We could say we're utterly shocked to hear that there's a major security flaw in Microsoft "Internet Information Server" web server software, but that'd be about as believable as Dick Van Dyke's cockney accent in Mary Poppins, so we won't insult your intelligence. After all, security holes and Microsoft are two great tastes that taste great together, and finding a new flaw (especially one that has to do with IIS and FrontPage) is hardly even news anymore-- but this one's a little different. Yeah, there's nothing new about a big honkin' hole in IIS, but this time Microsoft's engineers put it there on purpose. It's a back door that, according to Bloomberg News, could allow people to "gain illicit access to hundreds of thousands of Internet sites worldwide."

Still not intrigued? Then consider this: to unlock this hidden back door, apparently all you need to do is type a secret passphrase into Microsoft FrontPage-- and that phrase is "Netscape engineers are weenies!" Okay, so we're appalled that this time a Microsoft product's security was compromised intentionally by the company's developers instead of by the usual incompetence. And we're disgusted that so many people have now put their data at risk by trusting those guys in Redmond. And yet, against all better judgment, we look at that passphrase, and we can't help thinking that this may well be the coolest thing Microsoft has ever done. By comparison, Apple's iguana flag Easter egg was nifty and non-injurious to customer data, but come on.

Top Microsoft officials are denying that they knew about this back door, of course, and they're calling it "a firing offense" and all that, but we're not too sure. Faithful viewer Shane Burgess sent us to an MSNBC story about this brouhaha, in which Microsoft spokesperson Steve Lipner mentions that "the problem doesn't affect Internet servers running Windows 2000, or the latest version of its server extensions included in FrontPage 2000." So whaddaya think-- was this all an emergency contingency plan to boost upgrade sales of Microsoft's latest operating system? If the thought never occurred to you, you're a trusting soul indeed...