[LUAU] Windows Vista will be an improvement in security and stability...

[Tim Newsham]

> Windows Vista
>
> "In Vista, it should be much more difficult for unauthorized programs
> (like Viruses and Trojans) to affect the core of the OS and secretly
> harm your system."
> - http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1931914,00.asp

To their credit, Microsoft has been dumping more resources into security 
over the past few years than any other company I know of.  The Vista 
system introduced several new (to windows) architectural security features 
that should prove useful in containing security threats.  For example,
you can be logged in as an admin user (and lets face it, most windows
users log in as admin) and be running with less than your full
administrative rights, but still be allowed to elevate your privs when
necessary (akin to su or more accurately sudo in unix systems).

> This is taken from a Slashdot user comment
> (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=178809&cid=14821229).

.... as much as I hate taking opinions from slashdot ....

> I'd just like to add that depending on the amount of new/re-written code
> introduced into the Vista operating system, you will not see any
> improvements to the state of Windows security.
>
> The consumer market is trained to demand something brand new and flashy.
> See also the 'disappointment' to Apple's recent announcement.  The
> Windows market demands new features and therefore new code and therefore
> the accompanying new security holes/risks.

This is more or less correct.  There's a lot of new code in windows
(there always will be) and that will definitely have an impact on
security.  Add to that -- retrofitting new security systems on to
old systems is difficult.  More so when you need to maintain backwards
compatibility.  The Windows security mechanisms were already quite
complex.  In Vista they are more so.

> Linux on the other hand follows a largely iterative process to software
> development.

Hah!  yah, linux security just keeps on getting better and better! ;-)

> - Julian

Tim Newsham
http://www.lava.net/~newsham/