Linux and the Smile.D Virus keeps us Smiling

pstreck writes "News Forge is running a humor filled satire on the the recent Smile.D cross platform virus. It's a good read and just another reminder of why that other operating system needs to figure out a new security policy."

Comments

Re:Newer Windows *does* have a newer security poli

[iangoldby]

That's "more advanced" in the sense of "so complicated no one can really be bothered to figure it out and use it as intended". [Ambiguity intentional.]

The word of the day is FUD.

[bons]

FUD, aka, Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt.

We've seen a lot of it over the years from Microsoft and other major companies, but the people who once used to rally it no longer carry it on their news sites, but they actually have become a source of FUD as well.

OK. So this was posted as humor. But somehow it didn't read as humor. It read as an article that claims you need to spend money to prevent viruses on Windows while you could run a virus free linux system by just pumping an 80 IQ.

On Windows you're likely to get a virus from one of two places, either installing software or running software that allows scripts in it's data files.

Both of these are easy enough to defend against, however, it's seems like it's not in the best interest of the Linux community to let that be known. A little Fear, a little Uncertainty, a little Doubt is a much better weapon.

And when it's over, the truth is that had this been presented as a factual article on how simple it is to remain Virus Free on a Linux system, it wouldn't have even been read by many, nevermind submitted to Slashdot.

After all, FUD sells. It just doesn't make me proud to belong to the community selling it.