Micro$oft announces anti-spam strategy

[MyNameHere]

Just wondering how folks see SpamCop fitting into a future in which M$ is creating its own anti-spam world (such things as challenge-response, already tried and discarded here)?

See http://www.microsoft.com/execmail/

[Wazoo]

The plan was always that someday SpamCop wouldn't be needed. But to think that Bill Gates and the world of Windows is going to solve the problem is more than a bit funny. Even if the "perfect" server and client applications were released today, how many years are going to go by before they actually can be afforded by all concerned, installed, and actually end up being run in a secure mode? And just what makes one think that the spammers of the world would change their tactics and mode, vice just continuing on with the compromising and taking advantage of compromised systems ...????

[jamesf]

I saw an article where Bill Gates was suggesting that it should be made hard for computers to send mail - for instance something about solving puzzles.

Just sounds like a way to slow down sending email and not really very well thought out. Really missed the point because the spammers could either just buy more machines or more to the point just take over more 'zombies' which would sit away chugging sending mail.

[knave]

The only thing good about that initiative is SPF and/or some other way of verifying the sender of an email to prevent ip spoofing and allow email tracking back to its source. The feasibility is still unknown and the implementation would take years. I suppose most large NA ISP's might opt in to this policy but what about countries outside NA? Do we really expect emerging countries to adopt it?

[loafman]

The only thing good about that initiative is SPF and/or some other way of verifying the sender of an email to prevent ip spoofing and allow email tracking back to its source. The feasibility is still unknown and the implementation would take years. I suppose most large NA ISP's might opt in to this policy but what about countries outside NA? Do we really expect emerging countries to adopt it?

I think that if the major NA ISP's and companies adopt it, then we can be isolationist and just tell the rest of the world to use an SPF server so we can know where it came from. I think the other countries may not adopt it fully, but the major corporations in that country will. That will lead to the adoption by those countries.

Kind of like doing world change through MS business practices.

...Ken

P.S. - All this is predicated on the standard being an Open Standard without patent encumberance or proprietary rights issues. The net runs on Open Source for most of the mail servers and would not support a Closed Source solution.