A remote route vulnerability allowed any hacker to walk through the firewall with a fire axe. They could burst right through it. If you were running a Gauntlet firewall, once it was penetrated everything on the inside was typically not secure so the databases, where all the goodies are, were wide open. It's a really interesting argument, and a very fine line for me to walk. It's not the case.
Open source is very effective at rapidly integrating new ideas into software.
The Linux operating system has evolved much quicker than Microsoft's products because you've got lots and lots of programmers working on this and introducing new stuff. But, it's a hobby. Even with funding, the bottom line is that with a hobby you don't have the same kind of software engineering quality assurance. You get what you pay for. It is a real mess to clean up.