Study shows Linux defect rate much better than commercial Unix
A study of TCP/IP code of various commercial and open source operating systems found that the defect rate in the Linux implementation was much better than others studied.
"The Linux defect rate was 0.1 defects per 1,000 lines of code,
Reasoning found. The rate for the general-purpose operating
systems–two of them versions of Unix–was between 0.6 and 0.7 per
1,000 lines of code. The rates for the two embedded operating systems
were 0.1 and 0.3 per 1,000 lines of code. "
Because of the very limited scope of this audit, and because who knows what specific defects were being tested out of the set of all possible defects, I would not be so quick to draw sweeping conclusions from it. However, it is very interesting in itself.