Is it remotely consistent with the principles of business "dirty pool" that those with something to gain by the failure of Firefox, Linux, etc. are related to this?
E.g. could some hackers be receiving payment to try to disrupt the more popular open-source desktop apps?
[Full Disclosure : Fortran and vi forever! ]
Quite possible.
Even some major pc virus software co's have been suspected of developing certain virii so they can sell more of their software.
Possible? Between ethics and dollars, which would business choose?
You mean, similar to the folks who write viruses because they hate Microsoft? Sure, it's possible.
But I think it's more likely to be infantile bastards who've found a new place to play.
Ah, wreckless youth!
You didn't give FORTRAN all caps.
fFl6~
It's possible people are being paid to release exploits for Linux, but right now there's zero proof of it. This particular list seems to have come from a convention of hackers. But what we DO know is that people in China and Europe that work for so called security firms like X-Focus are constantly open sourcing exploit code to the internet for newly found vulnerabilities before even alerting Microsoft and allowing them the chance to develop patches. And, open source leaders like Linus Torvalds are on record saying they approve of the methodology. Draw your own conclusions, but looks to me like you're ignoring the elephant already in the room.