Re: Virus Notification

[Karl von Laudermann <karlvonl@rcn.com>]

On Thursday, October 10, 2002, at 05:30  AM, Yves Rutschle wrote:

> On Wed, Oct 09, 2002 at 01:50:24PM -0400, Karl von Laudermann wrote:
>> I prefer to follow a more general rule of thumb, which is not to use
>> any software made by Microsoft. I'm not saying this as a joke; I'm
>> serious. I've been following this rule for years and happily ignoring
>> all of the virus warnings and security breach alerts that show up in
>> the tech media every week or so, since they don't apply to any 
>> software
>> I'm running.
>>
>> Get a Mac, or a Linux box. You'll be much happier in the long run.
>
> Didn't the OpenSSL package get a big security breach a
> couple of months back, that allowed anyone to remotely log
> in as root on Linux/*BSD systems running ssh?

Ok, so maybe I shouldn't have said that I've been able to happily 
ignore *all* of the security warnings that come out. But I hope you're 
not implying that the one or two security issues that come up for other 
OSes compare to the dozens that come up for MS software all the time.

Then there's the fact that Microsoft is the only company who writes 
email applications, word processors, and spreadsheet programs that can 
serve as a platform for viruses. They've introduced whole new classes 
of viruses that weren't possible before. Those who have been on the 
internet more than 4 years ago might remember that, until Outlook came 
along, the concept of an email virus was a widely propagated hoax! 
There was no such thing! The first time I got an email warning about 
the I Love You virus, I thought that was a hoax, too. Now email viruses 
are real.

Anyway, this is probably way off topic. Let's get back to gaming. :-)

--
				Karl J. von Laudermann
				karlvonl@rcn.com
				http://www.geocities.com/~karlvonl/
				Richard's PBeM Server ID: karlvonl