Comments

• Yfrwlf

  2009-04-13 18:02:30

  Like a worm for instance? A completely automated way of taking over a computer with no user interaction helping it along whatsoever? Yeah that sounds right to me, and just because of the open nature of Linux and other open OSes means holes like that will get patched faster. Just the nature of "openness". :)
  
  There are a lot of companies out there trying to update their old closed way of doing things to harness this amazing new strange thing called the Internet. They don't want to be open though, and don't want to change, so it's an uphill battle for them.

• Roy Schestowitz

  2009-04-13 19:54:07

  Yfrwlf ,
  
  It's also the process of development, not just the patching. At Microsoft, for example, nobody is really allowed to work with the entire secret code, maybe for fear of leaks.

• Roy Schestowitz

  2009-04-10 07:21:09

  Replication of malicious code is what doesn't work well on GNU/Linux.

• Yfrwlf

  2009-04-10 07:03:54

  And just to be sure, I wasn't trying to be mean, just pointing out Linux viruses are possible, it's just that updating/patching software to prevent them in an open community will happen much faster than with closed software. ;)

• Yfrwlf

  2009-04-10 07:01:51

  From the Mafiaboy article: "a government entity needs to step in and certify all code that runs on the Internet."
  
  New standards which are safer for anyone to use is fine, but government certified programs? Lol...and programs don't run "on" the Internet...oiy. So he's saying DNS and web servers need better protocols? Is that really the problem? Or maybe that the entire way computers communicate needs to be rethought perhaps? There will always be programs that have buffer overrun issues, only way to stop that is to maybe have better compilers/programming languages/program testers or something.
  
  Also, he calls for virus scanners being kept up-to-date. Well duh, unfortunately there will never be an end to that, because someone can always program something that will do something annoying to a user who runs it. I think one thing saving Linux from more viruses is it's lack of desktop use in comparison to other systems, and the fact that even with desktop use, most users no doubt pull their software from their distro's sheltered repository. I can make a "virus" that wipes your ~/.mozilla dir. :P Actually, to save me the trouble, just run rm -R ~/.mozilla yourself. ;)