Microsoft server security: silicon.com readers react

Analyst house Gartner this week urged users to turn their backs on Microsoft and find alternatives to the company's Internet Information Server (IIS) - saying the security risks are too high.

This story brought in an almost unprecedented level of reader responses - some of you joining in the attack on Microsoft, others springing to the Seattle giant's defence. Below are some of the best of the responses we received. Read on, see if you agree or disagree and join in the debate by registering a reader comment.

The not so magnificent seven
By Frank Thynne
Microsoft makes its own products weak by:

1 - delivering them to end-users with all the barriers down
2 - hiding vital information (such as file extensions) from users
3 - promoting features above security and reliability
4 - making it hard to diagnose errors
5 - failing to make fixes available to ordinary users (long and error-prone downloads are not good enough)
6 - failing to inform the general public about necessary precautions
7 - thinking these things don't matter

Blame Microsoft for all viruses
By James Pyrich
Who is ultimately at fault for the rapid spread of viruses in the past number of years? Methinks it is ultimately Microsoft, for they programmed the software upon which the viruses spread!

Blame Microsoft? Blame incompetent users...
By Stephen Boylett
IIS isn't the problem, it's the people that install them. None of my servers were at risk from Code red (or Nimda as far as I can tell), because I did the job properly and removed the junk we don't use, by securing the OS and the file systems.

Exactly. How difficult is it to patch a server?
By Tim Wall
Up to date patches are the key. During the recent attack of Nimda our server slowed but withstood the attack. There was nothing special to stop this but up to date patches.

If all else fails, be obscure...
By Patrick Martin
Obscurity can be a useful protection. I was talking to someone the other day who used a web server on OS/2 to run his company's web server. His reasoning was that so few people were left with knowledge of it, that it greatly reduced the risk of a disastrous hack.

Obscurity sounds good...
Using something obscure for a web server sounds like a really good idea. How about digging out that old ZX80 (with RAM pack of course) and dusting it off?