With an expert Sys admin, are windows and linux equal for security

Considering that it would have been laughed at by the unix/linux people to suggest windows as a internet connected server until the 2000 era, is that argument now laid to rest?

Aside from nix admins who dont want to lose their lucrative admin positions(because certain jobs take ages compared to windows, and vice versa) is there any reason ASIDE FROM COST, that linux is more secure after a professional has setup windows?

Considering the performance of modern hardware, I believe now that the tools and ease of use of windows platform make it an equally viable server platform.

Unless you require Open source technology that are ideally deployed on Linux, I see no reason for people to roll their eyes at windows, or ignore it as a viable platform.

What do you think?

The major problem with security is not actually with the platforms themselves, but with the popularity of windows. There are security holes in any system, its impossible to prove that bugs don't exist in anything but the most trivial of software. Windows and Linux both contain security holes that haven't been uncovered yet, however because of Microsofts popularity as a desktop OS, people looking for holes are more focussed on looking for holes in windows, because often there is more for them to gain by hacking hundreds of windows desktops, and unfortunately these hacks usually apply to server OS's as well as desktops. If Linux had become the dominant desktop OS then I think the situation would be reversed.

With the most skilled sysadmins, you can make any OS secure, however you cannot (without re-writing the OS yourself!) account for holes in the OS, not have not yet been discovered. WHen they are discovered its more down to the speed of the vendor providing a fix for the problem, than the sysadmins skill at securing the server. Most of the security breaches you hear of today are not due to lax system administration, but to a previously unknown security hole in the OS. Linux is as vulnerable to these as Windows, its just more people are looking for them in Windows.

I guess there is a greater visibility of the system under Unix-like systems. The Windows compulsory GUI approach hides lots of details, sometimes important ones. For real security it is imperative that you possess the most information about what happens on the machine, and what measures are taken and to what extent. I dislike windows for hiding this all.