Bill Gates: Vista is so secure it could run life support systems

[SSSnail]

Click me!

Journalist: Let?s imagine a hospital where life support systems are running Vista. Would you trust it with your life?

Bill Gates: Security has been the top priority for Microsoft for quite some time and that?s why I put out a key call for us to focus on that in a very big way over three years ago, and that?s why we?ve made investments like having people from Gecad ( Romanian company ) join on the security action from Microsoft. The answer to your question is that, absolutely, Vista is the most secure operating system we?ve ever done, and if it?s administred properly, absolutely, it can be used to run a hospital or any kind of mission crytical thing. But it?s not as simple as saying ?If you use Vista, that happens automatically?. The issues about patient records and who should be able to see them, the issue about setting up a network, so that authorized people can connect up to that hospital network, the issue about having backup power, so that the computer systems can run even if the generators go down. There are a lot of issues to properly set up that system, so that you have the redundancy and the security walls to make sure it fullfils that very crytical function. So we are working with partners to raise their skills to make sure that when get involved in an installation like that they can make it secure. So I feel better about Vista than any other operating system, but there?s a lot of things that need to be done well, and we?re certaintly committed to step up and make sure these security issues are ieasier and better understood.

 

[Kaido]

That's a little scary...

 

[dguy6789]

Doesn't surprise me. A properly configured XP installation with the proper software is also reliable enough to be used on something that important.

 

[BurnItDwn]

A good admin can make 2K, XP, and Server 2003 secure, why wouldn't they be able to make Vista secure?
That said, you can probably achieve the same level of security with OpenBSD with MUCH less time and effort...

 

[jimbob200521]

:laugh: It's stable, but I wouldn't trust it with my life! I work on computers for a living, I know better!!

 

[chambersc]

Originally posted by: Kaido
That's a little scary...

I don't see it as scary in the slightest. If he, in his official capacity at Microsoft, is willing to put his money where his mouth is (which would appear that he's doing exactly that) than I'd like to see vista implemented and what happens with it.

If the CEO is that confident then I am supremely confident.

 

[yllus]

Don't U.S. warships (including aircraft carriers) run Windows 2000?

 

[ElFenix]

i thought the main problem with windows and life support systems was that windows doesn't support the proper type of interrupt (for lack of a better term) that allows it to drop everything it is doing and respond.

 

[mugs]

Um.... with a life support system I'd worry more about stability than security.

Edit: I'm not criticizing MS or Windows.... XP is very stable. But it still crashes occasionally.

 

[talyn00]

Originally posted by: chambersc

Originally posted by: Kaido
That's a little scary...

I don't see it as scary in the slightest. If he, in his official capacity at Microsoft, is willing to put his money where his mouth is (which would appear that he's doing exactly that) than I'd like to see vista implemented and what happens with it.

If the CEO is that confident then I am supremely confident.

he's not the CEO

 

[InlineFive]

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
A good admin can make 2K, XP, and Server 2003 secure, why wouldn't they be able to make Vista secure?
That said, you can probably achieve the same level of security with OpenBSD with MUCH less time and effort...

Plus you can strip OpenBSD down to almost nothing. And the less stuff there is running, the less there is to fail.

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: chambersc

Originally posted by: Kaido
That's a little scary...

I don't see it as scary in the slightest. If he, in his official capacity at Microsoft, is willing to put his money where his mouth is (which would appear that he's doing exactly that) than I'd like to see vista implemented and what happens with it.

If the CEO is that confident then I am supremely confident.

For him to be putting his money where his mouth is, he'd need to go on life support and be kept alive by a computer running vista.

He left himself enough outs where if someone else dies, he can just say the environment wasn't configured properly.

 

[Heisenberg]

Hahahahahahahaha

No.

 

[Mark R]

Originally posted by: yowolabi
For him to be putting his money where his mouth is, he'd need to go on life support and be kept alive by a computer running vista.

He left himself enough outs where if someone else dies, he can just say the environment wasn't configured properly.

Well, at the intensive care unit at my local hospital, much of the life support equipment (e.g. ventilators, etc.) runs Windows XP.

No, it really does!

 

[SSSnail]

Originally posted by: Mark R

Originally posted by: yowolabi
For him to be putting his money where his mouth is, he'd need to go on life support and be kept alive by a computer running vista.

He left himself enough outs where if someone else dies, he can just say the environment wasn't configured properly.

Well, at the intensive care unit at my local hospital, much of the life support equipment (e.g. ventilators, etc.) runs Windows XP.

No, it really does!

/Stare at Mark intently

So, at which hospital do you work?

 

[BurnItDwn]

Originally posted by: InlineFive

Originally posted by: BurnItDwn
A good admin can make 2K, XP, and Server 2003 secure, why wouldn't they be able to make Vista secure?
That said, you can probably achieve the same level of security with OpenBSD with MUCH less time and effort...

Plus you can strip OpenBSD down to almost nothing. And the less stuff there is running, the less there is to fail.

Indeed. I mostly just wanted to acknowledge the fact that MS Operating Systems CAN be very secure provided the time is taken to set them up that way.

 

[zoiks]

Text

 

[destrekor]

the crash cart will now come complete with a small uber-geek ready to troubleshoot the system

 

[Atheus]

I once saw an ATM machine with the 'windows has performed an illegal operation' error. I pushed all the buttons and kicked it a bit but no dice. Oh well. At least is doesn't fail open.

 

[TXHokie]

Lifesupport.exe has encountered a fatal error.

Oh snap!

 

[everman]

If it's properly administered, many operating systems are very reliable. Many OSes including variations on Linux and Unix can be terribly unreliable and not secure if run by your average user. It depends on the person behind the keyboard.

 

[Fritzo]

Yep...because security is a top concern on life support systems. Those pesky hackers are always trying to cut off some old guy's feeding tube.

 

[Shortcut]

Originally posted by: destrekor
the crash cart will now come complete with a small uber-geek ready to troubleshoot the system

LOL - they could hire Nick Burns (the company computer guy)

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

EDIT: new response down 2 posts.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: yllus
Don't U.S. warships (including aircraft carriers) run Windows 2000?

Not for safety critical applications. Only for systems that can fail on occasion and it's no big deal.

I work here:
www.gdeb.com