Friday Rant: Viruses, Malware – what happened to due diligence?

Every friday I will try to post a rant on a specific topic. Today I’m venting on journalism on the Failboat.

Dear journalists.

Let’s take the current Conficker Mania. Now I know that Microsoft Windows has a huge marketshare on desktops. However – not everyone is using Windows. Still, you journalists ignore this fact over and over again.

Dear journalist, could you start warning the *right* people by adding “Windows-PCs” to your articles? All of these viruses, malware, trojans are aiming at Windows machines. People using Linux are usually safe.

Same goes for all these “warnings” on keyloggers etc. I am NOT saying that Linux is secure, I am NOT saying that Microsoft is bad (although I have a personal opinion on that) – I am ONLY asking to state the correct facts. And the fact is that 99% of your warnings and horror stories affect Windows-PCs ONLY.

I know the world has accepted the fact that Windows can only be used with virus scanners etc that eat up your CPU ressources, slow down your browsing and file opening.

But PLEASE stop shouting that everyone is at risk when in fact it is a Windows only thing. I don’t ask you to start bashing on Microsoft. I only ask you to write your articles in a way that make them factually correct.

Hrmpf.