[LINK] Re: Windows XP versus Vista

[David Goldstein]

Well, the only reboots of my computer with Vista are when an update or
new programme says I should reboot. In the 8 months I've been using
Vista I may have rebooted it because of problems once or twice. But
then, that may have just been the easier way out of working out what
the issue was. And from recollection of news reports, Vista's uptake has been comparable to say XP. And while you may be able to run Linux systems for years without reboots, let's face it, the average computer user is simply not going to use Linux - it's just way to difficult. At least with Mac and Windows, it's just out of the box, turn it on, and you're away.

You may beg to differ, and I've not tried to use Linux, but tech advice says this to be the case. And for the vast majority of people, Windows does the job wonderfully. Doesn't mean it couldn't be better, or even a lot better. But it works fine.

David

----- Original Message ----
From: Kim Holburn <kim at holburn.net>
To: The Link Institute <link at anu.edu.au>
Sent: Thursday, 24 January, 2008 7:25:43 PM
Subject: Re: [LINK] Re:  Windows XP versus Vista


On 2008/Jan/24, at 3:23 AM, David Goldstein wrote:
> A lot of this talk of whether a person living in the third world  
> can use Vista misses a very vital point. It is extremely unlikely  
> there will is the infrastructure to even run a computer let alone  
> have internet access.
>
> And whenever the time comes (does anyone want to have a guess at  
> which decade this may be?) that there is some sort of  
> infrastructure to run a PC/Mac, the cost of memory will probably be  
> so cheap that the cost of the memory required will be superfluous.  
> And by this time Vista will be a distant memory to most of us in  
> the first world.
>
> You can hurl brickbats at Vista all you like, but lets face it,  
> it's more stable and more secure than any previous Microsoft  
> operating system,

This is not saying a lot.

> and does a better job. I've been using Vista for almost one year  
> now on my PC and not one problem, almost no crashes, that's if  
> there were any (I can't recall one) and it's generally an easier  
> system to use.

What does that mean exactly - how long does it go in between  
reboots?  I can run linux systems for years without reboots, Macs for  
months, windows systems usually need to be rebooted once a day...

> My main problem is getting my head around Office 2007, which people  
> familiar with Macs says is similar in layout to office software on  
> a Mac. And this is because I just don't use Office anywhere near as  
> much as I use to.
>
> On security and stability, Dark Reading has this based on a  
> Microsoft report:
> "Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system brought home its first- 
> year security report card today: Vista logged less than half the  
> vulnerabilities that Windows XP did in its first year, according to  
> the Microsoft report."

Number of vulnerabilities is not a metric for security.  What was the  
uptake rate of Vista compared with XP?  Are they counting licenses  
sold or machines with vista actually installed?  When you look at the  
MS funded studies of vulnerabilities for instance, they count MS  
vulnerabilities in the base OS, linux vulnerabilities in the whole  
distribution.  Debian has 9000+ packages.

Comparing number of successful attacks, or number of actual different  
pieces of malware that gives quite a different result.  Compare that  
for example, to number of attacks on LAMP servers and you get a  
considerable difference.

> ...
> "So what does the Vista report card really mean? 'It proves that it  
> [Vista] is quantitatively more secure, but not that it's  
> quantitatively less risky -- what I call security versus safety,'  
> Mogull says. 'IT managers need to know the overall risk assessment,  
> which includes that data as well as other information sources.'
>
> "Vista underwent more quality assurance and security testing than  
> any other OS,

Would that be any other Microsoft OS?  I can't imagine it would come  
close to OpenBSD.

> Mogull says, and it paid off. 'The Trustworthy Computing Initiative  
> has resulted in material improvements in the operating system,

You'd have to hope so.

> and other OS vendors should adopt similar practices.'"
> http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=143979

hmmmm...


Kim
--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
mailto:kim at holburn.net  aim://kimholburn
skype://kholburn - PGP Public Key on request

Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961



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