Which Is Buggier - Windows or Linux?

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Which operating system -- Windows or Linux -- deserves the dubious title, "Most Prone to Bugs and Security Problems"?

The answer, judging by a quick survey of industry headlines, seems obvious: It must be Windows. Every week brings a new announcement of yet another Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) security fix. To best describe the number of security bulletins the software giant puts out, the word that jumps to mind is "blizzard."

So it comes as quite a surprise that Linux is far more prone to problems than Windows -- at least, judging by one side-by-side comparison (described later in this report). In any case, answering the question of which OS wins the dubious "Bug" award requires plenty of twists and turns.

It Might Be Microsoft
"There's a perception that the development process that Microsoft uses has not been a sound one in terms of potential back-door types of security breaches," Gartner analyst George Weiss told NewsFactor. The company's "ability to address and fix the problems in a very timely manner" also has been questioned, he said.

News source: NewsFactor

It Might Be Linux
To perform an apples-to-apples comparison, it is necessary to take a look at examples of the two OSes that are essentially equivalent. Red Hat 7.2 and Window XP Professional were released at about the same time and perform similar functions. Red Hat has the resources to hire top programmers and create quality product and so can be considered on par with a well-financed company like Microsoft.

From November 2001 until now, the company has issued 158 security bulletins or bug fixes (not counting the enhancements listed on that page).

Compare the results: Professional XP with 27 fixes; Red Hat Linux 7.2 with 158. Based on that count, Linux is substantially more problem-prone than Windows.

(3 replies) #1 Knight' on 24 May 2003 - 09:39

Which is Buggier? Windows of course...

#1.1 Neobond on 24 May 2003 - 09:40

Hardly surprising considering its market share

#1.2 daveoc64 on 24 May 2003 - 10:24

[neoquote=#1.0 by Knight']Which is Buggier? Windows of course... If it was around the other way and Linux dominated the market then people would find more bugs for it because there is a higher chance of finding something if more people are looking for it.[/neoquote] If it was around the other way and Linux dominated the market then people would find more bugs for it because there is a higher chance of finding something if more people are looking for it.

#1.3 JaggedFlame on 24 May 2003 - 16:30

Linux still has as many bugs as Windows. Don't confuse bugs for stability. Linux is more stable for certain applications. But it still has a lot of bugs.

#2 blackice912 on 24 May 2003 - 09:45

Run for it, here come the defenders from both sides of the table.

#3 CoolShady2002 on 24 May 2003 - 10:26

Windows XP Professional with 27 fixes, more like 500 when we reach Service Pack 2 I think.

#4 Tom Servo on 24 May 2003 - 10:27

Here goes the Fanboy Bash...

#5 Jason on 24 May 2003 - 11:03

Obviously Linux is as Windows is used by so many its bugs get found and fixed. Linux is only used by a minority, if it was in use as much as Windows you would discover many bugs.

#6 Ely on 24 May 2003 - 12:45

Linux of course, Its buggy as hell, come on you can hardly install applications on it without receiving a zillion error messages and missing dependant modules ect. Otherwise you need to be a guru to install all those dependent files and even after that applications are for the most part buggy and crappy and wont do what they are supposed to unless you trick them, Linux defenately NOT for the home use and only for the computer gurus and servers.

#7 Darkness2k on 24 May 2003 - 14:59

As far as I heard, Red Hat Linux was probably the worst variety of linux? Maybe they should do a comparison with the best/most-used versions of Linux. Doesn't bother me anyway to be honest lol... I'll use whatevers available

(1 reply) #8 JaggedFlame on 24 May 2003 - 16:32

To anyone who wants to start a flamewar, don't bother. [QUOTE]Christiansen went so far as to say the question of which OS is more bug-prone is irrelevant. "It's difficult to make that judgment unless you're making it in the context of a specific environment, a specific set of applications and a specific user base," he said. However, "the lack of logic has never stopped people from making the comparison."[/QUOTE]

#8.1 mr_da3m0n on 24 May 2003 - 17:42

THANK YOU! Finally someone who gets it. This has already been discussed alot of times before. I get called a linux Zealot and Windows people get called Windrones... Oh well. It's not like you can actually compare the two. And besides you know, more bugfixes just means more known and fixed bugs/vulnerability not more bugs. Also, we have to take in consideration the fact that linux is far more versatile than windows, as in, you have more choice over what you install or don't. It takes me 15 minutes to select my packages manually when I Install RedHat. That said, a bug might be for... oh, I don't know, some obscure tape backup program that nobody uses but is included in redhat anyways. You see, Linux (linux being just a kernel, but I mean in in the whole GNU/Linux sense now) also comes with more applications than windows. It's far more divided into sub blocks which you can customize to the deepest level of detail. You can strip things off linux to make it run from a floppy. As well as you can get a 6gb large Linux Installation.

#9 cesardrgn on 24 May 2003 - 17:35

Linux is good, Windows is the bug master...

#10 www_guy on 24 May 2003 - 18:25

Here is the security bug fixes up to now. You be the judge of who is buggier. This is from each software companies security site. OpenBSD 7 Trustix 16 Microsoft 17 EnGarde 19 SuSE 26 Sun 37 RedHat 62 Mandrake 64 Debian 88 Bulletins this week Sun 1 EnGarde 2 RedHat 2 Mandrake 3 Debian 4

#11 Goalie_CA on 24 May 2003 - 18:36

Debian is a rock solid distribution. Basically everything is guaranteed to always work. Gentoo is new, but pretty damn good as well. Nothing beats Open-BSD though. Only 1 worm has ever affected it, and that was an apache problem. They may release many "security fixes" but its just because they are extremely paranoid.

(1 reply) #12 SanGreal on 24 May 2003 - 21:08

That record only counts the "Default Installation," which happens to be becoming increasingly small.

#12.1 BlaisingMark on 27 May 2003 - 06:44

Yes, but OpenBSD report a number of cases where they have anticipated errors and fixed them, only to hear later that the problem they had fixed had happned to other OSes.

#13 IntelliMoo on 24 May 2003 - 23:45

"Which Is Buggier - Windows or Linux?" -- The user, most often.

#14 malebolgia on 24 May 2003 - 23:56

I though Lindows was the worst version of Linux.

#15 Rambo2000 on 25 May 2003 - 02:44

It's hard to tell, Linux has it's source open so people can see it which means a lot more bugs will be fixed, with windows, we don't see the source so it's up to Microsoft, I'm willing to bet there is a lot more bugs in windows but Microsoft ignores many of them as they arnt too inportant, also because Microsoft are selling it where by Linux is free, which means that Microsoft have to show a good image where Linux doesn't, what sort of inpression is it going to give if Microsoft is fixing one bug after bug like everyday?, not a good one and thats where Microsoft are stuck, with Linux, they don't care about self image, they want to make a better product and thats why we see a lot more bugs being fixed in Linux then windows.

#16 werejag on 25 May 2003 - 03:55

user error is not a os bug! so your receiving a zillion error messages and missing dependant modules ect is your problem not the os.

try again

#17 theh0g on 27 May 2003 - 07:24

Did this dude count fixes in service packs, both of them? And did he count all the bugs Microsoft simply ignores and refuses to fix? Linux has many bugs, no one can be sure if more or less than Windows (but I don't care as long as my Linux server and desktop Win2003 work like they should), but this is clearly a BS article, most probably sponsored by Microsoft (again).

Last edited by 11188 on 27 May 2003 - 10:49

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