john_k - 4:50 pm on Jul 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

could it be that they were sorta vainly hoping that M$ would clean up "the real problem" and write a "real OS" ..?

Because it wasn't really a Mozilla problem but a bug with the Windows OS. The basic question comes down to, is Mozilla responsible for fixing bugs in the OS or just its own software?

I agree whole-heartedly that the OS shouldn't permit the behavior. But I also believe this was a huge blunder on the part of the Mozilla developers. They were/are developing an application to work within the context of a specific OS. Part of that task is to leverage strengths and to work-around weaknesses. They knew about this particular issue and consequently they should have dealt with it sooner. The 24-hour fix description is a spin that isn't needed.

Playing loose with blame and responsibility (which is the treatment people give MS), a different spin might be to say that, even as they publicly deride MS for its lack of security expertise and committment, they knowingly let a gaping hole hang out in their own software for almost two years. Apparently someone had some down-time and decided to address this mid-level priority issue.