Here is a comparison between Linux and Windows
Click Here

Hope it helped :]

Yes... MS funded tests often show MS products as being more secure.
I hav 2 computers, 1 windows and 1 linux.

the linux machine has been runnign nivcely for 3 years, no chashes, no virii, no firewall, no virus scanners. it has never crashed, nor gottan a virus, nor needed re-installing.

the windows machine needs de-fragging every month or so, needs constand virus scanner updates, needs re-booting often. and re-installing every 9 months to keep running smoothly.

Ok Ok.. a surves of 2 computers is not proof of anything... but ill be sticking with GNU/Linux thanks.

I heard about this MS funded test, but never read it.

It's quite biased, and yet false truths are said, linux maybe shown more in bugtraq but all the software listed is not necessarily related to the operating system (they are comparing operating system right?), this is like comparing Microsoft with all Windows runnable programs, in which case you'd find that even Windows runnable programs have problems, but you can't say it's MS's fault.

I see no security tests done, just comparisons over the amount of flaws/bugs, this still doesn't show that it's exploitable, this could just say that a certain feature did not work, etc. If they wanted to compare flaws/bugs, why not also list the severity of this flaws/bugs and then you'll notice MS has more critical flaws/bugs. Another thing is, MS prefer being contacted directly before any flaws/bugs are reported, usually the only time they are reported is when MS decides it's not a major concern.

Another thing is they say MS create fixes in a timely matter, again a lot of hogwash. MS held onto some very critical patches that were to be released in Service Pack 2, because they never released it in a timely matter a security firm exploited it to make them hurry up, which made MS release the seperate patch afterwards because the exploit would have affected every XP user.

Anything that's funded by an organisation to research a comparison between them and a competitor is definitely going to involve a lot of ass kissing like this news report. At least they got paid well, I would not stoop down that low if I was to be paid to do this, I see it quite degrading.


Cheers,


MC

Anouther thing.. i recently setup a hacking challenge, where the task was to hack a server programed by myself that had a deliberate securety hole.. the buffer overflow.



i compiled a windows version with a default compile of windows Visual Studio. and a default compile on my Gentoo GNU/Linux box.

then i tried to complete the challenge myself.

it took about 2 minutes to overflow the return pointer on the windows version.

after an hour working on the linux version, i gave up.
it was impossable to overflow the buffer, and overwrite the stack.

by default, linux was compiling hardened binaries, with stack randomising protecection.

In the real world, if my program had been a real server, the windows version would have been exploited hacked. The linux version, even with this huge gaping porgrammer mistake, would have stayed secure.

i dont think the available windows compilers even have this option ???

i want to use red hat but i don't know how so i guess i will stick to windows

I have been using windows all my life, i dont think i will ever go over to Linux

Dudes, I don't meant to be rough on you, but aren't you taking the narrow minded view over here? I mean like, both of you haven't even tried to use Linux. Linux versions are so versatile and easy to use that you'd be surprised. For complete beginners, I would advise Mandrake or Suse. Mandrake is free and can be downloaded from the net. But Suse isn't. Suse IMO is the most windows like Linux that you can hope to see. I mean, the regular user doesn't even have to open a console for anything at all. It's more stable than windows. If you don't want to install but just want to get a feel of linux, try knoppix. It's a live CD which means you just have pop it into your CD drive and start and it'll run from the CD itself. No installing or anything. Shut it down, remove the CD and reboot... your back in windows. Try it out . You might like it better than windows coz it's free.

It's quite hard to convert over unless you do have people who use Linux and I mean use Linux heavily.

I had no one around to show me the ins and outs of Linux, I chose Red Hat as my distribution of choice and kept switching back and forth from Windows and Red Hat, it wasn't till around Red Hat 7.3 (I think) that I really saw the improvement and the way Linux was leaning to in which I successfully converted over to Linux.

I am not a big gamer, and I know that's a big downfall when trying out Linux.

I have to say my main reason for switching was to increase my productivity in programming, Windows made chores out of doing daily maintenance that it use to be a hassle. Everything that went wrong, would go wrong. It was so unexpected.

I am now running Fedora Core 4 and it's my main OS, Windows XP still exists on here, but the only reason I would switch back would be to provide step-by-step guides for things I could not remember doing unless I was sitting in front of it.

From a kernel that started out as a hobby, to being one of the greatest things to ever happen you should at least give it a whirl, maybe not to convert over, but to learn more about your computer.

I am currently demonstrating infront of a class Knoppix (a live CD), just to show them Linux, some are impressed, some are not convinced yet, but Linux will be a lot bigger over time and eventually I believe to some degree it will overtake MS, maybe not in Bill Gates lifetime (he's supposedly retiring soon) but it will eventually get there.

You maybe taking things for granted, but Linux and the open source movement provided those in developing countries who are running outdated computers (since MS no longer runs on them) the chance to learn about computing. At least don't spoil their dreams, and be grateful that they too have the opportunity to learn computing. If they can learn on Linux, then many more could too.


Cheers,


MC

I've been running linux for several years on my home pc and my company pc... both run excellent, no crashes, etc... so IMHO, linux hands down

The article is completely bogus since M$ funded it.

Anyways, about switching to Linux, I switched without any friends or expert sitting down and teach me how to use Linux. I was inexperienced, I did research, ran thru forums. Now, I'm an experienced user using Linux for more than 1 year. I know how to compile, use DEB, RPM, know how to debug my system and know where the logs are. Understand how Linux works and yada yada...

Therefore, if you have the will to learn it, it's easy, no experts needed.

xboxrulz