Windows 7 Raises Security Bar

Microsoft (NSDQ:MSFT) no doubt has high hopes for Windows 7, launched Thursday, but the new operating system might also have significant long-term implications for the security industry, experts say.

So far, Windows 7 has left the gate with a strong start. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told analysts, partners and media attending the Windows 7 release party in New York that, so far, 45,000 retailers are currently selling the new operating system, and he said he expected 300 million Windows-based PCs to be sold this year.

Despite the promising launch, Microsoft still faces a slew of hurdles with Windows 7, not the least of which were the poor performance and dwindling adoption rates of its predecessor, Vista, released in 2007, which critics disparaged as clunky, slow and overburdened with unnecessary features.

However, the Windows 7 release has given security experts some reason to hope. While Windows 7 is still subject to vulnerabilities and exploits, its simplicity and ease of use might mean that users will be generally more secure on their PCs, allowing security vendors to further shift their security strategies from OS exploits to social engineering and Web-based attacks.

“All of the extra stuff that people didn’t like about Vista is culled out of [Windows 7],” said Sean Sullivan, security adviser for North American Labs at F-Secure. “We see it as a very good improvement.”

Picking Up Where Vista Left Off
Above all else, Microsoft’s new OS differentiates itself by touting ease of use and increased compatibility that was sorely lacking in its predecessor. Like Vista, Windows 7 touts beefed-up security features, but most agree that reasons for its eventual adoption will boil down to usability and simplicity, as opposed to security.

“It’s less resource-intensive, [it's] quick starting, things take less time, it’s light and clean — that ultimately is where the buzz of a good release is coming from,” said Eric Voskuil, CTO of Beyond Trust. “People don’t dig too deep into the security issues.”

But ease of use coupled with increased security could make Windows 7 an easier transition for many users than the migration from XP to Vista, said Voskuil, adding that he favors the Windows 7 over Snow Leopard, Apple (NSDQ:AAPL)’s most recent Mac OS X upgrade.

Sullivan said that while Vista might have raised the bar by enhancing security features and hardening the operating system against a maelstrom of new threats, its numerous, unnecessary admin-level features left it bloated and riddled with compatibility issues. Plus, Vista’s backward compatibility with XP also enabled users to run XP apps on the new operating system. As a result, developers had little incentive to write for XP and subsequently many users never made the transition, he said. “There was no need to upgrade to Vista because they never cut that cord. Why develop for Vista when you can develop for XP on Vista?”

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