The problem with Windows is that it has no package manager, so the default method of installing legitimate software is identical to the method of installing malware. The problem with Android is that the malware is in the app store. All you need is a known-good repository where you can get almost everything safely and people can spend most of their time. You don't then need to build a prison around it and trap everyone inside because most people will want to stay in the safe place. The people who want to (and can figure out how to) wander outside are the people who know what they're doing, and know to be suspicious of the things that conspicuously haven't been vetted by anyone else.
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/how-much-more-malware-is-...
If Linux were to get as popular as Windows, the problem is going to way worse.
Also, there's lot of Android malware that's installed from outside the app store, typically for piracy reasons which is another big malware vector on Windows.
Nothing is completely foolproof.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/appsblog/2013/aug/19/i...
> If Linux were to get as popular as Windows, the problem is going to way worse.
Everybody says this but it doesn't make any sense. Are the repositories going to get more malware when there are more people and funding available to notice and report it?
> Also, there's lot of Android malware that's installed from outside the app store, typically for piracy reasons which is another big malware vector on Windows.
All the more reason why it wouldn't happen on Linux. Nobody really pirates LibreOffice or gcc.
How can they patch it in their product without turning desktop Windows into something like iOS or Windows Phone/RT?
Even Android has a ton of malware so the notion that Windows is somehow more hole ridden than other platforms stopped being true starting about 10 years ago with their Secure computing initiative. If the user can install Firefox, they can install malware. If Firefox doesn't need to get permission from MS for their next version, Windows cannot distinguish between Firefox.exe and Codec_Flash_Shady.exe. Sandboxing will disable system level utilities.
MS is capable of making secure OSes. How many viruses and trojans do the 3 Xboxes, Windows Phone and RT have? Even Windows Server is pretty secure(atleast as secure as Linux) unless the admins start browsing on it. Malware is a real threat to any popular OS unless third party apps are entirely blocked or restricted by the use of a approval based App Store. Windows gives much more control to the user, which is why many users are able to stay away from infections. And it's ironic that you're blaming MS here instead of the folks that propagate it(including a YC company https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20130115/17343321692/why-a...) and people who install it(users).
Remember the shitstorm that was raised against MS on here and elsewhere when they tried to secure users by preventing undetectable rootkits by enabling Secure Boot?