Jul
15
Filed Under:
TECHNOLOGIES
Windows Update posts 100% uptime, beats Apple, Ubuntu
15 July 2008
Royal Pingdom has posted the results of a short study that looked at the availability of the software update services for three popular operating systems: Windows, Mac OS X, and Ubuntu.
The site looked at "access point" availability for Windows Update (update.microsoft.com), Apple Software Update (swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/index-1.sucatalog), and the main Ubuntu repositories (archive.ubuntu.com) throughout the second quarter of 2008. Pingdom's uptime monitoring service performed a test once every five minutes and if downtime was found, it was confirmed from two different locations and was counted for however long it lasted. The results were then tabulated in a graph.
Microsoft won with 100 percent availability (0 minutes of downtime), Apple came in second with 99.9 percent availability (2 hours and 34 minutes of downtime), and Ubuntu came in last with 98.64 percent availability (1 day, 5 hours and 45 minutes of downtime). Microsoft doesn't have much to be proud of, as it's the biggest of the three, and it's no surprise it took first place. Apple's 99.9 percent is also quite respectable. Finally, it is important to underline that Ubuntu's repositories have mirrors around the world, and the Ubuntu update manager automatically connects to the nearest one if the main repository is not available.
Overall though, for a three-month study, all three operating systems did very well. The ability for an operating system to keep itself up-to-date by automatically connecting and downloading updates (or having the user manually do so) is critical from a security point of view. Still, this is just one piece of the security puzzle and should therefore be taken as such.
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Microsoft won with 100 percent availability (0 minutes of downtime), Apple came in second with 99.9 percent availability (2 hours and 34 minutes of downtime), and Ubuntu came in last with 98.64 percent availability (1 day, 5 hours and 45 minutes of downtime). Microsoft doesn't have much to be proud of, as it's the biggest of the three, and it's no surprise it took first place. Apple's 99.9 percent is also quite respectable. Finally, it is important to underline that Ubuntu's repositories have mirrors around the world, and the Ubuntu update manager automatically connects to the nearest one if the main repository is not available.
Overall though, for a three-month study, all three operating systems did very well. The ability for an operating system to keep itself up-to-date by automatically connecting and downloading updates (or having the user manually do so) is critical from a security point of view. Still, this is just one piece of the security puzzle and should therefore be taken as such.
RELATED INFO:
BitDefender Protects Against Zero-Day Microsoft Word Bug
Firefox 3 Vulnerabilities Disclosed
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