Re: Green Hills CEO: Linux threat to free world!

From: Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (larwe_at_larwe.com)
Date: 04/10/04 

Date: 10 Apr 2004 01:17:57 -0700

> Well, I don't recall ever installing an application onto Windows, finding it
> required an updated DLL, and when that DLL is installed finding that other
> applications installed earlier in the day mysteriously stop working, which

ROFL! But Windows is _legendary_ for this kind of behavior!

> your system - isn't it part of the Linux raison d'etre that you can take
> software components from multiple sources and expect them all to run as a
> coherent robust whole?

Not exactly. As with anything else, you have to understand what you're
adding to the system. And you have to have a reasonable confidence
level that the component you're adding wasn't built by someone
malicious.

> how many people would find all of the original source code, read through it
> line by line to convince themselves there are no hidden traps, then rebuild

The essential point is that you can, not that everyone does. Remember,
Windows NT was C2 secure - if installed under conditions in which
nobody would ever use it. If there are two routes from A to B, one
safe route 500 miles long, and a short cut only 5 miles long, with a
10% chance of being eaten by a dragon en route, most computer users
seem to like the dragon odds.

Any problem in a proprietary closed-source OS will not be fixed until
a certain tech-support profit break-even point is crossed (it diverts
engineering resources away from promised new features). A problem in
an open-source OS, once detected, will be fixed much faster.

Relevant Pages

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