> On Fri, Mar 12, 2004 > at 06:11:34PM +1100, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > spake thusly: =+-> > Same thing; it's a Wankel rotary engine.
Yes, it is. The point is that the engine runs without pistons. My reason for using this analogy was simply that one cannot damage a pistonless engine by putting something in the petrol that rots piston heads. Uh, considering the way the thread is going, perhaps I'd better enlarge somewhat on the subject. Firstly, those who asked me about Linux were not tech-heads/nurds/etc. Their definition of a virus would be "anything that stops/hinders the computer". Very simplistic, I know, but there are many such people out there. They are not subscribers to SLUG, or, I imagine, any other common interest computer group. Secondly, any analogy (I'd still like one) will probably have to use a basic difference between Linux and MS-oriented machines. Some of the people I spoke to had been visited by the blaster (and other similar viruses); these were not E-mail borne. Yet Linux was immune to them. Thirdly, it now appears that I was wrong when I said "Viruses don't affect Linux". So I'll amend it to "If a virus *was* let loose on Linux, it would be stopped quicktime." In the past, when I've posted a query (vim/LaTeX/others) I've been amazed at the response time (in some cases minutes) *and* the responses from disinterested people who have seen it before/have given the matter some thought/discussed it with a colleague and taken the time to post a response. And I imagine that viruses (no matter *how* they're defined) would fall into the same category. There's something else I should add that's drawn from my experience, although I don't want to start a flame war. If a solution/patch to any virus was posted and found to be defective (as happened with MS), an alternative/improved version would also make its appearance quicktime. (Generally with derisive commentary, but we don't live in an ideal world.) So, I like the burglar analogy so far: the situation with Linux and viruses/suchlike is analogous to turning up with an assortment of keys/bits of wire to burgle a house and finding yourself staring at a keypad. Regards, Bill Bennett. -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
