Windows Vista current flaws

["Jon Lawhead" <samurai () berkeley edu>]

Greetings all,

I work in Network Security for UC Berkeley's residence halls.  We have a list of several "minimum 
security standards" that we require all connected computers to meet before being allowed access to 
the network (stuff like having a firewall program, antivirus, etc).  One of the standards involves 
having the latest patched version of a secure operating system.  I have a user on the network who 
wishes to run a (legitimately acquired, or so he says) version of Windows Vista beta version. 
Before I decide on this, I wanted opinions on whether or not this is a good idea.  My first 
instinct is to disallow any beta operating systems simply on the grounds that they'll be buggy by 
definition and may potentially have serious security flaws, but I can't find anything to back this 
up.  Just wondering if I could get a few opinions on whether or not this is a good idea.  Thanks!


Jon Lawhead
Network Security Coordinator
Residential Computing
University of California, Berkeley