Actually, Microsoft patched the vulnerability in November 2008. The victims of this worm fall into one of 2 categories:

• Mostly people who never bought a windows license anyway and avoid Windows Update for that reason
• Some people who are dumb enough to turn off auto update without taking any steps to mitigate the security risks this brings.

Personally I think it's perverse that Microsoft feel the need to respond to this security threat that really only impacts people who either use their product in violation of the license or actively disable the security features built into the software.

This is not to say that other operating systems aren't more secure, Linux certainly is by default, but this particular issue with Windows has been patched and I think we would all be upset if MS started criticising OSS based on bugs that were patched months ago.

I read in the New Scientist (around March) about some research into implants that allow scientists to provide basic stimulus to mammalian brains and get some feedback too. They mentioned DARPA were experimenting with implants in sharks brains that could allow them to steer them with an eventual view to using them for stealthy underwater spying (sorry, no lasers). The article also mentioned that some of that research would have implications in the field of prosthetics as it has to do with interfaces between electronics and nerves.