The evidence shows that Microsoft’s marketing department has not done particularly well with Windows Vista. Almost every story you see about Vista is a negative one. Even I, as a Linux user, think that Vista is better than its reputation. But Microsoft’s marketing is not always a failure, it appears.

Recently, the story broke that Citibank blocks Linux users out of its website, even though the website works just fine in Linux. If you want my opinion on this sort of thing, you can look at this post. To summarize, I don’t think that these sorts of cases where Linux is “blocked” are malicious in any way. Instead, they are simply an attempt to save money by not doing quality assurance on another platform or just plain laziness. What bothers me about this particular case is not the act of blocking Linux users, but the way the customer support responded.

While responses varied, one manager said that the website only supported “secure operating systems,” meaning Windows. Another support person said that only Windows offered “real security.” I don’t even need to know what to say except that Microsoft’s marketing team should be having a party. If they have people convinced that Windows offers superior security to Mac or Linux, that is one of the best marketing jobs I have ever seen.

Let me put it this way: the number one reason I do not run Windows is that I don’t want to think about security all the time. Perhaps I am just paranoid, but I don’t think any modern operating system offers “real security,” let alone Windows. I challenge anyone to tell me why Windows has “real security.” I recognize that it is perfectly possible and do-able to keep Windows virus-free and that any day a virus could appear for Mac or Linux, but Windows does not offer “real security.”

Sorry if this was a “duh” post, but I had to do it.