Linked by Jordan Spencer Cunningham on Tue 31st Mar 2009 06:30 UTC
Many have gotten antsy the past months about the Conficker worm, and all with good reason. Though the worm hasn't done much of anything (yet) except spread like the plague, it's infectious if one doesn't have his or her Windows operating system up-to-date with the most recent security updates. The worm is supposed to execute on April 1st, and the computer world is holding its breath to see if a disaster comparable to the hyped-up supposed Y2K doomsday will ensue or if it's just someone's idea of a sick April Fool's Day joke.
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Member since:
2006-01-04
He does have a point, but I don't know if he realises it or not. Assuming Linux is just as insecure as Windows, you're still at less risk because it has a smaller marketshare and noone writes rooting worms with payloads for it (rather most are for spam/CPU botnets or for targetting other Windows installations). It's a good argument against software monopolies, the same way low genetic diversity is considered a bad thing (bananas).
At least if there was a mix of Linux, BSD, OS X and Windows, all running various different sets of software (KDE, GNOME, etc.) the damage would be far more contained.
Imagine a Windows super-bug destroyed most Windows installations next week... we'd be screwed