EDS Reports: Linux is insecure, unscalable


Recommended Posts

Source: ZDnet

  Quote
Large enterprises should not use Linux because it is not secure enough, has scalability problems and could fork into many different flavours, according to the Agility Alliance, which includes IT heavyweights EDS, Fuji Xerox, Cisco, Microsoft, Sun, Dell and EMC.

I have experience with EDS from where I work, so their (and Microsoft's) opinion on Linux could easily be predicted. ;)

As for my take on this, I believe that Linux is every bit as secure as the alternatives (Windows is usually used as the 'market leader' for comparisons). It has an extremely good multi-user security model, and there is nothing (besides mis-administration) that will cause problems.

The "scalability" item is a bit of a surprise, as Linux scales extremely well. Looking at the Top 500 Supercomputers list will show how well it scales.

And the risk of "fork" certainly seems to be a Microsoft-supported notion that is a non-issue so far. Closed-source Unix certainly has issues with this, as intellectual property of the source code was not shared.

Your opinions? :)

well, my opinion is Linux is great but not for a security environment, because is open source is open to the world and the difference is bigger. When we talk about a OS of propietary owner and license, we talk about policy, Linux don't have, so u don't have anything protected, any one can hack u system, that's open source software :p

I am not that surprised either: EDS primary business is selling large/global software & hardware solutions with the associated (and expensive) maintenance contract.

It makes sense for EDS to scratch the back of SUN to recommended Solaris or Secure Solaris-based solutions.

It is a fan-service declaration for large corp CEOs.

I do love the quote about Solaris being the one surviving UNIX: McNeally won the battle of 0.001 % of the computer market. Great !!!!!

  Lasker said:
well, my opinion is Linux is great but not for a security environment, because is open source is open to the world  and the difference is bigger. When we talk about a OS of propietary owner and license, we talk about policy, Linux don't have, so u don't have anything protected, any one can hack u system, that's open source software  :p

585624505[/snapback]

Umm, people sure don't have problems finding ways into closed source systems without the source code. Plus having the source doesn't mean that it's any easier to hack, you actually have to look at the source and understand it to be able to do that. Plus if a hacker can find it, that means someone else can too and they can submit a bug about it.

  Lasker said:
well, my opinion is Linux is great but not for a security environment, because is open source is open to the world  and the difference is bigger. When we talk about a OS of propietary owner and license, we talk about policy, Linux don't have, so u don't have anything protected, any one can hack u system, that's open source software  :p

585624505[/snapback]

Your statement is not correct. Closed source doesn't translate to "we've got a security policy, and Open Source doesn't". Windows is just as easy to hack, and wouldn't you know, it's closed source. :wacko:

You should spend some time reading up on securing a Linux operating system before sweeping it under the rug of insecurity.

  ichi said:
Ok, linux isn't scalable... right  :D

That's why it doesn't run on all kind of stuff from cell phones to supercomputers... oh wait, it does!!  :whistle:

585625591[/snapback]

I was even dual booting my iPod with it a few days ago! I woudln't use it exclusively though, still buggy.

  EduardValencia said:
intresting information markjensen

thanks  ;)

585626459[/snapback]

Interesting information? :blink:

Information would be a series of facts. This is pure opinion, with no facts cited to back up their position. The fact that Microsoft is a member of this 'alliance' should clearly indicate that their opinion on Linux.

As for the earlier comment about what does Linux on an iPod show: Linux scales across a wide spectrum of processors and platforms, and up and down in scale from a simple media player up to what is used to drive over 50% of the world's 500 fastest supercompter clusters.

Uh huh. Yet another article to try and save Sun who have been walking around with a knife in the back for these last years.

Just reading the very first line:

  Quote
Large enterprises should not use Linux because it is not secure enough

Netcraft: Agility Alliance

Uh huh. Linux

Netcraft: EDS

Half of their servers are Solaris.

Solaris, O/S made by SUN.

