Microsoft will scam...if not already

I was discussing an interesting concept with a couple of friends the other day. We were talking about Microsoft and how they can one day, if not already send out virus and then have us pay for the anti-virus or debugger or watever. no one would ever know who its was sent from and microsoft would make millions. Think about all the people that use microsoft computers and operating systems.

I dunno....its a bit far fetched, but i definetly think its possible in the near future...i am gonna keep an eye out for that.

It'd be incredibly stupid and they would be found out within minutes.

Those of us who have been sysops and web administrators can track down the source of a message or virus-- and so can the government. It wouldn't take long for every web admin to track them down and then every government and corporation around theworld would lay down the hammer on them.

The virus is called XP.
You have to downgrade to 98SE or upgrade to Linux
At least one solution is free.

The self-same thing has been said of A/V companies, particularly of Symantec [Norton], who are regarded as the MS of A/V companies.

Whether any of this is true or not, I have no idea. It would be hard to prove, because no-one seems to have turned up any proof yet.

Microsoft has re-focussed on security this year, & all those who have tried the beta of XP's Service Pack 2, have agreed this is indeed the case. For example, SP2 will improve XP's built-in firewall.

Over 90% of the world's computers run on a Windows operating system. so it's more targeted by virus writers.

There, I've played devil's advocate on this. That's not to say that I'm a fan of either MS or Windows!

While you're a bit off track your thinking is close enough, but nothing new. Bastet is correct and yes everyone in the IT community have been discussing the idea ever since there have been viruses.

Microsoft would never do such a thing intentionally, but they have kept us all busy regardless.

The ones making the most money due to viruses are the antivirus companies who sell the software. Of course allot of techies & tech companies have made money assisting folks at getting rid of them as well. No doubt somewhere in there I bet there has been some stuff released to make money, just like dirty used car salesman there are dirty techies & or dirty tech companies I'm sure.

Virus creators & spammers are the low lifes of the computer industry and I would gladly see them do 10 years behind bars for doing what they do. They rape unprotected systems & rob us of our resources & time. They are equivalent to arsonist, vandals, robbers as the damage they do is the same.






[edit on 28-6-2004 by outsider]

Just a thunk to share with everyone... What if all values in a certain executable format marked reserved (from M$'s data sheets) actually makes it an alternate format instead of the usual win32 PE header which as simple as I can make it, primes up memory for machine code to run. (P=push AX=Save Accumulator value, E=INC BP=Increment Base Pointer) Could it be conceivable for M$ to make a virus using undocumented(re:proprietary) code that behaves like win32 in that it will execute on any windows machine, but not detectable by an A/V proggie until they receive M$'s blessing to make an innoculation?

Like he said they would be found out very quickly

Plus if the virus only effects M$ they would have to give a patch for it which they do for free at the moment. I cant imagine M$ charging for a patch. Thats like buying a car then having to pay extra for parts of the engine so the car doesnt crash!!

Most virus writters are already fighting M$ 90% of viruses attack M$ only dont even go near Linux. Thus Linux has reputation of being virus free which is bull , viruses can hit Linux only their GUI is not as advanced as M$ and not many virus writters target Linux.