And in the left corner we have...

Malware, virusses, DoS attacks, spam, there are a lot of creepy crawlys vying to get at your shiny computer. Common wisdom has it that especially computers running Microsoft's operating systems are vulnerable to these kind of threats, while Linux based boxes form an untakable fortress.

But now we're going to find out. A guy named Jim Kukral will buy and set up one Windows machine, one Linux machine and one Macintosh running OS X, and pit them against each other in the ultimate computer battle. His site, diary of destruction, will chronicle how the machines become crippled over time. Readers are encouraged to suggest malware programs to install or send virus-filled e-mails.

Since Windows is definitely the underdog in this competition, it will get some sort of virus protection. A machine loses when it is no longer able to function in any useful way.

The point is, the average person doesn't have all the information they need, but this test will help them decide. I want to see which operating system will survive the longest under deliberate attacks from as much scary internet stuff I can find. Then, and in the process of seeing it all happen on the blog, we'll be able to better understand what we're dealing for educational purposes, and most importantly, we'll find out which operating system is the safest.