Microsoft hits back after Google publicises Windows bug

[HEXUS]

Google didn't want to wait until the bug fix was distributed today, Patch Tuesday.

Read more.

[sirtrouserpress]

As I see it, if Google didn't realise these bugs every once in a while, businesses like Microsoft would have no incentive to patch it quickly. So to many respects Google still is working on the side of Microsoft by reminding them to do their jobs...

[crossy]

In response to Google's lack of flexibility, Microsoft exec Chris Betz wrote in a blog on the company's site on Sunday "We asked Google to work with us to protect customers by withholding details until Tuesday, Jan. 13, when we will be releasing a fix. Although following through keeps to Google’s announced timeline for disclosure, the decision feels less like principles and more like a 'gotcha,' with customers the ones who may suffer as a result." Betz added "What's right for Google is not always right for customers. We urge Google to make protection of customers our collective primary goal."

Opinion is split between whether Google was right to publicise the bug on principal, or it should have had some flexibility to help protect Windows users. The BBC has quotes from supporters on both sides of the argument but at the time of writing Google is yet to officially respond to the Microsoft TechNet blog post by Chris Betz.

What do readers think about Google Project Zero and its disclosure of the unpatched bug in this case?

If the above is an accurate summation of what occurred (and the BBC and other sites seem to be telling the same story) then I'm going to side with Microsoft in this case. Sure, I'm happy that Google's Project Zero folks are trying to keep developers "honest" wrt security. But to release details of the flaw when they'd been told that it was going to be patched in two days time seems vindictive.

On the other hand I have no problem with the idea that Google turn around and says "sure, you're patching on the 13. Okay we'll release details on the 15th", as that would have been the sensible thing to do since it'd be giving Microsoft a chance to do the correct thing and patch the flaw.

[KentHangaard]

I think we are forgetting that Microsoft actually had two releases prior to this one, and they could maybe had urged a bit more to have it fixed with in the given time by google ?
I'm surely standing with google on this one. two patch cycles is a lot, yea it takes time to make the fix, but should not take 50+ days.

[big_hairy_rob]

Microsoft knew the deadline of 90 days and if Tuesday was such an issue, why wasn’t it released on the Tuesday prior to the deadline. Sure it may look vindictive of Google, but what about any hypocrisy by allowing a giant company such as Microsoft to dictate when it can release its statements, while smaller companies would not be given that chance. By sticking to their guns Google at least remain honest to the terms that they set and as a result I side with them.

[GuidoLS]

Meanwhile, Google is ignoring security flaws in Jelly Bean (Android 4.3)...

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/12/google-not-fixing-some-old-android-bugs/

Considering that Jelly Bean *still* powers roughly 2/3rds of all Android devices worldwide, you'd think they would take care of their business before calling out someone else - especially when they'd already been in contact with Microsoft, and had been given a repair date. So no, Google wasn't being honest, nor good guys. They were being hypocrites of the worst kind.

[Corky34]

Didn't Google stop support of Jelly Bean (Android 4.3) back in July 2013 ?

[ali73]

Meanwhile, Google is ignoring security flaws in Jelly Bean (Android 4.3)...

not forgetting this one, stopping me from using a nexus 4 phone to make/receive calls (no mic or speaker)...

https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/nexus/j74JlShhihc

[DemonHighwayman]

I think Google should have been a bit more flexible maybe granting up to a week extra before going public, however MS did have plenty of time to get the bug fixed. Anyway i'd say to anyone who is affected to hold off a week anyway before they update, google around to see if the new patch causes any problems, which every update they did last year did !

[LSG501]

Well I'm in the Microsoft camp on this one... the only people who this actually benefits from Google releasing the info are the people that are out to use the security flaw. From what I read it has quite a large system wide effect so the testing etc likely took longer than say fixing a simple bug.

Yes they had 90 days to deal with the issue but we had Christmas and New Years in that period so allowing a couple of days wouldn't have hurt anyone, except Google who wouldn't have been able to get 'one over' on Microsoft.

