Re: [LUG] M$ Threatens To Sue Asia-For Running Linux!

[Mark Evans <mpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Julian Hall wrote:
> Sadie Brinham wrote:
>
> > http://reuters.com/audi/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=KPBNIU4SC4Z4SCRBAEKSFFA?type=technologyNews&storyID=6852759 
>
>
> Quoting the article:
>
> Ballmer said the security fears some governments had about using 
> Microsoft software were overblown.

It's track record isn't that good.

> "We think our software is far more secure than open-source software. It

Simply a statement of opinion.

> is more secure because we stand behind it, we fixed it, because we built

Apart from the "we fixed it" bit this is pure non sequitur.

> it. Nobody ever knows who built open-source software," he said.

Actually the opposite is true, with open source software typically the 
writer is the copyright holder. With quite a lot of proprietary software 
the copyright holder is a corporate entity with there being no 
indication even if the writer is an employee or contractor, let alone if 
they still work there. In addition software piracy appears to be fairly 
common with proprietary software, though with less chance of being 
detected if only other proprietary software is pirated.

> Let's examine these statements:
>
> "We think"... presumably "we" also think the world is flat, which is 
> equally fanciful :)  Saying Windows is more secure than Open Source 
> software is, in my opinion, akin to saying a chihuahua is a better guard 
> dog than a Doberman.  The former may have a chance of tripping up a 
> thief, but that's about all the hope it's got.
>
> As for "we built it so we can fix it", that's only because they know 
> where they put the bugs in the first place!

Often an independent third party can help with finding bugs. In the same 
way that proofreading of a piece of fiction is often best done by 
someone other than the author.

Anyway security is not the same as functionality. "Debugging" tends to 
be primarily concerned with making a program function correctly.

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