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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."
I run XP, its not too hard to be smart. Its an unfair comparison with Linux and Windows because most of the people using Windows are basic users.
I agree completely. I run XP as well and was running 98SE before that, 98 before that, 95 before that, and MS DOS before that. I've yet to be "infected" by a virus. (I use Linux for all my "server" stuff.)
If Linux had a billion "basic" users where 90% of them were logging on as root all the time, then Linux would be just as virus prone as Windows.
In other words viruses are more of a people problem than a Windows problem. Not to say the O/S doesn't have some responsibility. From MS-DOS up to and including Windows 98SE and Windows ME, since everyone had "root" privelages it made Windows an easy target for viruses. But even still it's more of a people problem.
People who just want to check their e-mail, send an instant message to their friend, and download pictures from their digital camera to their computer don't want to have to learn how to be a system administrator just to do these basic tasks. (And they shouldn't have to.)