[EMAIL PROTECTED] said: > If Microsoft has such a problem with people hacking into the loopholes of > their closed source code, what type of malicious viruses will we begin seeing > if an Open Source Operating system such as Linux becomes the dominant OS?
[EMAIL PROTECTED] said: > Open source in and of itself doesn't make a system more vulnerable, but it > does have an open and large community of programmers all over the world to > fix it FAST when it breaks or when some crook finds an open back door. I agree with Jesse's statement. No operating system, open or closed source is invulnerable to security holes and virus attacks, but they can be made less vulnerable, and patched faster. While at Digital Equipment Corporation I had to deal with a particularly nasty security hole. It took our engineers two weeks to develop and deliver the binary patch to our customers. The same hole existed in Linux and the BSD operating systems which were "open". The open source community delivered the patch four HOURS after they understood the problem. On an earlier operating system that we had sold and since retired, the same problem existed. Although Digital had "retired" the system, some of our customers were still using it. I had to fight for the engineering staff to develop and deliver that patch to the Internet so our customers could pull it over and apply it. Length of exposure? Eight weeks. You might assume that these Simputers will be around a long time, and will need updates to the operating system. Some day they may be considered "obsolete" by the manufacturer. With closed source code the owners will not be able to get new security patches or new virus patches, because the manufacturer will say that it is not in their "best business interest" to deliver them. With Free and Open Source Code a consortium of customers could work to develop the patch even if the original manufacturer/distributor refused. Microsoft has stopped patching Microsoft Office '97, even though there is a gaping security hole in it that you could drive trucks through. There are a lot of people in the "Digital Divide" that are still using Office '97, and will never be able to get that needed patch. md -- Jon "maddog" Hall Executive Director Linux International(R) email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 80 Amherst St. Voice: +1.603.672.4557 Amherst, N.H. 03031-3032 U.S.A. WWW: http://www.li.org Board Member: Uniforum Association, USENIX Association (R)Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in several countries. (R)Linux International is a registered trademark in the USA used pursuant to a license from Linux Mark Institute, authorized licensor of Linus Torvalds, owner of the Linux trademark on a worldwide basis (R)UNIX is a registered trademark of The Open Group in the USA and other countries. _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@mailman.edc.org http://mailman.edc.org/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
