[mvpel]

The expression is intended to suggest that proprietary software is more secure by virtue of its closed nature. If hackers can't see the code, then it's harder for them to create exploits for it--or so the thinking goes.

A Trojan Horse made out of glass would be useless, and open source means that all the planks needed for building one are glass.

There's more to security vulnerabilities than market dominance. Windows, at its heart of hearts, is a glorified DOS shell that was never intended to be secure because the only way into the system was through the PS-2 keyboard and CRT monitor.

Its security efforts amount to layers of band-aids over this fundamental design flaw, and band-aids over the band-aids. The DoD basic security configuration guide for Windows is about 135 pages long, because of the incredible Rube-Goldberg nature of the Windows registry and the DLL-blob of an OS which it governs.

Windows:

Linux:

Okay, okay, this is probably an exaggeration, but not by too much.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I like your explanation,..matches my thoughts.