Linked by Amjith Ramanujam on Sat 19th Jul 2008 19:01 UTC, submitted by cypress
Linux and UNIX-like operating systems in general are regarded as being more secure for the common user, in contrast with operating systems that have "Windows" as part of their name. Why is that? When entering a dispute on the subject with a Windows user, the most common argument he tries to feed me is that Windows is more widespread, and therefore, more vulnerable. Apart from amusing myths like "Linux is only for servers" or "does it have a word processor?", the issue of Linux desktop security is still seriously misunderstood.
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Member since:
2005-07-10
Honestly I don't care about this nonsense, because much like politics both sides are just putting numbers out that benefit them.
Microsoft is at the unfortunate disadvantage of having everything developed under one roof, so all bugs are summed up under Microsoft Windows errors, expect for anything not included by the OS in the default install. However that leaves IIS, Network Stack, Communication Stack, IO, and anything else you can think of even drivers.
Linux on the other hand seems to benefit from not under one roof reporting. Because after all Linux is just the Kernal and if we had to compare Kernel to Kernel I am sure the numbers would be about even for bugs and vulnerabilities. However when you combine such systems as Apache, and the Linux networking, communication, and IO stacks you run in to a similar amount of vulnerabilities.
The point is that neither OS is secure when running but a person who doesn't know what they are doing. And I do believe that hackers specifically target Microsoft because they always know a core set of components are going to be on the system. And I do believe that Linux is more secure in the sense the combination of programs is usually haphazardly put together. Meaning that a hacker cannot figure out what is on the system to exploit. However with popular brands like Ubuntu I believe this trend is going to change.
Apple is already starting to see this with their Mac brand.