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Windows Cheaper to Patch Than Open Source?

Posted by Zonk on from the fud-for-breakfast dept.

daria42 writes "Is Windows cheaper to patch than open source software? Of course this Microsoft-commissioned report thinks so - but a number of people disagree, including a key Novell Asia-Pac exec, Paul Kangro. Kangro highlights problems with the report including the fact that it refers to problems faced by administrators before 2003: before significant improvements were made to Linux patching tools. 'We didn't have tools like Xen for Linux then,' says Kangro. 'When I patch my Linux box I don't need to bring it up and down any number of times.' Kangro also points out the report doesn't mention costs associated with rebooting systems after a patch is applied."

11 of 473 comments (clear)

  1. Not exactly objective.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So microsoft says windows is cheaper to patch, whereas Novell (who own Suse) say linux is cheaper to patch.

    Can someone tell me why this is news?

  2. Xen by mattdm · · Score: 5, Informative

    [...]problems with the report including the fact that it refers to problems faced by administrators before 2003: before significant improvements were made to Linux patching tools. 'We didn't have tools like Xen for Linux then,' [...]

    Oh, come on. Practically speaking, we don't have Xen for Linux *now*. Sure it's cool and all (which is why it's slipped into this basically unrelated story) but it's not nearly ready for the Linux mainstream and I'd be surprised if more than a handful of people are using it heavily in production.

    1. Re:Xen by jbgreer · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I wouldn't be too sure about that; I just installed Xen on a box this past week, and the testing branch has been remarkably stable. Have you actually used Xen? That said, I like to think that the poster's larger point is that virtualization technology and its implementations - in VMWare, Xen, etc. have made patch management easier to manage, especially with all of the work going on in migrating apps and OSes. That, to me, will be the real benefit of such work.

      --
      The Norton Anthology of English Literature, 4th Ed., Vol 2
    2. Re:Xen by DBarker · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think that Paul Kangro may have been talking about "Zen" for linux a Novell product (See link http://www.novell.com/products/zenworks/sneakpeek. html ) that is an update to Ximian Red Carpet Server and red-carpet client used for distributing patches to linux distributions and applications as well as imaging, and asset (inventory of hardware and software) management.

  3. yawn whats new by EEproms_Galore · · Score: 5, Funny

    Every time I read about another "paid by Billy G" report it always reminds me of the joke.. How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a lightbulb. None Microsoft defines darkness as the new standard..

    1. Re:yawn whats new by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or the other jokoe:

      Q: How many Linux engineers does it take the change the lightbuld?

      A: RTFM, n00b. J00 suz0r, go back to M$ Winblows, l4m3r.

    2. Re:yawn whats new by Intron · · Score: 5, Funny

      Q. how many Apple engineers does it take:

      A: We don't use light bulbs any more. We have high brightness iLED displays for only $599.

      --
      Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
    3. Re:yawn whats new by yasth · · Score: 5, Funny

      Or the other other one:

      Q: How many *BSD engineers does it take to change a lightbulb?

      A: One could probably do it, if only there were any left.

      --
      I'd do something interesting, but my server can't handle a slashdotting.
  4. apt vs windows update by xmodem_and_rommon · · Score: 5, Informative

    Really? The 'apt-get update && apt-get upgrade' i did earlier today on my debian (testing) box took less than a minute, and isntalled not just the latest security patches but also the latest versions of all my software. That was pretty-much free.

    Conversely, windows update only updates windows (not my other apps), and takes at least 15 minutes every time i run it.

    1. Re:apt vs windows update by I+confirm+I'm+not+a · · Score: 5, Funny

      Conversely, windows update only updates windows (not my other apps), and takes at least 15 minutes every time i run it.

      Windows Update worked its magic on my workstation yesterday; I was busy and didn't reboot afterwards. For the rest of the morning (until I caved and rebooted the bloody thing) Windows Update popped-up an annoying dialog box every ten? fifteen? minutes inviting me to restart the PC. Needless to say, everytime the diaplog appeared it was when I was typing, and half a line of code got piped to Window's equivalent of /dev/null.

      I think we should *thank* Microsoft for promoting Linux ;-)

      --
      This is where the serious fun begins.
  5. A point we often miss by rbanffy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We, Unixers, usually miss the point that, while we don't have to reboot the whole computer at each and every important patch, we have to bring services down and then back up when they are significantly patched. For a database server it's not the system uptime that counts - it's the database uptime. If it goes down, I could as well have rebooted the whole server - the phone will ring just the same.

    While this is a whole lot better than Windows, they are getting closer.

    And... Well... The fact it was paid by Microsoft says nothing about the report. I sure would like to see the other reports paid by Microsoft that say FOSS is cheaper, more reliable, more ethical and that are tucked away somewhere in a folder marked "secret"

    --
    http://www.dieblinkenlights.com