Microsoft passes the Love buck

The worst virus attack ever seen has come and gone, leaving in its wake a day of massive disruption, and a large number of picture and audio files irreparably damaged.

But only if you use Microsoft software.

The worm's author used Visual Basic Script (VBS), a macro language for Windows. If you have the scripting language turned on your machine, VBS can allow someone so-minded to run scripts which change, delete or copy files.

Some security experts wonder why Microsoft 'incorporates' this 'feature' in Outlook. The open source community says there's no way Linux users could have been subjected to such an attack.

When it became apparent that the virus writer used VBS to inflict his stunt on the world, and took advantage of what some would call a flaw in Outlook to propagate the 'Love Bug' worm, we called Microsoft.

A spokesman on Thursday told us the company was not going to comment on the issue.

Some would say that's a curious - if not Pilate-like - response. In Microsoft's defence, any virus author worth his or her salt would want to maximise the effects of their handy-work - and that obviously involves exploiting the world's most popular software.

However, we conducted a poll of our readers to discover just how many companies had been hit (and it's far more than the 10 per cent figure widely circulated on Thursday). The ones that remained Love Bug free were all running non-Microsoft operating systems or applications: in the main either Linux, Lotus, Netscape, or Novell. Many Mac users also allowed themselves a moment of quiet satisfaction.

So is Microsoft's response adequate? It works with the anti-virus vendors to protect users from such incidents, but claims that's as far as its responsibilities go. In the final analysis, it's up to those anti-virus vendors to secure networks and provide fixes, the software giant says.

That's an inadequate response. It's estimated that viruses cost business over $12bn last year alone.

In this brave new economy of interconnected networks, in which we're all reliant on technology (much of it Microsoft's) for prosperity, it's not good enough for the world's leading software vendor to say: "Not our fault."

At a time when it's under more pressure than ever, Microsoft shouldn't be shrugging its shoulders. It should be shouldering the blame.