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"I didn't use Microsoft machines when I was in my operational phase, because I couldn't trust them" ... I'm not really sure that open source should get a free pass in terms of trust - it's not possible for you as an individual to single handedly verify that the open source software is trustable either; you need to assume that the group maintaining it has your best interests at heart.

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1. i don't think that a "free pass" was necessarily implied 2. how would you put it? "i can't review windows source code because it's a trade secret. but since i can't review GNU/Linux or *BSD source code (because it's too much) either, meh."?

But proprietary software vendors have an interest in keeping things secret, while open source code can be reviewed by people who have an interest in making problems known.

With your logic, you might as well say that freedom of information laws are useless because nobody can review all of the government's documents by themselves. The point is not that anyone can review it all by themselves--it's just that it's more reasonable to trust things that the public can verify rather than unsubstantiated claims by someone who has an interest in keeping things secret.

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