent it; but At the same time, it is even more likely to be used by someone with a heart to breed a variant of the Chernobyl virus."

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

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

Russia agreed very well, but it didn’t work. I don’t know if it’s because the author of the Chernobyl virus really missed the end, or because of years of poor economic performance, it began to diverge from Germany and the United States. Up.

It is the technical community that the disclosure of the source code of the Chernobyl virus can be described as a joy; especially after an in-depth analysis of the source code of the Chernobyl virus, countless people have fallen on the knees of worship.

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

There is no doubt that the author of the Chernobyl virus is a top-level master who has a thorough knowledge of the development of computer technology in the last ten years; otherwise, the Chernobyl virus blade will not be almost impossible. Defects that may be found and

The emergence of the Chernobyl virus has caused the contemporary computer industry to take a serious and comprehensive review of the shortcomings under its colorful halo. To a certain extent, it does not hesitate to spur a spur.

The Chernobyl virus tells the public what kind of skills a smart hacker should have.

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

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The admiration of the Chernobyl virus, its author, and so on is like the water of the Yangtze River, overflowing beyond control.

After boasting, someone wondered: No, the author of the Chernobyl virus, so awkward, shouldn't stay in the desert of the development of the personal computer industry in Russia.

Since then, the true identity of the author of the Chernobyl virus has been discussed dimly.

The reason is there. For such a master who has stepped on the entire computer industry, if he wants to hide his traces on the Internet, or create an illusion of his existence on the Internet, it is too easy!

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Of course, while some gossip is blazing, there are also others who are serious about doing real things.

Fangyuan Company officially announced that it will introduce a dual design scheme for the motherboard used in Fangyuan personal computers to resist the devastating damage to the system hardware by the Chernobyl virus and its variants.

The corresponding principle is simple to say: one of the chips still uses the current popular one that can be erased by changing the voltage to facilitate the addition of upgrades and maintenance including support for the latest CPU; and the other chip , Use the kind that can only be erased and written by ultraviolet radiation. Furthermore, when the former is damaged, causing normal booting cannot be performed, a usable backup is provided.

Although the technology launched by Fangyuan Company does not have any revolutionary gold content, it is better than not, which shows a serious and responsible attitude of knowing shame and then courage. It immediately ushered in praise, and the industry is also gathering in response.

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

Because the destruction of computer hardware by the Chernobyl virus has left an indelible impression on people, it is not difficult to imagine that when the source code of the Chernobyl virus is made public, someone will immediately start research on it. And soon came to a conclusion.

That is: Compared with Chernobyl virus's indiscriminate damage to office software documents in the hard disk, its devastating attack on hardware only targets those computers with 32-bit and 16-bit mixed architecture operating systems. If it is 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 motherboard, you must change the voltage, which in turn requires the system's interrupt call permission.

It is precisely those 32-bit and 16-bit mixed-architecture operating systems that do not have complete rights management for interrupts, so that masters such as the author of the Chernobyl virus have found an empty door that can be attacked.

Now that the problem is known, the destruction of computer hardware by the Chernobyl virus is no longer the horror of being completely ignorant at the beginning.

All users need to do is to install a pure 32-bit operating system.

This is not a difficult task. There is still plenty of room for choice, including StudiOS_ from Zheru Software and Windows_NT from Microsoft.

However, this research conclusion has brought about an extinction to the operating system windows_98 that Microsoft launched for the consumer market this year.

It must be admitted that the newly launched windows_98 has won a good market response through learning from others' strengths; in particular, Zheru Software Corporation has given Microsoft room to play due to antitrust lawsuits.

However, in order to maintain compatibility with 16 applications that still have considerable market space, windows_98 uses a 32-bit and 16-bit hybrid architecture, instead of Zheru Software Inc. equipped StudiOS_ with a more complex virtual machine.

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

You should know that a secure operating system will have a protection mechanism for Interrupt_Description_Table, which is the interrupt description table, to avoid program code changes including computer viruses.

However, windows_95 and windows_98, which are Microsoft's main consumer operating system market, do not have this protection mechanism. As a result, the Chernobyl virus was screened.

