Klarinet Archive - Posting 000239.txt from 2004/03

From: Jeremy A Schiffer <schiffer@------.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Viruses and their ilk
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 12:48:19 -0500

On Thu, 4 Mar 2004, Erik Tkal wrote:

> Jeremy A Schiffer wrote:
>
> >[...]
> >These two FREE products, when properly deployed, will do more to protect
> >you than anything else.
> >
> ------------------------------
>
> However, free software is often a mechanism used to install spyware and
> viruses on your system (trojan horse method). What better way to do this
> then via software that purports to potect you from such problems. You
> have little or no recourse against the developers of free software if it
> turns out to be malicious.
>
> Erik

Yes, that is true. Which is why I did not say "go find a product that
purports to help you get rid of these things" but specifically named the
industry standard products that effectively solve all these problems when
deployed properly.

While I am not a software developer myself, I have many friends who are
engineers for leading companies, and many of them devote their free time
to the free software movement. That some free software is malicious is a
fact of life, but it should not overshadow the breadth of free software
available for legitimate purposes. For users who are (rightly) getting fed
up with Microsoft's seemingly endless parade of critical vulnerabilities,
moving to alternative operating systems and programs is an important
option. I don't want to get too far off the subject, but my point is that
I don't think warning of the potential maliciousness of free software is
helpful, and may serve only to scare people away from valid alternatives
to the dominant computing paradigm.

Obliquely yours,

jeremy