At least that's what Microsoft COO Kevin Turner said last week during a speech at a CIO summit.

"Vista today, post-Service Pack 2, which is now in the marketplace, is the safest, most reliable OS we've ever built. It's also the most secure OS on the planet, including Linux and open source and Apple Leopard. It's the safest and most secure OS on the planet today."

Really? Then why is Microsoft so hard at work at launching Windows 7 ASAP? While Vista may not be quite the horror it was made out to be when it launched, the continuous stream of security patches and updates don't seem to support Mr. Turner's statement.

Perhaps more importantly, it's almost a challenge. If one were in the businees of making malware, you might take that statement to heart and try and prove Turner wrong. Making these grand statements about operating systems, web browsers, etc. never really seem to turn out to well. The pace of change makes it impossible for these kinds of statements to hold true for very long, if they ever were true to begin with.

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By Jared Seltzer, Founding Partner of Rad Campaign