Dustin Cook wrote:
> kurt wismer <kurtw@sympatico.ca> wrote in news:epr8pe$847$1@aioe.org:
>
>> David H. Lipman wrote:
>> [snip]
>>> BTW: There are *many* in the anti virus industry that were once
>>> creators.
>> which seemingly translates to 'av companies hire virus writers and/or
>> ex virus writers'...
>
> The antivirus industry as a whole is bigger than a few companies that are
> household names. While this might surprise you, I was on a first name
> basis years ago with several Antivirus persons.

surprise me? i was there! they called you by your first name and you
called them by theirs...

[snip]
> Putting a persons job or his/her freedom at stake just to satisfy a
> usenet poster is just to risky and immature.

if you think this is just to satisfy my whims then you are gravely
mistaken...

> Nothing is really gained by
> this.

not true... if the claim is proven true then the ensuing lack of
confidence in the av industry is justified... if not then there is no
justification for it but it will happen all the same with such a rumor
picking up steam from people considered to be authorities on the subject...

> David's comments do not extend the silly notion that antivirus
> companies make the viruses. Plain old fashioned, stupidity lets that
> rumour live.

no, no, not that they make viruses, but that they reward virus
writers... just as john mcafee paying for viruses rewarded virus
writers, other av vendors hiring them also rewards them...

[snip]
> Vxers can't really be described simply Kurt, it's not black and white.

no part of my argument has been based on vx'ers being easy to describe,
or being described at all for that matter...

you don't hire ex-arsonists to be firemen, you don't hire
ex-bank-robbers to be bank managers, and you don't hire ex-virus-writers
to work on anti-virus products... it's not about whether they're really
reformed or not, it's about perception and trust...

--
"it's not the right time to be sober
now the idiots have taken over
spreading like a social cancer,
is there an answer?"