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like the idea that since open source software "powers" the Internet, a left wing group of anarchists could use that code to write a crippling virus that destroys all Internet communication and commerce in protest of globalization

Scott, do you actually do any software development? I cannot conceive of any decently talented software developer spouting off the rubbish that you do. If you know so much about software development that you can make such bold statements about the "inherent insecurities" of open source software then you would know that virii written for one UNIX will typically not run on another without being at least recompiled. You would also know that each service has its own user account and that unless the virus is run as root it won't be able to affect that service. Regular users don't have the permissions to activate or deactivate daemons.

Isn't it funny Scott that no major UNIX has ever suffered from the plague of worms that Microsoft's software has? How many times has the UNIX world, which does Scott, beat Win NT in marketshare on the serverside, had periods of a few years where new, crippling worms appeared every month or so? How many times Scott have major UNIX vendors had to recall server products because a poorly written module for a protocol lets an outsider root the box? How many times have people made such alarmist statements but nothing happened? Too many to count. Face it Scott, you're just trying to be a Techie chicken little.

-Yahoo.com, Foxnews.com, CNN.com, ABC News.com were the highest profile cases of high traffic websites all felled in a three year period 1999-2002 by Linux/Unix insecurities. None of the aforementioned sites have run on any flavor of operating system made by Microsoft during that three year period.

-Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks are most often perpetrated on "zombie" machines running some flavor of the decades old Unix operating system. Published reports from IDC Research studies and CMP Media magazines have repeated pointed out the majority of all DDoS attacks are attributed to bugs in *Nix security.

-The year old "Lion" worm virus still attacks unpatched Red Hat Linux webservers.

-A bug published this week in the open source Apache web server software on Solaris/Linux v2.4/BSD systems allowed hackers to remotely run malicious code. Last week, those 64% of safe and secure Apache users had to contend with a major bug that allowed unauthorized to access Apache servers.

-A critical flaw found in the OpenSSH code allows malicious code to be run on Solaris and other *Nix systems.

You're a liar if you say that these things aren't true. You're an apologist if you say these facts are insignificant.

Either way, you'd come across as delusional. Rarely are there Hollywood style "Beautiful Mind" endings for self-professed "Slan-like" super-geniuses that turn out to just be crazy people and the boneyards of history are strewn with their bulging, misshapen skulls.

How about this: You admit that open source is can be easily hacked by cyber-miscreants because anyone can see the source code and I'll admit I know nothing about software development...

In the past two weeks we've seen Apache, OpenSSH, Red Hat Linux and all manner of cripplingly serious open source bugs come to light. Remember, you say they're insignificant and you're an apologist. You say it's not true and you're a liar. Defend Red Hat Linux and you're obviously on their payroll...

Yes, that's exactly how people of the open source/free-as-in-beer-and-in-liberty cult have treated the "evil Micro$oft zombie drones." It is very unbecoming.