[LINK] Re: Windows XP versus Vista

[Scott Howard]

On 1/25/08, Craig Sanders <cas at taz.net.au> wrote:
>
> Windows doesn't have more viruses, more exploits, more malware because
> it is the most common operating system. it has those things because it
> is crappily written, insecure software and because microsoft don't give
> a damn about security and never has.


And you can sight references for that of course?  Or is it just an opinion?

Given that opinions seem to be the order of the day I'll throw mine in the
ring...

The two biggest reasons why more viruses, malware, etc, exist for Windows
more than for other platforms, IMHO, are (in no particular order) :

1) Market share.  A virus which can infect "one-in-a-million" Linux
workstations is not going to get very far.  A virus which can infect
"one-in-a-million" Windows PCs has a far bigger target audience.  If you
were writing a virus - ignoring all other factors - which would you write it
for?  Virus/Malware/etc today is almost entirely about money - and money
comes from quantity.

2) Clue level of users.  If you take the "IT clue level" (for some
definition of that term) for the average (or even better - median) Windows
user, and compared it to the "IT clue level" for the average/median Linux or
Mac user, which do you think will be higher?  If the median Linux user gets
a flash-initiated pop-up saying their computer is infected with Malware and
to click here to remove it - do you think they would do it?  How about the
median Windows user?

I'm not saying there aren't clueful Windows users out there, nor clueless
Linux/Mac users, but for the moment at least the Linux/Mac camps are much
more top-heavy than the Windows camp.

  Scott.