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Thanks! I think also the project screenshot page http://qubes-os.org/Screenshots.html helps to get a first look of what it is and how it works (before looking under the hood).
It looks okay, I guess, nothing original.
But basically it's a modified Linux distribution. Therefor I think it kind of stretches the definition of what awards an operating system badge.
Also I think it solves a problem that's not really there. I mean, it's not like hordes of Linux users are running around naked in the streets in blind panic because their desktops are hit by viruses. I suspect that in practice all these extra security layers provider more hassle than the benefit of extra security.
What would be nice is to have some kind of system that allows the user to run any application of choice with added security and make this system an optional install for any Linux distribution.
Not every feature or bell 'n' whistle deserves an entire new "operating system". What is you're happy with your Slackware or Ubuntu, but you do like this idea?





Member since:
2011-05-12
There is a summary:
Key architecture features:
Based on a secure bare-metal hypervisor (Xen)
Networking code sand-boxed in an unprivileged VM (using IOMMU/VT-d)
No networking code in the privileged domain (dom0)
All user applications run in “AppVMs”, lightweight VMs based on Linux
Centralized updates of all AppVMs based on the same template
Qubes GUI virtualization presents applications like if they were running locally
Qubes GUI provides isolation between apps sharing the same desktop
Storage drivers and backends sand-boxed in an unprivileged virtual machine(*)
Secure system boot based on Intel TXT(*)