Bill Gates “dares anybody” to exploit Vista

by Jason D. O'Grady

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates talked with Newsweek magazine's Steven Levy about the new version of Windows and shared his views on the "I'm a Mac" television commercials. In excerpts from the interview Gates goes on the offensive and claims that the security in Vista is better that the security in the Mac:

Levy: You also talk about improved security in Vista.
Gates: Yes, although security is a [complicated concept]. You’re [referring to] the fact that there have been some security updates already for Windows Vista. This is exactly the way it should work. When somebody comes to us [after discovering a vulnerability] we’ve got [a fix] before there is any exploit. So it’s totally according to plan, and that’s why we have the whole Windows Update thing. We made it way harder for guys to do exploits. The number [of violations] will be way less because we’ve done some dramatic things [to improve security] in the code base. Apple hasn’t done any of those things.

Gates even goes so far as to issue a challege to hackers to exploit Vista while calling the Mac's security sub-standard (because of the MOAB hacks):

Nowadays, security guys break the Mac every single day. Every single day, they come out with a total exploit, your machine can be taken over totally. I dare anybody to do that once a month on the Windows machine.

Gates is uncharacteristically harsh to Apple in the piece calling the company liars and thieves. It's an interesting read.