Stirred, at last, by the assault of Code Red and SirCam, Dennis
Powell says enough is enough: even if Linux users aren’t pushing
these malicious bits of code across the Internet, we still suffer
from their effects. It’s time to politely demand our
Microsoft-using friends and acquaintances either change their
operating system, or take their machines off the ‘net. A polite
sample letter is included.
“…As Linux users, we’ve grown accustomed to enduring
things that Windows users do not have to endure. We must shop more
carefully for hardware, we can pretty much forget off-the-shelf
software, and issues like hardware technical support are
extra-special ordeals, as my colleague Michael Hall detailed in his
memorable column last week.We put up with it, mostly and with varying degrees of
grumbling.Time has come to draw a line — a subtle line, but a line
nonetheless. It is this: Anyone using Microsoft software in
connection with the Internet simply cannot be taken seriously. This
doesn’t mean we should be impolite in dealing with these persons,
anymore than we should be impolite to someone who is eager to show
you his new computer and it turns out to be a Play Station. But the
fact is that Microsoft has proved to be utterly unconcerned about
security. Its own sites have been cracked, over and over. The
National Security Agency has joined Linux development after having
concluded that Microsoft’s code is so corrupt that it cannot even
be audited. Outlook macro viruses are commonplace. The web server
has been so full of holes that Microsoft had had to keep trying to
plug them, to no real effect. And based on this tarnished and
pitted record they propose .Net and XP. Do you suppose there will
be sudden fastidiousness where security is concerned? This is a
real hoot, except that it is the Internet that we all use that
their clumsy code will be screwing up. But the appropriate attitude
toward Microsoft’s willing victims has to be pity. That isn’t to
say that when someone you know fills your mailbox with Outlook
macro virus crap, you don’t have a right to be irritated and say so
— but at the same time point out that the person wouldn’t look
anywhere near as foolish if they were using software not vulnerable
to such foolishness. As an example, this, which I just sent:”