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 changes to windows_98 is not big anymore.

After all, instead of wasting resources to fix it, it is better to develop a completely new replacement that is perfect enough.

In other words, after the Chernobyl virus has raged so much, windows_98, which has made Microsoft happy for a short time, may be about to die.

To be more precise, Microsoft has lost its trust foundation in the face of the entire windows_9 branch of the consumer operating system market.

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Seattle, Microsoft headquarters, Gates, Steve Ballmer and others are discussing how to handle the entire windows_9 branch product line.

This is not just about windows_95 and windows_98. After seeing the good response from the windows_98 market, Gein Microsoft is enthusiastically developing the next generation version for the millennium, namely windows_.

In this case, canceling the windows_9 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_ being developed. The resulting loss is really painful.

Steve Ballmer also had a fluke, thinking that the windows_ under development can make up for the defect of the windows_9 branch product line being penetrated by the Chernobyl virus.

So he opened his mouth and said: "Since Microsoft decided to develop graphical user interface operating systems outside of -, the windows_9 branch product line was born. Under the patent pressure of Apple Computer, from the exploratory stage of windows_1.0, windows_2.0 It’s not easy to develop all the way to windows_3, which started to contribute profits, and even the current windows_95 and windows_98. It has gathered our countless hardships and feelings. Now it is a good time to receive rewards, so let’s try to remedy it."

Gates smiled wryly and didn't answer immediately.

He is well versed in technology, and he understands very well: the windows_9 branch product line has become a quagmire, the more reluctantly fluttering and struggling in it, the faster he sinks!

For today's plan, the only way to make a decisive decision is to break Microsoft's operating system layout completely to the windows_ branch product line with a significantly better architecture.

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

If it is said that windows_98 is inferior to others, and it is defeated by competitors, Gates will recognize it; but the current situation is that windows_98 has not had time to start a frontal fight with the corresponding version of StudiOS from Zheru Software, so he was confused. A computer virus is forced to have no place to stand, and it is too awkward to die. How can it be reconciled?

Gates picked up the cup, took a sip of coffee, extinguished the small flames in his heart, and then slowly said: "Although I am as emotionally as you, I don't want to admit that the windows_9 branch product line has come to an end, but the truth is So cruelly unchangeable."

After the lyric was over, Gates's speech speed became apparently faster.

He took out the entrepreneurial courage and the boss's decisiveness, and then instructed: "The research and development of the windows_ project will be stopped immediately; the windows_9 branch product line will be put into maintenance; our next-generation operating system, there is only one, that is version 5.0 windows_."

Seeing that Steve Ballmer was unwilling to speak up, Gates waved his hand, "For the windows_9 branch product line, the market can sell as much as possible, but the company is at the center of the operating system and must be completely moved to windows_ The branch will come up, and the relevant materials must be prepared immediately. I will hold a press conference as soon as possible to announce to the public that version 5.0 of windows_, which is in the development stage, will be on the market, and the commercial name will be windows_2000."

Steve Bauer acquiesces to the time when he knew Gates. UU has been reading www.uukahnshu.com for more than 20 years, and it can be said that he knows well.

Therefore, as soon as he saw the other party behaved like this, he knew: This is the final decision!

Steve Ballmer can also understand Gates’s thoughts: The signs of the windows_9 branch product line have been completely stinky by the Chernobyl virus, which has affected the confidence of investors and hurt Microsoft. The stock price fell.

Under this circumstance, Gates must regain the confidence of the outside world in Microsoft through the version 5.0 of Windows_.

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

He said: Windows_2000, which will be introduced to the market next year, will be divided into two major versions: server and workstation; the workstation version will be subdivided into the professional version and the home version; and the latter will have the consumer-level functions of the windows_9 branch product line.

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When it came to the interactive session, the reporter asked with no face: what will be the outcome of Microsoft's branch product line for windows_9?

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

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In this regard, the "Wired" magazine, which focuses on the impact of science and technology, made a very straightforward title, "Windows 98 is over."

The specific content of the report was praised:

We saw the harm of Chernobyl virus raging everywhere, and we thought it was everything.

but it is not the truth.

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