Duh. Thanks, that hadn't occurred to me. Are you suggesting that it has rust-inhibiting properties, too?
Whatever the rubbery coating that is put on objects to keep them from slipping in the hand - I don't know what it is - but I have seen it on tools, mice, the outside of my ThinkPad is "rubbery" and lots of other things. It works great for a while, but after some number of months or years it breaks down into a horrible sticky goo.
I have had success scrubbing it off with alcohol, but that only prepares it to happen again.
I don't know that it is the very best rust inhibitor, but ATF is pretty good at it, especially for its price. It is designed to sit inside of a transmission for years at a time afterall. The viscosity, and the fact that (being synthetic) it should never really gum up, has made it very useful for my purposes.
Yeah, I hate that stuff. I avoid it entirely, if possible. Maybe oil would help prevent it from degrading? Something makes me think it has more to do with how it bonds to the surface though. Oil can actually also be used to clean things, almost like a solvent.
I have an old Compaq laptop that has that garbage on it. Maybe some day I'll play around with it.