Making Microsoft Pay for Windows' Shoddy Security

Conclusion

The point of all of this isn't to give Microsoft its just deserts. If a lawsuit succeeds in forcing them to internalize some of the costs of combatting malware, those costs will only be passed on to the consumer. While this result would be desirable if the higher cost of windows products led to greater adoption of free software, such market correction is improbable. Most consumers are not aware of the true cost of a Windows license because the cost is folded into the price of new hardware. Hopefully, however, a credible threat of class action litigation will convince proprietary software companies to abandon attempts at security through obscurity in favor of making their source code available (and, even better, licensing their users to patch security vulnerabilities themselves on a limited non-commercial basis). Adopting such a practice would make a big difference in the long run towards securing both the network and the devices attached to it. It would ensure that the knowledge embodied in the source code is available to any mind curious enough to learn it, and that the inner workings of the technology responsible for controlling greater and greater portions of our lives stay transparent.