Re:I hope we don't end up like the Windows peasant
Posted by: Administrator
on January 19, 2007 10:40 PM
Spyware has to declare itself in the license to be legal, and it does. It works because people don't read the license... Ever. Most people wouldn't know what to look for. Spyware is an invited guest. That's why I don't have any spyware on my Windows systems even though I don't dare install security software.
So really you don't need to do any nerd-sleuthing at all to see if there's spyware in there. It's all up front if you know where to look and what to look for.
The other thing is that spyware is market driven; it's only really a problem if enough people use Linux to justify producing it for Linux.
If Linux was a big enough market to warrant spyware development, we would already have it. So would the Macintosh.
If you're a good programmer and you get together with several other good programmers and don't have any qualms about spyware and there's a big financial opportunity, you can figure out how to infect Ubuntu or Fedora.
But you need many, many millions of non-techies to warrant it financially or else you're just wasting your time. That right there is what Windows has that gets the spyware.
If Linux had that, you could just as easily stick a spyware in an RPM, have the clueless user double-click it, the system asks the root password and we all know what happens next<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
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Re:I hope we don't end up like the Windows peasant
Posted by: Administrator on January 19, 2007 10:40 PMSo really you don't need to do any nerd-sleuthing at all to see if there's spyware in there. It's all up front if you know where to look and what to look for.
The other thing is that spyware is market driven; it's only really a problem if enough people use Linux to justify producing it for Linux.
If Linux was a big enough market to warrant spyware development, we would already have it. So would the Macintosh.
If you're a good programmer and you get together with several other good programmers and don't have any qualms about spyware and there's a big financial opportunity, you can figure out how to infect Ubuntu or Fedora.
But you need many, many millions of non-techies to warrant it financially or else you're just wasting your time. That right there is what Windows has that gets the spyware.
If Linux had that, you could just as easily stick a spyware in an RPM, have the clueless user double-click it, the system asks the root password and we all know what happens next<nobr> <wbr></nobr>:)
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