The Sharer (Linus Torvalds)
We've been getting hit with a lot of viruses and worms lately. What's your idea for ending the attacks?
When you have people who hook up these machines that weren't designed for the Internet, and they don't even want to know about all the intricacies of network security, what can you expect? We get what we have now: a system that can be brought down by a teenager with too much time on his hands. Should we blame the teenager? Sure, we can point the finger at him and say, ''Bad boy!'' and slap him for it. Will that actually fix anything? No. The next geeky kid frustrated about not getting a date on Saturday night will come along and do the same thing without really understanding the consequences. So either we should make it a law that all geeks have dates - I'd have supported such a law when I was a teenager - or the blame is really on the companies who sell and install the systems that are quite that fragile.
Microsoft monoculture allows virus spread: A report published on Wednesday by the Computer and Communications Industry Association says that Microsoft?s dominance in PC operating systems has created a 'monoculture' that allows viruses to spread like wildfire over the Internet. This lack of diversity allows even simple viruses, created in minutes by so called 'script kiddies' to wreak havoc within hours of creation.
Microsoft: A Killer App That Could Kill the Competition: Its entry into the antivirus market has rivals spooked
