[nfbcs] Next version of Windows to have more sandboxing

[Rasmussen, Lloyd]

A related subject ...
A recent story on CNet News described Microsoft's efforts to enter the school market in a big way, in order to compete with the Chromebooks which have been quite successful. They described a version of Windows called Windows 10S, a subset of Windows 10, which is heavily managed and could only use programs that are available in the Windows Store. Individual computers could be authorized to go beyond that limit for additional cost and increased management complexity.
Begin Speculation Mode: Might Windows Narrator be the only program that runs in the default environment of this operating system? If so, the next battleground might be whether Narrator was providing enough information for students to use it competitively in their schoolwork. End Speculation.

Lloyd Rasmussen, Senior Staff Engineer
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, Library of Congress
Washington, DC 20542   202-707-0535
http://www.loc.gov/nls/
The preceding opinions are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Library of Congress, NLS.


-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Deborah Armstrong via nfbcs
Sent: Tuesday, May 16, 2017 5:42 PM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
Cc: Deborah Armstrong
Subject: [nfbcs] Next version of Windows to have more sandboxing

I'm listening now to Steve Givson's security now,
https://www.grc.com/securitynow.htm

https://twit.tv/shows/security-now


he has some very interesting comments about the direction Microsoft is heading.

Basically he says that universal apps will become more and more sandboxed; desktop applications as we know them will fully disappear, and external software will no longer be able to capture screen or keyboard content. The idea is to completely eliminate the ability for keystroke loggers to exist and for malware to do screen scraping to capture sensitive information.  The idea is to increase security by making Windows less open and friendly to power users.

But what is a screen reader but a sophisticated screen scraper and keystroke logger? I wonder how this change will affect us blind users.

--Debee