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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.
Reader Comments
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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.
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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...)
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