The Lagoon TechMy little blog in Cyberspace.

I received this comment that someone posted online. In case anyone is wondering, I try to keep the authors’ names and/or usernames of different comments, articles, blog posts, etc. I respond to anonymous.

The comment was riddled with misinformation and untruths about Windows. I will place the comment author’s comments below in red. My responses are in black. Please note that I mean no disrespect to the comment’s author in anything I say.

It is funny because if you walk into any major company, even Microsoft, you will find a majority of the servers running Linux.

While there are a lot of companies that make use of Linux (and probably have several Linux servers), I highly doubt that Microsoft uses many (if any) Linux servers themselves. Do you have a source to verify this?

It is also funny that they think Windows is more secure.

What makes you think Linux is any more secure than Windows? You did not provide any technical arguments.

Windows has not fixed any major security holes in years because it is impossible to do so. The software runs in the operating system instead of a sort of run time container.

1. To say that Windows “has not fixed any major security holes in years” would mean that Microsoft does not give security patches to Windows. This is, of course, a false statement.
2. Why would it be “impossible” to fix major security issues in Windows? You gave no technical arguments to backup your statement.

Open Source ensures that any security holes found can be fixed within minutes of finding them. Windows has to officially release patches for every fix and those fixes can only be made by Microsoft.

Not true! The Bash ShellShock vulnerability took days to get all the official patches out.

“Initial solutions for Shellshock do not completely resolve the vulnerability. It is advised to install existing patches and pay attention for updated patches to address CVE-2014-6271, CVE-2014-7169, CVE-2014-7186, CVE-2014-7187, CVE-2014-6277, and CVE-2014-6278. Red Hat has provided a support article with updated information.”   —   Source:  https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/alerts/TA14-268A

In other words, the current patches are not a 100% guarantee that the ShellShock vulnerability has been completely patched.

I don’t think you understand fundamentally how the Windows operating system works from the perspective of a low level developer. If you look at the Windows source you will see that it has almost not been touched since XP.

Not true!  Windows 7 alone had the following features added to the OS such as:

• touch and handwriting recognition
• support for virtual hard disks
• improved performance on multi-core processors
• ClearType Text Tuner
• support for multiple heterogeneous graphics cards from different vendors

Final point is that Ubuntu, which in the Linux community is considered Windows with a custom theme, has that title for a reason. Besides being pure Linux on the backend, the front end is basically the same as Windows.

Ubuntu Linux is not a complete replacement for Windows. There are many programs (such as:  Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Word, Visual Studio)  that either have no Linux equivalent, or the “equivalent” software program is not up to par.

It is also one of the biggest Linux communities in the world. If you have a problem, you can find a solution normally within a few minutes by asking online in any Linux community weather it is programming or general usage. I should know because I use Linux as my main OS.

You can usually find quick answers to Windows questions online.

You have the question as well, infrequent tested patching or ultra frequent fixes that can quickly be refined by a large userbase that puts it through actual non-simulated testing. The answer is obvious.

Community testing of patching (a.k.a fixes) is a good way to know if what you fixed is actually fixed! However, this does not mean that professional testers are “worse” than community testers. In other words, don’t assume community software testers are “better” than professional software testers.

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Of course I use both Windows and Linux myself and am not a Windows fanboy, but it is a pet peeve of mine to hear incorrect Linux statements made from people as well as Windows FUD spread by people who do not know what they are talking about.