Linux Doesn't Get Viruses

We’ve heard it a million times. Switch to Linux and you’ll never have to deal with those pesky viruses again. The people who say these sorts of things don’t tend to elaborate on exactly why Linux doesn’t have many viruses because they don’t want to admit it’s simply not a big enough target for virus writers to bother.

Enter Android, which, depending on the debate, is Linux if the outcome is good, or isn’t Linux if the outcome is bad. Its market share in the smartphone arena is excellent, so the evangelists will say that Android is Linux in that case. However, because its newfound popularity, and the wild-west state of the Android platform, viruses have started to pop up on the marketplace, prompting the development of virus scanner apps. In this case, Android is most certainly not Linux.