Computer Extinction

from the origin-of-kernels-theory dept

With the outbreak of recent virus attacks, I got to thinking. Why have humans survived as long as we have without being completely erraticated by viruses? It's because we all have different DNA. The problem with the current state of computers is that we for the most part all run the same software.. windows. How is our data to survive if we all have the same DNA? Could there be a virus so bad it wipes out all the computers?

Click Below to Read More...

Friends of the Revolution
Computer Extinction
by Brian Day

With the outbreak of recent virus attacks, I got to thinking.  Why have
humans survived as long as we have without being completely erraticated by
viruses?  It's because we all have different DNA.  The problem with the
current state of computers is that we for the most part all run the same
software.. windows.  How is our data to survive if we all have the same
DNA?  Could there be a virus so bad it wipes out all the computers?

Security Through Obscurity
--------------------------
My solution, I use only outdated and unpopular OS/Hardware platforms.  I
have an IRIX gateway!  The only thing that could be better would be an
Amiga gateway.  I would like to see some hacker or virus attack that thing.  

A couple of weeks ago my wife was on the IRIX machine and was checking her
mail when she turned to me and asked why the attachment wasn't doing
anything?  I told her that she had just been sent the Love Bug, and if she
wanted to get it to work on IRIX she would have to compile it herself...
and that I did not have G++ installed on the computer... and she could
download it for free... but it is only available as source code... so she
would have to compile the compiler.  My point... there was no way she was
going to launch this thing.  

Celebrate Diversity
-------------------
The other way to survive the big outbreak is to have a large number of
players in the application market.  This way everyone uses different
programs much like we all have different DNA.  Mike Masnick recently
admitted to me that he still uses his copy of Eudora from 3 years ago.
Good for your Mike!  I celebrate your diversity!  I still use the NCSA
Telnet for the Mac I downloaded 6 years ago (version 2.7B for mac).  We are
both survivors.

Microsoft Break-up is good?
-------------------------
My last point is that perhaps the breakup of Microsoft will allow other
software company's to compete both on the OS and application front so that
we can not only have more choice in software, but also so that our data
might live to see another day.

Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  • identicon
    Mr.White, 26 May 2000 @ 10:22am

    Your comments..........

    As for a virus that would take out mankind? Nah. Animals [dogs/fish] have been around since the beginning of time. All computers running windows? Maybe desktops, but servers [unix etc] are what keep the internet running, even then, they down, it is the routers. If someone could write a virus that rebooted/halted all routers...and just distributed it. Wow. The internet WOULD be down. EMP would wipe out alot of computers, drop one on S.Valley, poof, all startups and other .coms will be toast. Same w/ NY ...major issue. Just create a biological airborne virus that attacks gold or copper, and eats it [corrode?] and then all computers would be failable.

    Mr.White

    link to this | view in chronology ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.