Default settings? Honestly, it is silly to blame the software for most of the breaches, when it is usually human error that is the largest problem.
Good security measures on any system make the biggest differences. Turning off unnecessary services and running a very restrictive firewall are essential for any server, and can (in some ways) make up for the shortcomings in an operating system.
On a side note, although many people see the security models used in *BSD and Linux as being secure and able, the user/group/other model is outdated for real security. Hopefully Red Hat and SuSe will step forward and take advantage of new opportunities and technologies like SELinux. The sort of security that this could give to their distributions could easily give them big edge over proprietary Unixes and Windows.
I remember the Windows NT port of Alpha, or at least its repuatation. The reason that I remember it was that it was such an oddity. When VMS, UNIX, *BSD, and Linux were all available, Windows NT turned into a joke among people who admin'ed DEC AlphaServers. The biggest reason why it was such a joke went back not to the actual performance or stability of Windows NT, but to the reputation of the Windows lineup as being flimsy operating systems built for cheap IBM-compatibles.
For example, I was given an AlphaServer that had been in operation previously. The guy giving it to me told me that if I was more familiar with Linux (a then-unsupported OS on the Alpha) that I could install it over the version of VMS running on it. He warned me, however, against using Windows NT on it, citing the general poor reputation of Windows operating systems (yes, I did install Linux, and it has worked flawlessly for years).
The reputation of Windows rests not on the current operating system, but on the cumulative history of all Windows OS products and Microsoft's business practices. No matter the quality of 2000, XP, or Longhorn, time will tell what Microsoft's new future will be on other platforms based on its own cumulative reputation and demand of the users of that hardware for such an operating system from such a company.
The two largest groups of users that push Microsoft's bad reputation even farther are Mac and Linux/UNIX users (as all good Slashdotters know). The trolling on this topic actually illustrates the strong opposition to Microsoft and Windows that permeates the community of people here who would buy such hardware. This sort of objection easily keeps ideas like Windows on PPC from getting off the ground (after all, it is apparently not marketable at this point). Perhaps the troll posts here should be modded +1 informative...
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Default settings? Honestly, it is silly to blame the software for most of the breaches, when it is usually human error that is the largest problem.
Good security measures on any system make the biggest differences. Turning off unnecessary services and running a very restrictive firewall are essential for any server, and can (in some ways) make up for the shortcomings in an operating system.
On a side note, although many people see the security models used in *BSD and Linux as being secure and able, the user/group/other model is outdated for real security. Hopefully Red Hat and SuSe will step forward and take advantage of new opportunities and technologies like SELinux. The sort of security that this could give to their distributions could easily give them big edge over proprietary Unixes and Windows.
I remember the Windows NT port of Alpha, or at least its repuatation. The reason that I remember it was that it was such an oddity. When VMS, UNIX, *BSD, and Linux were all available, Windows NT turned into a joke among people who admin'ed DEC AlphaServers. The biggest reason why it was such a joke went back not to the actual performance or stability of Windows NT, but to the reputation of the Windows lineup as being flimsy operating systems built for cheap IBM-compatibles.
For example, I was given an AlphaServer that had been in operation previously. The guy giving it to me told me that if I was more familiar with Linux (a then-unsupported OS on the Alpha) that I could install it over the version of VMS running on it. He warned me, however, against using Windows NT on it, citing the general poor reputation of Windows operating systems (yes, I did install Linux, and it has worked flawlessly for years).
The reputation of Windows rests not on the current operating system, but on the cumulative history of all Windows OS products and Microsoft's business practices. No matter the quality of 2000, XP, or Longhorn, time will tell what Microsoft's new future will be on other platforms based on its own cumulative reputation and demand of the users of that hardware for such an operating system from such a company.
The two largest groups of users that push Microsoft's bad reputation even farther are Mac and Linux/UNIX users (as all good Slashdotters know). The trolling on this topic actually illustrates the strong opposition to Microsoft and Windows that permeates the community of people here who would buy such hardware. This sort of objection easily keeps ideas like Windows on PPC from getting off the ground (after all, it is apparently not marketable at this point). Perhaps the troll posts here should be modded +1 informative...