In an excellent article by James Maguire at Newsfactor.com, several authorities share their thoughts on Bill Gates's recent suggestion - with rival OS Linux clearly in mind - that it is rash to conclude that other operating systems are safer simply because they are not attacked as much as Windows.

Here's who said what:

More Linux worms will come as Linux footprint increases

"If Linux were as widely deployed on the desktop as Windows, and you had distributions that were explicitly set up to make them easy for unsophisticated users to use, you'd have a lot more security issues and worms for Linux than you do today."

Gordon Haff, analyst with Illuminata 

Deep programming heritage of the source code is Linux's strength

"Linux benefits from a group of mature programmers. Unix has been around far longer than Microsoft's OS. These veteran programmers have brought lifetimes of experience to Linux's development, including an awareness of the 'gotchas' of OS security. There are people who are working on these [Linux] projects that probably have children that work at Microsoft."

Paula Hunter, director of business development, OSDL.

Open-source development fosters a communal spirit

"There's a community within Unix-Linux that has grown to increase its stability, where finding a bug is a good thing."

Chris Christiansen, IDC analyst

 

 

• Is Linux Ready for Use Throughout the Enterprise?
• Linux Attacks On the Rise, Says Report - But It's Not As Simple As That
• Linux Infections Rare, Says Report