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More Than Half of Known Vista Bugs are Unpatched
MsManhattan writes "Microsoft security executive Jeff Jones has disclosed that in the first six months of Vista's release, the company has patched fewer than half of the operating system's known bugs. Microsoft has fixed only 12 of 27 reported Vista vulnerabilities whereas it patched 36 of 39 known bugs in Windows XP in the first six months following its release. Jones says that's because "Windows Vista continues to show a trend of fewer total and fewer high-severity vulnerabilities at the six month mark compared to ... Windows XP," but he did not address the 15 unpatched flaws."
I've got two older brothers, I don't think that makes me stupid. ;)
http://twitter.com/onion2k
Big deal. The VA has been trying fix VistA since 1985.
The previous comment is purposely vague and generalized, but all of the facts are completely true.
So naturally his IQ is 3 points lower than his older brother XP.
Apparently the developers of Vista are following that trend too!
I know our hobby is slagging of microsoft, but hey, copying Linux seems to be working out for them.
Oh, damn. My carefully crafted, pro microsoft reply, slipped into the usual M$ bashing. They are such an easy target. I can't help my self. Just like women drivers. I don't mean to joke at their expense, but sometimes the jokes, they slip out. I mean, I asked my girlfriend if my indicators were working and she said 'Yes. No. Yes. No.'
An oldie but a goldie. Feel free to use that one.
monk.e.boy
Open source, flash charts
Those 27 disclosed vulnerabilities cover some or all of the 237 patents that Microsoft has. Dont you dare fix any of them with a third party tool. You will be violating the patent rights of MSFT!
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
And I think you'll see that thanks to my new and improved door lock, the fact that I leave my windows unlatched is not a critical security issue.
My blog
Let's dig up one of the old /. favourites:
"The only reason XP is the target of so many viruses is because it is so widely used! If Vista was as popular as Windows XP, there would be just as many viruses written for those platforms!"
(firmly tongue in cheek, I'm aware that Vista's UAC is still a pale imitation of a real security model).
I would argue that MS-DOS is more secure than Vista because you have to be physically present to run programs and you can't run malware in the background.
Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
Vista: The program ~_AllofTheBestOffers.exe is attempting to escalate its privilege level, Cancel or Allow?
User: Allow, Allow, Allow (dangit where is the free pron already?)
Vista: The program ~tracker.exe is attempting to change the firewall settings, Cancel or Allow?
User: Change the what? Allow...come on
Vista: The run32.dll has been altered since the last system scan do you wish to proceed? Cancel or Allow?
User: sigh....Allow
Vista: Windows has been updated and must be restarted, Cancel or Allow?
User: hmmmm....don't remember getting updates but updates are good...Allow
Several weeks later....
User: What is going on with all of these popups and free pron offers? Isn't Vista supposed to be more secure?
Support: Did you try rebooting?
User: yes, yes, yes I have already done that.
Support: Well, we can send you a new motherboard w/installation instructions....
User: Thanks, but my bank is on the other line...I am having some trouble with my accounts. Can I call you back?
Support: We are here to serve all of your customer service needs.
User: Uh, yeah whatever, bye.
The moral of this story is that no matter how many times the user is forced to click Allow, I agree, Yes, or Continue in order to shoot themselves the foot they will find a way to do it guaranteed. It may be true that Vista is better than XP is or was out of the box, but they have to assume that even though the user would have to click Allow ten times for some malware to get through that it will happen and not just to a couple of people either. They should at least tell people that they are working on the fixes instead of saying, "well if you are smart you wont get hacked, just don't always click allow."