The security (in all aspects) is going to be what makes or breaks this venture of thiers. An OS can suck in any one department except security.
To my humble kowlegde, Microsoft has actually been pretty decent about the security in their OS's as of late - I have not heard of any horrendous security loopholes that can be exploited in the last year or so. And Windows only gets targeted so much by hackers because it's so prevelant (majority market share comes with its disadvantages). If it were Mac, we'd see all kinds of weird crap. (In the last year or so we've finally seen a Macintosh virus!) And we all know that while Linux is generally a lot more secure, a trully determined hacker, with the right skill set (not some script kiddie), can do incredible things to your Linux Box, no matter what Distro you're using.
So, security is an issue, and it always will be as long as there are hackers determined to make peoples' lives hell.
As for Microsoft shitting their pants... Meh. Competition is a healthy thing, something that Bill Gates seems to have forgotten. Hopefully the Microsoft-After-BG will be a much tamer beast - it's already showing massive improvements with Windows 7. (I'm hoping they add something like native virtual disc support for ISO files - so long, Deamon Tools!)
To my humble kowlegde, Microsoft has actually been pretty decent about the security in their OS's as of late - I have not heard of any horrendous security loopholes that can be exploited in the last year or so. And Windows only gets targeted so much by hackers because it's so prevelant (majority market share comes with its disadvantages). If it were Mac, we'd see all kinds of weird crap. (In the last year or so we've finally seen a Macintosh virus!) And we all know that while Linux is generally a lot more secure, a trully determined hacker, with the right skill set (not some script kiddie), can do incredible things to your Linux Box, no matter what Distro you're using.
So, security is an issue, and it always will be as long as there are hackers determined to make peoples' lives hell.
As for Microsoft shitting their pants... Meh. Competition is a healthy thing, something that Bill Gates seems to have forgotten. Hopefully the Microsoft-After-BG will be a much tamer beast - it's already showing massive improvements with Windows 7. (I'm hoping they add something like native virtual disc support for ISO files - so long, Deamon Tools!)