I would agree that internal desktop spread of a virus or a worm is a big problem, but that cannot be counted out for Linux either, both systems are vulnerable to malware that comes out within a very short time frame o­nce a security hole is published. Now, another factor is also the number of malware created for each system, where Linux is most probably o­n the lower end. However, we can say with certainty that no system will forever be secure proof, and will always need patching, and in such reality, the time to patch release and the number of such discovered security holes is crucial. This is where Linux cannot keep up with Windows, as Gartner reports show that Windows has had consistently lower security publications and the time to patch release has been much shorter than any of the popular distributions such as Mandrake, Debian, Red Hat Enterprise etc. This is what counts to corporate IT. I believe another positive aspect of Windows is that each patch goes through enormous testing thats already established for the OS before it is released to customers, another crucial part that ITs using WIndows rely o­n.

Samoil