Friday, March 18, 2005

  Is Windows a Virus?
    
             No, Windows is not a virus.
             Here's what viruses do:

          1. They replicate quickly - okay, Windows does that.
         
          2 Viruses use up valuable system resources, slowing
          down the system as they do so - okay, Windows does
          that.
         
          3 Viruses will, from time to time, trash your hard
          disk - okay, Windows does that too.
         
          4 Viruses are usually carried, unknown to the user,
          along with valuable programs and systems. Sigh...
          Windows does that, too.
         
          5 Viruses will occasionally make the user suspect
          their system is too slow (see 2) and the user will
          buy new hardware. Yup, Windows does that, too.
         
          Until now it seems Windows is a virus but there are
          fundamental differences: Viruses are well supported
          by their authors, are running on most systems, their
          program code is fast, compact and efficient and they
          tend to become more sophisticated as they mature.
         
          So Windows is not a virus.
          It's a bug.

Unknown at 2:12 pm