[dba-Tech] Open source is safer, and Linux is more secure than any other OS?

Jim Lawrence accessd at shaw.ca
Fri Dec 13 22:43:13 CST 2013


Hi Peter:

That seems to be a good explanation. 

Aside: With folks like the NSA and it dozens of other look-alikes spawning from ever corner of the globe, security is so important. 

According to one fellow who has worked at Microsoft for five years; he said that coding there is like nothing you will ever see anywhere else. He suggested that if someone put a back door in that spaghetti code, the whole thing would collapse. He is now a Linux developer and says OS coding is very different...if you scramble and post your code, within an hour, you are getting flamed from every direction. He said it was like being fat and out-of-shape on a nudist beach...everyone can see and in the IT world no one holds back.   

Jim

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Brawley" <peter.brawley at earthlink.net>
To: "Discussion of Hardware and Software issues" <dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2013 8:09:35 PM
Subject: Re: [dba-Tech] Open source is safer, and Linux is more secure than any other OS?

On 2013-12-13 7:49 PM, Jim Lawrence wrote:
> Hi All:
>
> According to the Linux Foundation executive director:
>
> http://venturebeat.com/2013/11/26/linux-chief-open-source-is-safer-and-linux-is-more-secure-than-any-other-os-exclusive/
>
> Is this assumption right or wrong?

"The whole world can see every line of code in Linux. This is one of the 
reasons Linux is more secure than other operating systems and why 
open-source software overall is a safer than closed software. The 
transparency of the code ensures it's secure."

"It's very difficult to insert something into the kernel that would 
violate privacy and freedom without thousands of developers noticing. 
The nature of Linux is that it's self-policing."

It's not a deductive truth, but it's a plausible empirical claim that 
fits what we see year after year.

Seems to me with respect to Windows there's a mirror image claim. Not 
only does M$oft have just one building full of debuggers, as opposed to 
OSS software having a worldful; Windows software is designed such that 
everything can connect intimately to everything else---if you can get 
past M$oft eyes, you may be home-free to do widespread mischief.

PB

>
> Jim
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