The x86_64 DOS hole

Evidently, I do not see things from the same point of view as spender; while I do acknowledge the fact that the kernel may be more vulnerable than some think (and certainly the converse too).

6 weeks from first spot to correction for a DoS is not bad news from my point of view - that's precisely the point.

Furthermore, to show you that I am not simply of the angelic kind, 6 weeks is not an "honest" number. 6 weeks of vulnerability is over-optimistic, it does not take into account the time it will take for this correction to reach the standard Ubuntu kernel on my own computer.
It does not take into account the fact that some black hat (especially a "well-funded" one) may have spotted the vulnerability much earlier. (That's where there is often black magic at work in threat evaluation. But this parameter does exist, even though unobservable.)
It does not take into account the fact that several (how many btw?) distributed kernel versions may have the same flaw and that some of them have been deployed in the field and will never be corrected.

Let's be honest, even pessimistic. Especially as such time measurements are probably not very relevant. Anyway, we have a need for evaluation before adressing the evaluation result.

I am confident Linux will not compare unfavorably - first because I suspect few systems will dare try to stand the comparison. And even in this case it will be worth knowing that linux <=X.Y.Z cannot be used for specific security applications. (*If* competitors can prove to be better of course, and if users cannot wait for X.Y+1.Z... ;-)