It's Windows Vista all the way and nothing else but Windows Vista, according to David Perry, Global Director of Education at security company Trend Micro. Microsoft has long been beating the drum of Vista as the most secure Windows operating system available. The Redmond company even picked up courage following the first seven months of general consumer availability for the platform and applauded Vista as more secure than its direct rivals, UNIX-based Mac OS X and open source Linux. Continually emphasizing Vista security is a sound marketing strategy for a company whose products, even flagship solutions such as Windows XP and Office, are perceived as anything but secure.

"When developing Windows Vista, Microsoft set out to provide higher levels of productivity, mobility, and security, with lower costs. After more than six months of broad availability and usage, it's evident that these investments are improving the Windows computing experience. For example, in the first six months of use, Windows Vista had fewer security issues than Windows XP (Windows Vista had only 12 issues, and Windows XP had 36). According to the Windows Vista 6-Month Vulnerability Report by Jeffery R. Jones (Jeff Jones is a Security Strategy Director in Microsoft's Trustworthy Computing group), Windows Vista had fewer security issues than all the popular operating systems he studied," revealed Microsoft's Brandon LeBlanc citing the "Windows Vista Service Pack 1 Beta White Paper."

And while Microsoft's claims might seem far fetched to some, David Perry - coming to Trend Micro as Global Director of Education, after collaborating in senior roles with Symantec, McAfee, Cybermedia, Apple, Microsoft and IBM - synchronized his perspective with the Redmond company's view, and stated that Windows Vista is nothing short of an investment in security. "It's a very good thing for people to be using Windows Vista. It protects users from over 80% of threats, and is the best thing other than using a pen and paper. Internet Explorer 7 is a big plus as well, and is a massive step in the right direction," Perry stated as cited by the WindowsVistaMagazine. However, as Vista is yet short of even its first year on the market, it is too soon to judge the operating system's security performances. In fact, it remains to be seen if Vista is the safest platform, short of pen and paper or if the security of the operating system will prove paper thin once the threat environment evolves and adapts to it.