It's natural to focus on Windows because that's the OS that causes most of the problems. Let's just say, hypothetically, that Windows had one tenth the security holes Linux did. It would *still* cause far more problems for the Internet than any other OS! Why? Because of the sheer number of Windows machines, and the fact that it only takes *one* good exploit for a virus to spread.

When was the last time your mailbox got filled up by a Linux email worm?

Besides, just counting the number of vulnerabilities misses the point. A large number of Linux/UNIX/BSD vulnerabilities are local exploits, or ones only available to authenticated users. Another large subset are DoS attacks only, and can't be used to spread viruses or remotely compromise a machine. On the other hand, thanks to Microsoft's browser integration, weak security model, and use of RPC, *most* Windows vulnerabilities are remotely exploitable.

In fact, let me digress for a moment about RPC. *nix administrators learned years ago that RPC is risky. Hardly anyone lets services such as portmapper run on the open Internet anymore; they're just too risky. In fact, those services are mostly considered obsolete now, and rarely present a problem. Microsoft, on the other hand, still hasn't figured this out. Nearly every Windows machine runs with port 135 open to the world, just begging to be tinkered with.


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