another reason to use adblock and noscript... or just use Linux

[Ken D'Ambrosio]

On Wed, March 24, 2010 5:05 pm, Thomas Charron wrote:

> Linux is NOT more secure then Windows.  People RUNNING Linux are
> *generally* more security conscious then a person running Windows.

I will take partial issue with this.  It's my humble and considered
opinion that open source is, generally, more secure than closed source,
for the very same reason we're arguing here: because a hidden flaw is
still a flaw.  Doesn't mean that there aren't bugs in OSS -- oh, we could
only so wish! -- but they're out there for *everyone* to see, black hats
and white, alike.  I like to think this philosophical difference makes the
OS (and component utilities, applications, etc.) somewhat more secure.

But... only somewhat: "Though a program be but three lines long, someday
it will have to be maintained."  And debugged.  And so forth.  When you
*assume* that you're safe -- that's when they'll bite you.  Yes,
statistically, Linux, MacOS, BeOS, and my dearly (mostly-)departed
Amiga(D)OS are far less likely to be attacked -- but they still can be. 
And, eventually, almost certainly will be.  Just ask my cracked OpenWRT
router.

-Ken


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