Of Vista, RSA and Polite Guffaws

I’m still
recovering from my trip to RSA in London on Tuesday. Not particularly as the day
was long and busy—shows always are. I just can’t
believe the Microsoft keynote I heard presented by Ben Fathi, Corporate Vice President
of Development for Windows.

It appears that a
big reason we should be migrating to Vista is that there is less malware out there
to infect Vista machines—apparently Vista has 60% less malware infections
than XP, according to Microsoft’s own statistics.

The curious thing
is that I am certain I heard a polite guffaw go around the audience of security
professionals at this announcement. I fully expected hoots of laughter but I
guess the preponderance of stiff upper lipped Brits at the event meant we were
being too polite.

The point is, of
course, that there are less malware infections on Vista. Let’s face it, if you
wanted to produce malware you target the popular operating systems. The amazing
thing is that Vista has already attracted so MANY malware infections so early
in its life.

In fact I believe the
debate on the relative success of Vista to be still ongoing.

I for one opted
for XP SP2 on my latest laptop acquisition despite the sticker pronouncing it
as “Vista Compatible”. Better the devil you know and I know the XP SP2 devil. I
am scared stiff of Vista. Braver soles would probably have gone the Mac OS route,
and maybe I will next time.

Other than that
it was an uninspiring keynote that talked about the Trustworthy Computing
Initiative created by Microsoft 6 years ago in response to complaints about
their appalling product quality and security holes the size of the Queen Mary. Some
would suggest that many of the holes are still there, although maybe not quite
so big.

I know Microsoft
is far from perfect but having worked there many many years ago I still squirm
with embarrassment when they come across so badly. Come on chaps, get your act
together or I *will* get a Mac next time.