Vista more secure than XP, Mac OS, Linux after first 180 days: report

Chicago (IL) – A report released by security blogger Jeff Jones indicates that Microsoft’s Trustworthy Computing efforts are paying off : During the first six month after release, there were less than half the number of vulnerabilities disclosed in its predecessor and substantially less security issues than in other popular operating systems.

According to Jones, Vista was hit with 15 disclosed vulnerabilities since its launch on November 30, twelve of which have been addressed and fixed by Microsoft so far. In comparison, Windows XP, introduced in 2001, brought 39 vulnerabilities within six months after launch, three of which had not been fixed after the initial 180 day period.

mosimage

Windows Vista also looks good in comparison to other operating systems. Jones found that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 with a Vista-comparable feature set revealed 214 fixed and 59 active vulnerabilities within six months. Ubuntu 6.06 LTS compares with 74 fixed vulnerabilities and 11 unpatched issues, Novells’ Suse Enterprise Linux Desktop with 159 resolved and 27 open vulnerabilities.

Mac OS X 10.4 also made its way into the charts. According to Jones, Apple fixed 60 security issues with in six months, while 16 disclosed vulnerabilities had not been addressed by that time.