Either that is really funny or you are a ‘tard.
Made me laugh…

“Macintosh has similar issues. Both still live in the 80s (though perhaps MS is waking up)”

It seems +you+ live in the 80s. The MacOS X is now standard on all Macs delivered since 2001. And figure out, MacOS X is based on Unix BSD, one of the most secure OS’s on the planet.

There is another issue I want to address: it seems there is a common misconception out there that if an OS is not widespread, there will be no virsuses/worms written for them. That’s IMO not true: as someone here already pointed out, Apache is the software used by over 60% of the web servers on the Internet: that makes a nice majority. No major problems have been yet reported!

And there is another fact that disturbs me: people keep telling us that the problems occur solely because “ports are left open” on MS software. This is not the issue: a simple open port cannot cause that much trouble. The real problem was the standard buffer overrun (read “sloppy programming”) that nowadays plagues so much of the MS software. Vulnerability description:

“A buffer overrun vulnerability exists in LSASS that could allow remote code execution on an affected system. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could take complete control of the affected system.”

So please shut up an stop pretending this is normal. Security is an issue that must be built from ground up in a system. Unfortunately, MS-Windows is not one of them. But such sistems exist, just look at the venerable, 30 years+ old Unix based OSes: MacOS X and Linux are living examples. As such, even in the (unfortunately unlikely) alternative that in 2 years Linux + Macs will make 90% of the OSes out there, there will be not many more succesful attacks on those machines as there are today.

Definitely not. And all people everywhere, without exception, who think that “once every few weeks” should be any kind of a standard at all *deserve* to have viruses and to have their data destroyed. You just can’t be *that dumb* and expect to enjoy a secure computing experience. Threats have to be acknowledged and defended against *as they present themselves*, not on a schedule. And that, of course, should be obvious. And to those to whom it isn’t, one should not have sympathy.

Macintosh has similar issues. Both still live in the 80s (though perhaps MS is waking up), when the internet for personal computer didn’t exist and security wasn’t a concern.

The article ignores that some environments are dominated by one alternative OS or another. Yet, no major worms for anything but Microsoft products. As he concludes “But for the present, it’s hard to argue with history.”

And history has shown that even if there is a wide spread *nix application, worms aren’t created. Apache (which runs on a variety of OS’s and most of the worlds websites) has a good security record, and I’m 99% sure hasn’t been the target of a widespread worm.

Additionally, it’s harder to write virus’s for Linux, since users don’t run as root (administrator) by default, unlike Windows XP Home. To play games in Windows you often have to be administrator, unlike Linux even with commercial games. The fact that it works this way shows how un-security concious Microsoft is. There are ways you could make having a restricted normal user and a super user easy to use, in regard to installing software and what not. But Microsoft decided not to give the effort.

Though it’s really a silly agrument. If you were working IT and had to decide which OS was most secure, you would pick Linux or one of the BSDs over Windows. The fact that *nix is less widespread is one reason why, true. But for folks making these decisions “oh, but its so widespread, its not really Windows’s fault”, is no defense at all.

Who wants to break into the slum tenements?

And, why doesn’t Microsoft include a virus scanner with the OS? It is a necesity. Its like building a car without seat belts.

I’m hopefully about the next version of Windows, hopefully it won’t be so easy to write worms for/have so many exploits.

Read Larry Seltzer’s article “Could a Worm on Mac or Linux Ever Get Traction?”
here: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1586637,00.asp

..bug?

..or, _really_ a feature?

..ever _read_ the licenses you clicked “Ok” to accept?

..Microsoft even spent 5 mill on a reward plot?

..you might even wanna compare it to that “viral” license the Chairman spent 86 to 105 mill in 2003 in just one plot, to try defeat:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/selling.html
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/linux-gnu-freedom.html

..rolling up that plot: http://groklaw.net/

… and I laff at all these people, harpin on Gates, who themselves are running pirated copys of windows.. lolol… if security is an issue with u, go do a puzzle or fly a kite.. then again, u could get hit by a meteorite outside.. muah

«ÇhäötïǤLüñätïÇ»

aka

Zo|Tro Enterpris3®

There is no such thing as “Secure” software, as we’ve been told over and over by security experts. The only possibility is to attempt to stay ahead of the game. This user clearly doesn’t know how to use Windows, so I’m certain he’ll find himself in the same predicament again. I seriously doubt he’d have the skills necessary to set up and use a Linux system.