Artie wrote:The reason he gave for Microsoft seeming so full of holes all the time is because of its popularity.
I too listened to that broadcast, and he had some interesting things to say. I didn't agree with everything he said, including this. Maybe they do have a lot of holes because of the popularity, but does anyone take into account that Microsoft really has no agenda for security? Until people started bitching that Windows was insecure, they had no intention of distributing "a secure operating system" as their flagship product. Sure, security went along with development, but I would bet my money that security was not until recently a priority.
Artie wrote:Would it serve a hacker any purpose to go looking for holes in Mac or *nix. No, because people don't use them as much as Microsoft.
Actually, that is untrue. The people who use UNIX and Linux have a need for security, because *nix systems are made for serving. There are hackers that spend all their time searching for holes in Linux and UNIX but aren't paid for it. This creates an extreme advantage over Microsoft, because unlike the security department at Microsoft who simply gets paid for a job, these people for UNIX and Linux actually do it because they want to. Which one is more likely to find a hole and fix it? Take a look at OpenBSD.
lordfoul wrote:As you can see Windows and 'nix systems all have plenty of vulnerabilities...
Well of course they do, but do you think Microsoft gives a shit about fixing them? They well know that regardless of the multi-thousand security vulnerabilities that can exist, almost no one will ever leave them, simply because they have zero competition in the consumer operating system market.
Microsoft is a great and extremely smart company. No one else has created an operating system as easy-to-use yet compatibile with everything out there. I use Linux 90% of the time, but I don't bash Microsoft, simply because there is nothing wrong with them. Yes, they are a corporation (and a damn large one at that), but so what? I hate their operating system, therefore I don't use it unless I have to (for specialty applications), but I must say, their office suite is like no other.
Oh, and no one say that Linux has no viruses because of the lack of popularity. That is simply incorrect.