Why Windows Vista is Better than Your O/S

Today is a big day for Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing team! It's the release of the Windows Vista One Year Vulnerability Report composed by my good friend and teammate, Jeff Jones. First let me just put to rest any kind "of course it's favorable...it's written by Microsoft" kinda stuff that I know several people reading are saying to themselves right now. If he was just some shill for Microsoft....would he be a blogger for CSO Magazine?

Let me tell you a little about my experience with Jeff Jones and his research. Jeff Jones' methodology is sound. (Read that again.....out loud.) When I first came to this team in 2006, I was one of the first people to say, "Who's going to believe this, Jeff? You work for Microsoft.....of course it's favorable." Jeff quickly sat me down and explained that he would gladly put his data up against anyone who wanted to contest his research methods and findings. He's also quick to point out where Microsoft falls behind. Here's another "little known fact" about Mr. Jones. Jeff is one of the loudest voices inside Microsoft about our vulnerability reporting. It's Jeff who will storm into a VP's office and say that we should err on the side of being MORE critical of our security accounting. Jeff Jones' integrity is above reproach.*

Read the guide and get the facts. Quit listening to what the fear mongers are telling you. Read it and come to your own conclusions. Microsoft software is not perfect......no software is....but I think you'll agree that Microsoft is absolutely on the right track..

(P.S. If you enjoyed this....then you'll also enjoy the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report, which is chocked full of data points as to what is really going on out there!)

*Jeff Jones is however not without his faults....he spends far too little time playing World of Warcraft, instead choosing to be a slightly above average Texas Hold'Em player and Media Center geek. That is unto itself....a sad commentary.

UPDATE: Read what Jesper Johansson has to say on it. Jesper has a Ph.D. so he has also taken the data and come to some conclusions. Interesting.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  The comment has been removed

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  How would you answer the question and prove or disprove the answer?  Pretty tricky, eh?  Jeff

• Anonymous
  January 24, 2008
  It is funny I see this today as I happened to walk into one of our IT architect's office - I saw him with an Apple laptop unusual in our environment. I asked him what he is doing and why he has that. I was suprised to hear it is his wife's laptop but he is so frustrated with Vista that he is switching back to XP on VMWare Fusion. He is not the only one going back to XP. All this enthusiasm I see about Vista is only coming from MS. Is there a disconnect someehere? Is MS fooling itself into thinking that Vista is greatest OS so far. And no I am not one of those MS bashers as I make a living on MS platform.

• Anonymous
  March 07, 2008
  I am an IT Professional with 20 years of Experience. I tried Vista and was all geared up to use it for Multi-Media with the birth of our son.  I bought an HD Video Camera (JVC Everio) and the Canon Digital rebel XTi . I was all set to make home movies and DVD's for the family.  However Vista would not allow me to use my own home video because I could not prove it was mine by inserting the original media.  The DRM of Vista is just one of it's complete and utter handicaps.  After a month of frustration and attempting to get around the issues I just formated my drive and Put XP back.  I can't stand Vista - to me it is just another Windows ME - a bad mistake.

• Anonymous
  May 07, 2008
  I don't know if Vista has more resources than Windows XP. I can't open enough applications on Windows XP, but I'm scared to install Windows Vista because it takes time and a computer. If I try to use Acdsee on Windows XP it doesn't start because of lack of resources. Linux is hard to use because I don't have tools like acdsee, Nero and games.