I've been growing more and more anti google of late due to decisions they keep making to try and 'force' us to use their services and this just seems to fall in that sort of approach.

As to Android support from Google, there's support and then there's fixing security issues on arguably their most popular os/version etc..... it's fine waiting for a security update and all but you don't exactly get many of them on Android, hell it's even worse if you're using a skinned version, like a majority of android users (Samsung).

[wasabi]

Meanwhile, Google is ignoring security flaws in Jelly Bean (Android 4.3)...

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/01/12/google-not-fixing-some-old-android-bugs/

Considering that Jelly Bean *still* powers roughly 2/3rds of all Android devices worldwide, you'd think they would take care of their business before calling out someone else - especially when they'd already been in contact with Microsoft, and had been given a repair date. So no, Google wasn't being honest, nor good guys. They were being hypocrites of the worst kind.

Surely it is up to the phone manufacturers to update to KitKat? Google's own Nexus devices are, to the best of my knowledge, all up-to-date.

[gagaga]

Google's own Nexus devices are, to the best of my knowledge, all up-to-date.

Nope, My Nexus 7 LTE is still sat on 4.4.4.

[LSG501]

Surely it is up to the phone manufacturers to update to KitKat? Google's own Nexus devices are, to the best of my knowledge, all up-to-date.

Which you could argue is a design flaw of Android, unlike Windows and iOS who both have built in update features which work with ALL devices that use it (yes I know the limited phones they support)

Nope, My Nexus 7 LTE is still sat on 4.4.4.

so my's non LTE 2012 nexus 7, I've not had any update notification come through... even though it's supposed to have been. Not the first time I've had to 'force' an update, the last one required me formatting the device back to stock to get the update.

[crossy]

Didn't Google stop support of Jelly Bean (Android 4.3) back in July 2013 ?

My problem with them is that while it's fine for them to stop support, the only official answer is "buy a new device and consign the old one to landfill" - how very environmentally friendly of them.

Surely it is up to the phone manufacturers to update to KitKat? Google's own Nexus devices are, to the best of my knowledge, all up-to-date.

That first bit is Google's line - which personally is a pretty flimsy excuse. I cannot see why Google couldn't "persuade" it's OEM's to unbundle their UI's (and other assorted bloatware) therefore making a heck of a lot easier for OS updates to be done. Or why not just allow folks with old devices (like those millions of peoples who have Galaxy S3's for example) to download and flash raw (Nexus style) Android? Then at least you'd be able to do something about security flaws other than adding another device to landfill. After all, there's a lot of developers on XDA-Devs that appear to be able to do this!

Yes, I'd definitely prefer that Google got their house in order!

[Jowsey]

Surely it is up to the phone manufacturers to update to KitKat? Google's own Nexus devices are, to the best of my knowledge, all up-to-date.

I'm with you.

Google have made available several updates since 4.3. It's weird that some people with Nexus devices haven't received the update yet.

I'm going to rock the boat here a bit as I kind of understand why Google might have done this.

90 Days is a lot of time. It's 3 months. Quarter of a year. If people like Google aren't going to keep putting pressure on M$ to ensure there products are secure then someone will use these vulnerabilities, probably for a more sinister means.

M$ are talking rubbish when they say Google has endangered customers. M$ told Google it's fixed and they are just waiting to push it out. It feels like M$ is in a bad mood as Google didn't keep to it's pointless deadline and instead keep to it's own.

[GuidoLS]

Didn't Google stop support of Jelly Bean (Android 4.3) back in July 2013 ?

4.3 was announced on 24 July 2013. 4.1 was announced in June of 2012. KitKat (4.4) was a Halloween gift in 2013. 5.0 (aka Lollipop) was announced in October of 2014, and by all accounts, doesn't even tick off a full percentage point of Android users.

So no, it's not likely they stopped support when they announced the product And while it may be some form of demented fun to stand in queue for days on end every year to buy a new phone, 18 months for a major release of an OS is not a long span of time, even in today's gotta have the newest now society.