Follow The Virus Cost Urban Myth
from the once-it's-out-there,-it's-out-there dept
We’ve all heard stories of some company or organization coming up with a number for something that gets reported somewhere and becomes quoted as fact. Remember that internet usage was doubling every 90 to 100 days? Jeremy Wagstaff has written up a nice summary of how a made up quote about the cost of virus damage in 2003 is spreading around the world. It’s a little unclear how it all started, but it appears that someone from Trend Micro came up with the number – but the company now denies they would or could come up with such a number. However, Reuters ran an article that quotes someone from Trend Micro with the number – and despite the supposed retraction from Trend Micro, the story (and the number) live on in many places. Trend Micro doesn’t seem to mind this publicity – even if it’s based on something they claim they never said. The interesting thing isn’t so much the specifics, but how quickly such a “fact” can spread, and never be questioned online.
Comments on “Follow The Virus Cost Urban Myth”
Facts that have no source
Didn’t Bill Gates say “640k ought to be enough for anyone”? Most folks think so, but there’s no reference that can be found. I think it’s along the same lines.
Re: Facts that have no source
Actually, I thought Jobs was the one that said 128K ought to be enough for everyone.
I blogged this little fact myself, with my comment being how the hell could you put a figure on it? Along with my early virus exposure (an employee, a network administrator no less with full rights to everything on the server was playing with virus infected diskettes…)