By Jacqueline Emigh
Linux Today Correspondent
Do Linux security exploits really belong in the same league as
Windows security holes? Are OpenOffice and its derivatives actually
as good as Microsoft Office? These are just a couple of the
questions debated this week by a panel of experts at the CeBIT
America show in New York City.
Comparing Linux and Windows security amounts to a “chicken and
egg” issue, according to Kathy Ivens, an author and consultant.
Given that Linux is a more secure environment, it’s tough to
know whether this is because Linux is “inherently more secure,” or
because Windows is still the more prevalent environment, Ivens
said, during a panel moderated by Paul Gillin, VP of Editorial at
TechTarget.
Also during the session, Nicholas Petreley, an analyst and
consultant at Evans Data, contended that regardless of the numbers
of exploits per platform, Windows exploits are often much more
severe. Citing materials produced by Microsoft itself, Petreley
said that many of the growing population of worms targeting Windows
let outside hackers “completely take over” a server.
In contrast, Linux exploits are generally more limited in scope,
and more likely to lend themselves to insider attacks, Petreley
suggested. One Linux exploit, for instance, permits information in
Firebird servers to be overwritten.
Generally speaking, though, Windows is still easier to
administer, according to several of the panelists. “That’s where
Linux is behind, especially in directory services,” Petreley
observed.
Jon “Maddog” Hall, president and executive director of Linux
International, pointed to third-party tools, available from vendors
such as IBM and Computer Associates (CA), for managing Linux along
with MVS and Unix, for example.
“In enterprise environments, that’s what (you’re) looking for,”
said Hall. Yet, he admitted, companies need to pay for such
tools.
“(Administrative) controls are a lot better (in Windows),” Ivens
asserted, citing printer set-up as one example.
Meanwhile, other panelists pointed to freely available Linux
tools such as Samba.
What about Linux on the desktop? OpenOffice and its derivatives
lack some of the features of Microsoft Office, according to Mark
Minasi, a writer and consultant
Petreley, though, argued that EI (Evermore Integrated) Office,
an office suite from Evermore Software, contains a similar feature
set to Microsoft Office. Unlike Microsoft Office, however, EI
Office doesn’t allow anti-aliasing of fonts, he acknowledged,
attributing this distinction to a decision by authors of the
Java-based program to reduce overhead. EI Office runs on both Linux
and Windows.
OpenOffice types of suites also tend to come with fewer fonts,
indicated Hall. One rather obvious reason is that some font
creators charge for the fonts, according to Hall.
On an overall basis, Linux applications still lack the “fit and
finish” of Windows apps, Minasi charged. To gain more traction on
the desktop, Linux needs a better GUI, he insisted.
Ivens, however, argued that GUIs aren’t necessarily the way to
go for all applications. In fact, some database and accounting apps
have actually taken performance hits from the advent of the Windows
GUI.
“There’s no reason to have a GUI to punch in numbers,” Ivens
said. She harkened back to the days when the MAS 90 accounting
system was at its zenith. Back then, MAS 90 was sold in Unix and
DOS flavors. “My clients loved it,” according to Ivens.
Ivens would also like to see fewer features in today’s office
suites. Microsoft Office, she quipped, seems to be evolving under
an illusion in Redmond that “everyone in the world is collaborating
on a single document.”
Yet most users take advantage of only a small fraction of Office
features, and migration to Microsoft Office 2003 has been
particularly slow, Ivens observed.
In terms of third-party desktop applications, Linux is now
starting to catch up with Windows, panelists generally concurred.
Quicken, for instance, is now available for Linux, said Hall.
Desktop gaming, however, is one area where Linux still lags,
according to Petreley. Yet with increasing improvements to game
consoles such as Game Cube, more consumers are migrating from
Windows-based PC games to consoles.
On the other hand, Windows doesn’t necessarily hold much of an
edge when it comes to ease of installation, according to the CeBIT
panelists. Many users don’t know how tricky Windows can be to
install, since Windows still comes pre-installed on most PCs,
members of the CeBIT audience were told.
Hall said that he’ll be more than happy if Linux ultimately
captures 30 percent of the desktop space.
“Competition is good,” he declared. Hall reasoned that, as a
result, no operating system — not even Linux — should totally
dominate any market.