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Windows vs. Linux Security, Once More

TAGmclaren writes "The Register is running a very interesting article about Microsoft and Linux security. From the article: 'until now there has been no systematic and detailed effort to address Microsoft's major security bullet points in report form. In a new analysis published here, however, Nicholas Petreley sets out to correct this deficit, considering the claims one at a time in detail, and providing assessments backed by hard data. Petreley concludes that Microsoft's efforts to dispel Linux "myths" are based largely on faulty reasoning and overly narrow statistical analysis.' The full report is available here in HTML form, and here in PDF. Although the article does make mention of OS X, it would have been nice if the 'other' OS had been included in the detailed analysis for comparison."

15 of 489 comments (clear)

  1. Linux is more secure. Once more. by Pan+T.+Hose · · Score: -1, Troll

    Now, please, stop asking!

    --
    Sincerely,
    Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
    "Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
    1. Re:Linux is more secure. Once more. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      And only more secure because there is far, far less money in attacking linux systems. Don't bring out the old faithful "but there are more apache systems and it's attacked less". The worms that earn spammers money don't give a hoot about tens of thousands of servers when they can infect tens of millions of desktops instead. Because they are the most numerous is why they're attacked more. Simple simple statistics.

      When linux systems become the majority and are cracked just as often as windows, I hope you'll be wearing a hat you can eat.

  2. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    ...Linux is more secure than Windows. Amazing that it took a report to tell us what we already know.

    1. Re:So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

      Then your Linux admins don't know what they're doing.

      I shouldn't have to know what I'm doing. Thats why I switched to linux; you have to be a security expert to run windows safely.

  3. summary by uberjoe · · Score: 0, Troll
    For the people who are slashdotted out, the article basically says that linux is more secure than windows. I will speak for everyone here when I say

    Duh!

    Is this really news?

    --

    The days of the digital watch are numbered.

  4. Article Summary: by haxor.dk · · Score: 1, Troll

    Microsoft products are more vulnerable, despite that Microsoft uses statistics that says otherwise to make you believe otherwise.

  5. Message to the moderators... by WIAKywbfatw · · Score: 1, Troll

    If you're the idiot who modded this off-topic then you clearly haven't got a fucking clue about:

    1. What this story is about; and
    2. Irony.

    --

    "Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
  6. amazing by plastic.person · · Score: -1, Troll
    I just visited this site for the first time in a year. It's truly amazing that you losers are still bitching about the M$ vs. Linux issue.

    Linux is as good as dead, M$ rules the world. Yes their software sucks but it's still worlds more usable than anything you idiots will ever peck out in emacs, vi, or whatever the fuck editor you use nowadays.

  7. Re:Geez.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    LINUX SUCKS GOAT BALLS!!!

  8. .Net and windoze sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    .Net and windoze sucks its buggy as hell. I am shocked morons still use it.

  9. Re:I'd rather see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I'd rather see OSX compared to something like Atari ST GEM. They're both about as relevant in todays world.

  10. Re:meh... by mistersooreams · · Score: 0, Troll
    any system is only as secure as its users anyway

    I respectfully disagree. In Windows, a window can pop-up from the Internet and, if you click the wrong button, potentially do anything to your computer. In Linux, if you're running as a user, the heart of the OS is protected from damage. Windows has recently evolved a user/admin architecture, but that doesn't change the fact that some systems are inherently more secure.

    On the other hand, it is a valid argument that those who use Linux tend to be more tech-savvy anyway. That accounts for some of difference in problems thrown up by Linux and Windows, but not all of it. I'm no Linux fanboy, but Windows has some ground to make up in the security sector at least.

  11. Re:Just buy a Mac :-) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    You really entertain me. Please, register an account so I can easily find the rest of your posts. You won't get modded down when you default to -1.

  12. YUO CANT STOP ME BITCHTITS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll
  13. Security always a concern by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I can see the analogous qualities. Windows versus Linux. Kerry versus Bush in the world of security.

    Kerry seems to be like Windows, as Microsoft changes their tune to meet the demands of the masses. But underneath all of the PR talk it's the same once you dig through the rhetoric.

    Then there's Linux. Like Bush they stick to their guns and don't give ground on issues. No matter what the popular consensus Linux takes the high, hard road.

    I think all of this is ironic since Linux is typically enbraced by all of the smelly liberal hippies out there...