Let's talk about security. With any OS, you tie down security for the system before putting it on the net. Everyone can agree that most compromised systems are due to some lapse in security. Unneeded services or daemons, not locking down the system, default passwords, etc. I have set Windows servers on the internet that have not been broken into in five different independent assessments by external auditors. It took me less time to lock down and monitor those system than it took the Unix admins to do theirs. It can be done. With best practices in place, I have been able to sleep at night through Code Red, Nimda and other events.

Many "Unix/Linux apologists" do what comes natural and lock down their systems when they are built, and maintain patches religiously. They overlook their own practice and berate the MS OS for the need to do the same thing. That is not necessarily solid engineering professionalism in my book.

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