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Linux More Secure Than Windows XP
The latest Evans Data North American Development Survey finds Linux more
secure than Windows XP, according to this
press release. "Linux has increased its lead in developers'
minds as the "most innately secure operating system" from 19% six months
ago to 23% today. At the same time, the percentage of developers who said
that Windows XP is the most secure dropped by more than 40%, from 14% six
months ago to 8% today."
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more than this?... Posted Oct 14, 2003 21:59 UTC (Tue) by maxmurd (guest, #14858) [Link] Is this more real and accurate than any other m$-financed researches, polls or whatever?...Hmmmm... I dare say "as sure as eggs is eggs"... :)) Max M
more than this?... Posted Oct 14, 2003 22:13 UTC (Tue) by einstein (subscriber, #2052) [Link] It would seem to make sense that 3rd party research would be more objective than a position paper purchased by microsoft with the intent to show what microsoft wants it to show...
more than this?... Posted Oct 14, 2003 22:19 UTC (Tue) by zonker (guest, #7867) [Link] This is just a survey -- AFAIK there were no tests performed by Evans, they simply asked developers which OS they thought was more secure. While I'd tend to agree that Linux is more secure, this isn't proof.
more than this?... Posted Oct 15, 2003 0:29 UTC (Wed) by Russell (guest, #1453) [Link] This is a survey about opinion. Proving which is secure is IMPOSSIBLE. How do you plan to do it? Compare counts of security holes? You will have to count the one's that are undiscovered if you want PROOF.
Linux More Secure Than Windows XP Posted Oct 14, 2003 22:19 UTC (Tue) by cpm (guest, #3554) [Link] I dunno. Seems papers like this are kinda meaningless. Folks want to read'emso I guess they will always be written. And better that they actually have some objectivity rather than they usual, "Take this cash and go find and publish the results we want" that we are used to. A gross and nearly as meaningless rule of thumb can be applied Today XP, tomorrow something else. It seems to mostly depend
Mindshare Posted Oct 15, 2003 0:02 UTC (Wed) by ls-lta (guest, #11615) [Link] is hardly pointless. I'd be curious to poll MS-Windows developers and ask them about their Linux plans.
not funded by any particular vendor Posted Oct 14, 2003 22:25 UTC (Tue) by stevenj (guest, #421) [Link] Their web page makes it sound like this company does developer surveys for a living, selling the resulting reports to whomever will buy them. They have a methodology page that touts their sampling techniques as vendor-independent (unfortunately, this page is more marketing than statistics, and is a little thin on detail).I found the following quote amusing: a higher percentage of Windows developers said Linux is more "innately secure" than did Linux developers. The grass is greener on the other side of the fence?
not funded by any particular vendor Posted Oct 15, 2003 2:10 UTC (Wed) by error27 (subscriber, #8346) [Link] I think people on either side of the fence don't want to be zeolots.
not funded by any particular vendor Posted Oct 15, 2003 15:14 UTC (Wed) by Wol (guest, #4433) [Link] Don't forget. Evans Data employs Nick Petreley (who is probably behind this study), and he most definitely is One Big Penguin :-)Cheers,
Linux More Secure Than Windows XP Posted Oct 15, 2003 19:10 UTC (Wed) by busigia (guest, #15461) [Link] The poll was about as scientifically relevant as asking a person's favorite color. It reveals the ignorance of the polling folks. Security is about tools, and behaviour, far more than about the O/S.Do you think Outlook on windows is the more dangerous than Ximian on Linux for an organization? ...that could get a useful opinion. But you could also ask about Lotus Notes, which on Windows can be far more secure than most Linux mail packages. On the other hand, you could run RitLabs' "TheBat!" mail software, and you could be still more secure than Notes, but TheBat! will run under WINE as well as on any WIN32 O/S. Personally I shudder at the Windows Update functionality, because of the surrender of all your system's guts to it. Bottom line, the poll is not wrong, but it is stupid.
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