SUN, company providing servers for all sorts of demand including x86-64bit linux servers

Yeah the world makes more sense now. SUN is lately trying to do everything they can to sell and be "in da zone"

Found this, and thought it would be an interesting update, from EDS, themselves on Sept. 21st, 2004:

http://www.eds.com/services/casestudies/eds_instant.aspx

and an EDS Case Study from Jan 4th, 2005 (just over two months ago)

http://www.eds.com/services/casestudies/sabre.aspx

Seems to be that very recently, they thought Linux was plenty secure and capable enough for the enterprise environmnet. And a huge cost-saver, to boot!

The "Agility Alliance" seems to have formed in October 2004, so I guess it only takes a few months of peer pressure to change a corporation's stance. ;)

EDIT: Link to article: http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/...91;fp;16;fpid;0

  at0mican said:
That's a poor example to use if you are trying to sell Linux as an Enterprise Server.  :unsure:

585626447[/snapback]

As Mark pointed out, it was a statement on scalability. Also, a statement about how quickly and relatively easily it can be ported around to different architectures as needed.

I'd say that this article has nothing to do with the fact that:

1. MS will be releasing Windows for SuperComputers soon.

2. MS is part of EDS and most other members recommend XP and install it as default.

BTW, anyone who thinks that Linux is insecure - Red Hat Enterprise has achieved the CAPP/EAL3+ security standard and is committed to working with EAL4+

Leebobs

(A recent (Like yesterday) convertee from Windows to Linux)

  mad_onion said:
i have to admit that does sound a bit silly. how could linux be unsecure? it is very secure less people use it so you are free from almost all viruses.

585638212[/snapback]

I see this argument over and over and over and over and over and people forget that this argument ignores many things about Linux and the Linux community. Of course I'm not surprised from someone who has "Get Internet Explorer" in his sig. :wacko:

