Re: So, one Linux myth bites the dust
"... Linux, being a niche product, did not attract hacker attention..."
This myth was from MicroSofts talking points on why Windows had so many problems; the implication that it is being victimized because of its own success. In marketing innovation, it is a coup worthy of Jobs: blend a little bit of fact, a mirror, and some smoke, and whoosh a whole new story.
"Features" of windows, such as the ability to attach lumps of executable code to emails, and have LookOut! helpfully run them on the recipients machine with no action on behalf of the recipient, are more the cause of windows success than the product of it. Of course, no other vendor would dream of doing something so irresponsible. Had they known they would be richly rewarded, they might have.
The central architecture of running untrusted lumps of data, and opening vast kernel attack surfaces, was what made it the favoured hacking target; it was so easy school children were routinely producing malware for it. The fact that you could spread your malware to just about any machine you could find was merely a bonus.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
