Re: Place your bets...
Wasted time? OK, but at most it's a few hours of people's time. Irrespective of the research itself, the exposure that this has had, and the increased awareness it has generated is out of all proportion - in a positive sense - to any time wasted. The commenter in the original story was right, this is an emotional, rather childish reaction to a real issue that should be addressed. Yes we would all be annoyed and feel a bit of a tool in this situation. But that is not a professional or effective way to deal with this. As usual at the reg, the fact that it's regarding the Linux kernel, tribal loyalty means a fair proportion of readers immediately decided it's a terrible thing to do.
This is the world's most used software, anything that highlights or even suggests the potential for security issues is a good thing. This is especially true here given the very trivial negative consequences arising from the study. If people can't accept that, I would question whether tribal feelings aren't perhaps clouding their objectivity.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
