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Flawed Survey Suggests XP More Secure Than Vista
SkeeLo writes "One of Vista's big selling points is security, but a report from CRN concludes that Vista offers little in the way of security advancements over Windows XP. Ars Technica analyzed the report and found some methodological problems. 'The report faults Vista for "providing no improvement in virus protection vs. XP," but of course Windows Vista does not ship with antivirus software — something the reviewer fails to mention. Faulting an AV-less Vista for not stopping viruses is a bit like faulting a door without a lock for opening when the handle is twisted.' That's not all: 'It was also disappointing to see CRN completely ignore the issue of buffer overflows, which has been addressed well in Vista by most accounts. This was a major weak spot with XP, and so far, Vista looks strong in this area, strong enough that Vista may never get its own "SQL Slammer." Why CRN didn't address this is a mystery, as it is no minor matter.'"
Study finding Vista more secure then XP = X hits.
Study finding XP more secure than Vista = Y hits.
if (x > y)
post Vista more secure than XP
else
post Vista less secure than XP
Of course from practical point of view XP right now is more secure. And I don't mean default install. For example take my company and few facts:
- we managed to make the machines behave as we will
- we have invested money into third party security software
- we have invested time (which equals money) into free (as in speech) third party security software
- we have some knowledge and experience into XP security -- after these - what like 7? - years who doesn't?!
Right now we have quite healthly and working infrastructure based on XP and surrounding (like VPNs, IDSs, AVs, proxies, backup, imagining etc.) services. We know how to do it, we have experience.
Now Vista from my standpoint is just big black hole - another system from MS that does not offer me anything significant but opens a can of unknown worms... I don't see any serious businesses building their security infrastructure around brand new shining Vista systems.
Of course in *theory* Vista can be more secure, but from practical standpoint it is new and untested product that has ben rushed to the market.
It really depends on your security definition. Security is not a product - security is a proces in which you have knowledge about what you are doing. In which you have educated users. In which you have policies and audits and so on. Vista isn't anywhere near to be even a stable product from security standpoint.
It's almost done logging me in, in fact.
No. No! No!!
It is a Genuine advantage
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