Finding connections where they aren't...

Via slashdot, the NYTimes has an article comparing the server side software of the Kerry and Bush websites. It spends two thirds the article reading all kinds of stuff into the fact that the Bush campaign uses Microsoft IIS while Kerry uses Apache, saying that Bush uses MS because he's pro-business. Then at the end, it has this quote:

Told that the Democratic National Committee Web site runs on open-source software, Tony Welch, the national committee's press secretary, replied, "Oh, thanks for telling me." Later, after checking with his technical staff, Mr. Welch called back to say that open-source software was "the right technology at the right price."

Which to me sounds like "we don't know what it means, but it sounds good so we're for it".

It also has this great quote about the security of Apache versus IIS on Win2k
But the Microsoft software, he said, "clearly is the least secure of the two Web serving solutions," given its susceptibility to infection by malicious computer worms like Code Red and Nimba.

While I won't argue that Microsoft software has it's security holes, is it really a big deal that it's vulnerable to Code Red, a virus that came out in mid-2001 - and yes, there is a patch for it.