Amateur Bug-Finders Challenge Microsoft Testing

Two individuals have built international reputations based solely on their ability to find bugs in Microsoft software. Working alone and part time, Juan Carlos Garcia Cuartango of Spain and Georgi Guninski of Bulgaria manage to regularly identify problems that have escaped Microsoft’s massive quality-assurance and testing processes, often forcing Microsoft to issue a fix. Most frequently, they identify problems in Microsoft’s Internet products, such as its browser and Java Virtual Machine, that allow other users to view files or monitor the user’s activity on the Internet, compromising the user’s security and privacy.

They do it, they say, to help users demand better software. They are also motivated by the recognition they receive, and possibilities for future jobs or contracts. The ease with which two lone individuals can identify problems in Microsoft products is embarrassing to the company. It highlights not only Microsoft’s position as a lightning rod at the top of the worldwide operating system market but also the fact that the basic architecture of its most popular operating systems was designed for non-networked computers, and aims at ease of use rather than security.