http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7050-2001Dec20.html



http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS01-059.asp

It took Microsoft 5 weeks to do something about this? :eek:

Ah... I think i'll extend my XP "see how long it's raved for..." period a bit longer..

Woa..surprise there! Move to linux everybody :)

Well, if everyone moved to Linux, I'm sure the same kind of stuff would happen... so that's definately not the best solution. While I'm all in favor of more support for Linux, I definately think that if Linux is the only thing people use, it'll become commercialized. That's one thing us open source people don't want to see happen, and well, after commercialization, we'd see virus infections just the same.

Just my $0.02

edit: sorry.. meant to go in another thread.

Originally posted by teck
I got some links in my post as well:

Why did you just link back to the same thread within that thread?

Originally posted by jkehe
Well, if everyone moved to Linux, I'm sure the same kind of stuff would happen... so that's definately not the best solution. While I'm all in favor of more support for Linux, I definately think that if Linux is the only thing people use, it'll become commercialized. That's one thing us open source people don't want to see happen, and well, after commercialization, we'd see virus infections just the same.

Just my $0.02

Part of the reason we don't hear about virus scares for people on linux systems all the time is just what you are talking about - there simply aren't enough of us for the bad guys to worry about. However, the methods for attacking a linux machine are very different than that of attacking a windows machine.

No, the whole world isn't going to move to linux overnight. End-user applications are not at a high enough level, yet. Installation and configuration still takes a fair bit of computer know-how. Plus, because it is not a commercial OS, linux does not have the marketing department behind it to stick it in the faces of consumers in such a way as to present it as the only choice.

So, to the group as a whole, I don't recommend a mass migration to linux.

But, to individuals out there who are concerned and who know more about their computer than just where to plug it in, I wholeheartedly offer linux as a suggestion to the problem that calls itself "Windows".

EDIT
Forgot a paragraph. The biggest reason that I see linux as a better solution here is not that it is impenatrable or bug free. The beauty of linux, rather, is the community aspect of being open-source. When a bug is found out, you don't have to wait for months and months to see if the big corporation developer is going to fix it, or not. Instead, the linux community works together to fix the problems.

And everyone wonders why Rewdog kept his windows 2000....

Originally posted by jkehe
Well, if everyone moved to Linux, I'm sure the same kind of stuff would happen......


I disagree with that argument. More people use Apache than IIS, yet IIS is chock full of security bugs and Apache has relatively few.

The number of people that use software does not increase the number of security bugs in the software.

Poor software development processes, and a desire for features over security, are what cause security bugs in software.

Microsoft is notoriously poor in their designs when it comes to security. Look at the 15 minute security vulnerability that was intentionally designed into the Passport service.

Originally posted by Rewdog
And everyone wonders why Rewdog kept his windows 2000....


I didn't wonder, I knew. :D

Beautiful. A HUGE security hole in a feature that uses technology that isn't even ready to be used yet.

For crying out loud...by the time this technology is even partly feasible for the main stream, we will have been through two more versions of Windows.

I've been a dedicated Linux user since XP hit the shelves :D I can't say that'll last, but it's certainly going to remain my primary OS. I keep windows 2000 on the backburner, aka secondary HDD..

The whole "security through obscurity" thing still seems rather prominent with Microsoft, it always seems to take some security company to point it out to the masses before MS acknowledges it. That's my fuss with MS, the problem is taken care of a lot faster in Linux.