Seattle Times: Bug loved Microsoft: Virus attack shows vulnerability of software ‘monoculture’…

[ Thanks to Darryl Caldwell for
this link. ]

“The “Love Bug” and its copycat cousins, which wreaked havoc
with Microsoft-based e-mail systems and Internet servers around the
globe this week, underscore the vulnerability of a world that is
increasingly online and dominated by a single software giant,
critics say.”

“But it left systems and servers that don’t use Microsoft
programs relatively unscathed, placing another rhetorical brickbat
in the arsenal of those who call for a breakup of the world’s
richest programming corporation.”

“Under the banner of technological diversity, these critics note
the danger of a global Internet ruled by a Microsoft “monoculture,”
a biological phrase that evokes images of natural selection and
Darwin. Here’s the logic: Just as a diverse gene pool favors a
life form’s ability to adapt to adverse circumstances, so would a
diverse set of operating systems make the world’s computer users
less vulnerable to cyberattack.”

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