Gates predicts Love Bug Apocalypse if MS broken up
Posted by: <@...>
Global virus armageddon will be the result of the breakup of Microsoft,
"writes" Bill Gates in this week's Time magazine, due to go on sale today. Or
very nearly, anyway; you may well wonder how the [heck] he makes that one
out.
It's simple, really, as Bill, or whoever knee-jerked the piece out so
swiftly, explains. The front line defence against viruses is apparently a
"continually evolving" computer operating system that encourages large
numbers of software developers to write for it. But if Microsoft is split into
two, there would be less innovation in the software, hence fewer developers,
and ultimately less defence against viruses.
"Bill" also claims that subsequent to a breakup, new more virus-proof
versions of Office and Windows would be "much harder for computer users to
obtain."
So there you go. If you've been thinking that the reasons viruses are
specifically targetted at Microsoft software are because Outlook leaves
plenty big holes for them to drive through, and because Microsoft software
has 90 per cent plus of the market, then you're wrong. On the contrary,
continual Microsoft innovation must have made the software less vulnerable.
The way "Bill" tells it, all of the stuff you read about security holes in
Microsoft software (much of it, er, on the Microsoft Web site) can't possibly
be true.
And even if it is, so long as Microsoft doesn't get broken up, in the
future it'll still be possible for consumers to buy new Microsoft software
that offers better virus protection. Honest. Maybe.
[This is almost as good a laugh as Al Gore inventing the Internet! Should Bill
have mentioned that Linux fits the mold of "continually evolving" much better
than Windows?]