[Quarrelsome]

Regulate operating systems. Fund programs and research to work out how to create operating systems for our infrastructure that contain less zero days. Ensure we're the ones that find the zero days first.

The reason we're vulnerable is because we're unwilling to pay the cost of finding the exploits but people in developing nations ARE because they work for "less".

Right now our economies and systems reward those that fly by their pants and don't care for security. That is the problem. The free buffet of infinite growth from technology startups is the very thing that also gives us this pain and we need to learn to eat less.

[SCHiM]

I see that going wrong too. If operating systems need to be certified, where does that leave free open source projects?

[jessespears]

This would take an extraordinary departure from our current politics. Government intruding on software would (rightly) cause cries from the most stalwart Free Software advocates and from proprietary software companies.

Can you imagine the outcry if a new Linux fork had to seek government approval in order to post their distribution?

Can you expect Google or Oracle to fail to lobby the government to make sure they don't have to get each major revision certified?

[floatboth]

Not in order to post their distribution! Approval for usage in critical infrastructure.

Critical infrastructure, IMO, should:

- not use general purpose operating systems

- maybe not use general purpose computers (just build custom FPGA logic to control power grids and stuff)

- not use internet connected computers

- maybe not use computers at all when possible

[CWuestefeld]

Regulate operating systems.

When we're trying to protect ourselves from the vulnerabilities hoarded by our government, I think that asking them to regulate the OS might just be a step backward.