[LINK] Re: Windows XP versus Vista

[Kim Holburn]

On 2008/Jan/24, at 9:46 AM, Rick Welykochy wrote:
> Kim Holburn wrote:
>
>>> and other OS vendors should adopt similar practices.'"
>>> http://www.darkreading.com/document.asp?doc_id=143979
>> hmmmm...
>
> Hmmm indeed. The article discusses "operating systems in their
> first year". Okay, then compare Linux in its first year to
> Windows NT in its first year.
>
> Windows Vista "in its first year" is not a valid comparison since
> it is not a new operating system. Rather, its is patchwork mess
> built upon Wind/NT then Win2K then WinXP.
>
> As well, apples and oranges time again. 100 low level vulnerabilities
> that might expose data or give a single user a service problem
> (the common type of vulnerability on Linux and Unix systems) is
> simply not the same as 100 high level vulnerabilities on Windows
> that allow machines to be taken over as zombies and admin-level
> access granted.

The article was virtually an ad.  Amazing the kind of ads you can get  
when you are as cashed up as MS.

> Remind me again, how many Mac or Linux zombies are there out in the  
> wild?

And that's the critical thing isn't it.  You can rabbit on about  
number of vulnerabilities but in the end you have thousands of  
viruses and trojans actually out there on windows and not on linux or  
the Mac.   And most people running Linux and Macs don't even have  
anti-virus software.

Part of the problem of Windows zombies are precisely because there  
are so many pirated copies and really old versions out there and now  
MS is trying to refuse to update and patch them.  You could say that  
a large part of the zombie problem comes directly as a result of the  
licensing policies of Microsoft.

Kim
--
Kim Holburn
IT Network & Security Consultant
Ph: +39 06 855 4294  M: +39 3494957443
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Democracy imposed from without is the severest form of tyranny.
                           -- Lloyd Biggle, Jr. Analog, Apr 1961