On Thu, 30 May 2002, Adam Myrow wrote: > On Thu, 30 May 2002, Gregory Nowak wrote: > > > I agree with what you say. However, if I understand you correctly, why > > do you want viruses for Linux to exist? > > I think he believes that only popular operating systems have viruses. > This is so boneheaded! Only insecure operating systems like Windows have > viruses. Sure, viruses could be written for Linux, but most would require > that you run them as root, which any sensable person won't do. The > problem with Windows is that everybody has the equivilent of root power in > the home versions that are most common. Also, Microsoft made their email > clients capable of executing VB script and such which opened a huge can of > worms. To me, those are the fundamental problems with windows not > counting Microsoft being nearly a monopoly. Any user can trash their > system without trying. In Linux, you don't trash the system unless you > spend all your time logged in as root. As long as you are a normal user, > you can't destroy your own system through a wrong command. No, but there was a shell script written which acted as a virus, or worm. It was only written to prove a theory in a lab, but it managed to escape, oops. Also, an insecure unix system can be potentially much more damaging, just look at Code Red. Cheers. -- Toby Fisher Email: toby at g0ucu.freeserve.co.uk Tel.: +44(0)1480 417272 Mobile: +44(0)7974 363239 ICQ: #61744808 Please avoid sending me Word or PowerPoint attachments. See http://www.fsf.org/philosophy/no-word-attachments.html
