DigitalBurn.com

Everyone enjoys a good Microsoft insulting from time to time, however it appears that the insult may hold some credibility. Simon Clausen, CEO of Anti-malware and threat-detection software manufacturer PC Tools states that “recent research conducted with statistics from over 1.4 million computers within the ThreatFire community has shown that Windows Vista is more susceptible to malware than the eight year old Windows 2000 operating system, and only 37 percent more secure than Windows XP.”

Data reports from the company’s ThreatFire security program state that Vista allowed an average of 639 threats per 1,000 computers to install and run on the device. Windows 2000 was successfully breached by 586 threats, Windows Server 2003 by 478 threats, and Windows XP by a mind boggling 1,021 threats per 1,000 computers. In other words, Windows XP are infected, on average, by 1.02 threats. There was no specific information given as to whether the computers were protected, if they were running patches, or how many “threats” were tested.

This data is interesting on two fronts. It shows Vista’s true weaknesses, something which Microsoft has continuously worked to downplay. Additionally, for those trying to argue the “keep Windows XP” case, the operating system’s poor scores could put a damper on sticking with XP because of its “reliability.”

[via Ars Technica]

Popularity: 2% [?]