The argument ignores the fact that many people contribute to OSS Projects. Just look at the number of people involved in the kernel updates by looking at the changelogs. If "Linux" was more popular, then maybe more people would be contributing to the kernel and many other projects like kde and the updates would be even faster thus crushing bugs and security issues much faster than today. Something that is impossible on proprietary software because you have to go at the pace that the company is going.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • I've written a Substack article where I talk about the expected release date for Debian 13 (August 9th) and cover some of the upcoming changes that will either affect me personally, or that I thought noteworthy.  You can read the whole thing here: https://open.substack.com/pub/gerowen/p/debian-gnulinux-13-trixie-is-just?r=54rcsd&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true It's rather long and has several images that would probably exceed the attachment limit, but I'll copy and paste the first little bit of it here:  
    • Too many middle managers at these big companies are the problem imo. The guys under them do all the work but these VPs or PMs fight with each other in order to move up the ladder which just messes things up.
    • Microsoft lifts another long-standing Windows 11 24H2 block, allowing more people to upgrade by Taras Buria In October 2024, Microsoft released Windows 11 version 24H2 with quite a long list of known bugs and upgrade blocks. Ever since, Microsoft has been slowly patching those bugs and lifting blocks one by one. Now, the company is removing another upgrade block, letting more Windows 10 and Windows 11 users upgrade to the latest version ahead of the upcoming end of Windows 10 support. The block in question affects PCs with Easy Anti-Cheat, an anti-cheat solution embedded in many popular games, such as PUBG or Fortnite. According to the official documentation, the compatibility issue affects systems with Intel's Alder Lake+ processors and the vPro platform with Easy Anti-Cheat drivers released before April 2024. Affected systems crash to the blue screen of death (now black screen of death) with the "MEMORY_MANAGEMENT" error. However, blue screens of death do not occur if games do not use outdated drivers that are present on the device. The upgrade block was placed on September 30, 2024, and now, nearly ten months later, Microsoft has lifted it. As of July 24, 2025, affected systems can finally install Windows 11 version 24H2 via Windows Update. Note that Windows Update might still prompt you to update games that use an incompatible Easy Anti-Cheat version. Compatibility issues with Easy Anti-Cheat are only present in Windows 11 version 24H2, so if you are running older Windows 11 versions or Windows 10, there should not be any crashes, even with outdated drivers. Windows 11 version 25H2 is coming in a couple of months, but its predecessor still has several upgrade blocks in place. There are compatibility issues with Intel Smart Sound Technology drivers, hanging apps that use the camera, audio output losses on PCs with Dirac Audio, and sprotect.sys driver issues.
    • XRECODE3 1.169 by Razvan Serea xrecode3 is a converter and audio-grabber which allows you to convert from mp3, mp2, wma, aiff, amr, ogg, flac, ape, cue, ac3, wv, mpc, mid, cue ,tta, tak, wav, wav(rf64), dts, m4a, m4b, mp4, ra, rm, aac, avi, mpg, vob, mkv, mka, flv, swf, mov, ofr, wmv, divx, m4v, spx, 3gp, 3g2, m2v, m4v, ts, m2ts, adts, shn, tak, xm, mod, s3m, it, mtm, umx, mlp to m4a, alac, ape, flac, mp3, mp4 (using NeroAAC), ogg, raw, wav, wav(rf64), wma, WavPack, mpc, mp2, Speex, ofr, ac3, aiff, tak, snd and Shorten formats. Command Line parameters are supported. XRECODE3 features: Works on XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, 10 32/64 bit versions and under Wine. Parallel conversion by utilizing power of multi-core CPUs. Support of embedded CUE sheets (for FLAC, WavPack, APE and TAK files). Support of mp4, mka chapters (can split mp4, mka by chapters to any supported format). Built-in Metadata editor with Cover Art support. Has support for LossyWav. Supports portable mode. Merge input files to one large audio file and create CUE sheet. Converting to many formats at once using "Multiple" output mode. Grabbing of multi-channel Audio CDs to the desired format at once. Informative and resizable UI suited even for netbooks. Extracting audio from flv, avi, mov etc. video files (multiple audio streams are supported). Can export/import Metadata to/from external file. Support for 24/32bit audio files. Multilanguage support. Currently program is available in Dutch, English, French, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, Spanish, Spanish Traditional, Swedish, Brazilian Portuguese, German, Finnish, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish and Chinese (simplified) languages. What's new in XRECODE3: Native 64bit support. Added support for DSD/DST and DFF formats (including handling of SACD ISOs). Added option to extract audio without transcoding. Added option to encode several files to one multi-channel file. Added option to split file into individual track-per-channel for all available output formats. Added option to merge files per folder. Output and Metadata settings are now output format specific. Enhanced Metadata settings. Added support for multiple Cover pictures in Metadata editor. Added 32bit int/float output for formats which support them (e.g. WAV). Added dithering option in Output Settings. Added option to use EBUR128 in Normalize. Added option to Album Mode Normalize. Added option to configure Matrices under Output Settings. Added more output file pattern elements. Tabbed UI. CUE files are now displayed more nicely. Enhanced Shell Extension. XRECODE3 1.169 changelog: FIX: resolved an issue where playlist file names was created with 2 dots before the file extension. FIX: fixed issue with encoding some files to ac3 format. Download: XRECODE3 v1.169 (64-bit) | Portable | ~30.0 MB (Shareware) Download: XRECODE3 v1.169 (32-bit) | Portable Link: XRECODE3 Homepage | XRECODE3 Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • So... Tesla fails, SpaceX fails, not Starlink... I guess karma is a bitch...
  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Itbob513626 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Itbob513626 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Rookie
      EdwardFranciscoVilla went up a rank
      Rookie
    • Week One Done
      MoJo624 earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Collaborator
      aeganwn earned a badge
      Collaborator
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      619
    2. 2
      ATLien_0
      242
    3. 3
      Xenon
      160
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      123
    5. 5
      +FloatingFatMan
      123
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!