February 14, 2006 9:36 AM PST
Gates calls for end to passwords -- again
In what has become a yearly ritual, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates again pointed to passwords as a weak link in the security chain.
"Password systems simply won't cut it," he said on Tuesday at the RSA Conference in San Jose. "We need to move to multifactor authentication."
Perhaps hearing echos of his own past speeches, Gates noted that such a shift is easier to talk about than to make.
"I don't pretend that we are going to move away from passwords over night, but over three or four years for corporate systems this change can and should happen," Gates said.
During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft. E-mail Ina. 
