Time to leave XP?

[Coded-Dude]

didn't they just find a HUGE security leak in IE again? unix/linux were by design a networking based OS and are thus far more secure than windows. MS has come along ways in improving their security, but more and more holes are found just *** fast as they patch the old ones.

[loose_electron]

Me personally - I got Windows 7, and XP, no Vista machines and a couple of Linux boxes.

As for Microsoft products being less secure than Apple or Linux, or other tools, I say utter BS.

Why? Its a matter of big target vs. little target. Microsoft has a huge percentage of the CPU's out there (is it 80-90% these days? I havent checked recently) so hackers shoot at the big target a lot more frequently. Its really that simple.

[NSR500]

Windows 7 is more secure than Linux ans OSX. Microsoft has put their reputation behind securing Windows, it's not the security nightmare it used to be.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Vista...d-109192.shtml

Additionally, there is no way that a Windows 7 image on this OC'd 3.0ghz P4 Prescott would run as fast versus the Linux image I've got running.

Me personally - I got Windows 7, and XP, no Vista machines and a couple of Linux boxes.

As for Microsoft products being less secure than Apple or Linux, or other tools, I say utter BS.

Why? Its a matter of big target vs. little target. Microsoft has a huge percentage of the CPU's out there (is it 80-90% these days? I havent checked recently) so hackers shoot at the big target a lot more frequently. Its really that simple.

Therefore Linux is less likely to be breached and hence, secure. I can further harden my Linux image and increase my level of security beyond what Windows 7 can achieve.

[JDay]

Why? Its a matter of big target vs. little target. Microsoft has a huge percentage of the CPU's out there (is it 80-90% these days? I havent checked recently) so hackers shoot at the big target a lot more frequently. Its really that simple.

That is only true in the desktop market, Linux rules the server world.

[JDay]

I'm sorry, but that article is just BS. Windows 7 is a lot better than any other Windows OS, but it is not more secure than Linux, and by design never will be.

Let me ask you this, how many Linux distributions are FIPS certified? I know there's Redhat but what else? I know it is hard to adapt to change but the fact is that Windows is quite secure these days. Sure, you have to worry about what the end user does but they will always be a security risk on any system.

[JDay]

didn't they just find a HUGE security leak in IE again? unix/linux were by design a networking based OS and are thus far more secure than windows. MS has come along ways in improving their security, but more and more holes are found just *** fast as they patch the old ones.

Web browsers are always being exploited, happens to Firefox, Chrome, IE, Safari, etc, all the time. A web browser also is not the OS. Why here's one that just got patched in Chrome in the last few weeks.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20028422-264.html

[loose_electron]

That is only true in the desktop market, Linux rules the server world.

Um, yes and no. Certain variations of Linux and Unix rule the server world.

Thing is with Linux, there are a number of different variants and you got to look a little more carefully at the details.

FYI - Mac OSX is a Linux variant, but its been patched, modified and tweaked so much that its unique to itself. In a similar fashion, a lot of servers use different variations on the Unix/Linux theme.

[thrasherfox]

I am a IT pro, stand back


I have all my home systems on XP.

All patched up, it is very reliable. I have one Windows 7 system.

I think XP for me is one of those OS's that I will not be in a hurrry to upgrade.

For work, we are on XP. at work however upgrades rare baed off when MS decides to stop supporting an operating system. once they stop support and we can non longer get security updates, then we are forced to upgrade.

We have a few systems that are being looked at for upgrade to windows 7. but we have heard XP support from MS will be extended.

bottom line is i go by the principal, if it is not broke, don't fix it. and so far patched XP is pretty reliable

[JDay]

FYI - Mac OSX is a Linux variant, but its been patched, modified and tweaked so much that its unique to itself. In a similar fashion, a lot of servers use different variations on the Unix/Linux theme.

This is not true at all. OS X is a certified UNIX distribution, it is based on the Mach kernel and has some BSD code in it.

[JDay]

We have a few systems that are being looked at for upgrade to windows 7. but we have heard XP support from MS will be extended.

Where have you heard this? Most support for XP has already ended, in fact XP stopped being a downgrade option with new systems on October 22, 2010 and retail availability ended on June 30, 2008.

[loose_electron]

This is not true at all. OS X is a certified UNIX distribution, it is based on the Mach kernel and has some BSD code in it.

Again, yes and no - I do agree with you, but a personal friend is one of the folks inside who has ownership of some of the builds, and some of the "starting points" where stuff from the gnu Linux world, that were then tuned, tweaked, re-written, and in general tuned up.

The OS is unique to Apple, but then everybody borrows code from elsewhere, do they not?

Besides, to me, the only difference between Linux and Unix is that the history of Linux is being designed to run on X86 platforms and being open source software. However, many of the Linux builds are proprietary these days and are not OSS Even that has been so muddled considering the shifts happening in the last 5-10 years. Just like scripts in certain shells will have problems as you port them from Solaris, to HP-UX, to AIX, etc. (What was the cry a few years back? "Not all Unix is created equal" - which got morphed into "Not all Linux builds are created equal")

I will take my propellor cap off now!

[loose_electron]

Where have you heard this? Most support for XP has already ended, in fact XP stopped being a downgrade option with new systems on October 22, 2010 and retail availability ended on June 30, 2008.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/enterprise/products/windows-7/end-of-support.aspx

SP2 XP support ends, what was the latest, I believe SP3 or SP4?

[thrasherfox]

Where have you heard this? Most support for XP has already ended, in fact XP stopped being a downgrade option with new systems on October 22, 2010 and retail availability ended on June 30, 2008.

First, I had it through department of defense channels. We have systems we are looking at upgrading to Windows 7, but we have been told that there is not that much of a rush at this time because Mircrosoft has extended support for Windows XP.

Here is a link

http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?LN=en-gb&C2=1173

If you look at the Service pack support end date the field is blank. I think they are currently trying to determine to when they will extend the support date.

Of course, my sources could be wrong. it wouldn't be the first time I received bad gouge on something. But I feel on this issue the sources are pretty reliable.

[NaughtyMonkey]

I have a computer in my room that runs Windows 3.11. haha. But my favorite is still Windos 98. My opinion it was the best.

Ubuntu is a good OS, but there are other Linux distros I like more.

[JDay]

Again, yes and no - I do agree with you, but a personal friend is one of the folks inside who has ownership of some of the builds, and some of the "starting points" where stuff from the gnu Linux world, that were then tuned, tweaked, re-written, and in general tuned up.

The OS is unique to Apple, but then everybody borrows code from elsewhere, do they not?

Besides, to me, the only difference between Linux and Unix is that the history of Linux is being designed to run on X86 platforms and being open source software. However, many of the Linux builds are proprietary these days and are not OSS Even that has been so muddled considering the shifts happening in the last 5-10 years. Just like scripts in certain shells will have problems as you port them from Solaris, to HP-UX, to AIX, etc. (What was the cry a few years back? "Not all Unix is created equal" - which got morphed into "Not all Linux builds are created equal")

I will take my propellor cap off now!

Strange then that your friend does not know that OSX was developed out of NeXTSTEP. I would think someone involved in its development would know that little fact. OSX is a direct descendant of NeXTSTEP and there is no GNU code in NeXTSTEP since it is closed source.