Dell: Ubuntu Safer than Windows

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insider3

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And I'm sure if Linux had it's OS installed in 95% of the Market that it wouldn't be so secure either. I never got a virus on my computer.. It's called being smart and not surfing stupid ass sites.
 

guzz46

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Again with the "no one uses it so no one writes viruses for it claim"
Again look at the server market where linux has the market share, also supercomputers, movie studio's, police, military etc... use linux, basically any place where features such as security, stability, performance, flexibility are required.

The main reason why windows is common on desktops is because people go out and buy a computer and it comes with windows on it and most of them don't even know that there are other OS's available (they probably don't even know what an OS is) also it's hard to measure how many people use an OS that you can get for free
 

TheKurrgan

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What Dell stated is actually fairly accurate. It IS less painful for the user as to the malware/trojans/adware etc, because there isnt a point in making it FOR the OS, because not many people use it. However, the same argument could be made for Apple OS X. However, the inherent advantage of Linux even if all things where equal, is its design. In my opinion, a unix based system even if heavily targeted for the same types of malicious / annoying "viruses" that windows has, its method of security / organization makes it very easy to clean -- To a point where an automated "Go back" script could be made that would put all the key elements back, but not ditch everything else such as program settings stored in the profile. It is more obvious whats going on. While I realize Windows once you get through its many layers of registry mess, becomes easier to deal with, its still not as simple a design, and in my opinion inherently flawed when it comes to dealing with things like "viruses". This same thing applies to all the variants of UNIX. However it can be said, that if you put an unskilled user in front of it, who merely says yes to everything and has no additional knowledge of how it works, they're still going to have a hard time.
That said, the problem of all this seems to come back down to the person sitting in front of the keyboard every time, no matter the OS.
 

dbowlin17

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WOW, who knew??? this comes as no surprise for me... but it will suck if microsoft makes them retract this all. i use ubuntu for everything except sim city 4.
 

arlandi

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[citation][nom]guzz46[/nom]Again look at the server market where linux has the market share, also supercomputers, movie studio's, police, military etc... use linux, basically any place where features such as security, stability, performance, flexibility are required.[/citation]

yeah. but let's take a look at servers for example. servers usually has at least one admin to take care of them. and for one to become an admin, is to have KNOWLEDGE about the OS.
i mean, do you really expect a casual user to know how to "recompile the kernel" or "compile the driver"?
comparing Desktop market to the Server market is not fair.
 

panto

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Safer only until its market share increases. Anyway, this is nothing more than marketing, and the question I have to ask is what does Dell gain by selling more Ubuntu computers while potentially making a bad political move to oppose Microsoft?

Don't anyone say lower support cost, I dun wanna hear it ;)
 

guzz46

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yeah. but let's take a look at servers for example. servers usually has at least one admin to take care of them. and for one to become an admin, is to have KNOWLEDGE about the OS.
i mean, do you really expect a casual user to know how to "recompile the kernel" or "compile the driver"?
comparing Desktop market to the Server market is not fair.

A casual user would not know how to install a driver in windows either when windows can't find one, infact linux is compatible with more hardware than windows.

Thats part of the better security of linux/unix where a normal user needs a password to gain root access. Comparing desktop to server is fair when people say the only reason why linux doesn't have viruses is because no one uses it, in server's it gets used a lot more than windows so where are all the linux viruses then?
 

maddad

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I dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu on my computer. I've never had a problem with Ubuntu recognizing any of my Hardware, works great and use is pretty much in line with using a windows box. If all you do is surf the internet, email or use office, Ubuntu works great and it's free, easy to update and fast. But if you want to play any newer games you still need windows. I upgraded from Vista to Windows 7 and I really like the improvements in Windows 7. However, I recently upgraded my motherboard, CPU and ram all at once; had to reload Windows 7 and call to reactivate. Of course that meant reloading everything else too. Ubuntu on the other hand to about 10 minutes to load the first time after the upgrade, after that it booted up fine from that point on without any problems.
 
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Most of you guys are missing the point (but what's new). First, the real news isn't that Linux is more secure -- everyone knew that -- but that Dell is willing to take shots at Microsoft in order to sell Ubuntu machines. That bodes well for Linux on the desktop. Second, Linux _IS_ inherently more secure than Windows. It has nothing to do with market share. Fact is, Linux (and Unix, which Linux was modeled after -- but not based on) is designed as a multi-user OS from the ground up. That means that there's a good, strong framework in place for limiting the abilities of non-root (i.e., administrator) accounts. Furthermore, Linux does a few other things smartly as well. One, with most distributions you get your software from a repository maintained by the developers of the distrobution. Whenever you need software (for the most part), you simply open up the add/remove software program and download it straight from a reputable source. No hunting for .exes on .ru sites. Second, security updates are far more frequent -- you never have to wait for a patch tuesday.
 
The only reason windows has that dominating market share is gaming.. There are just no other alternatives.. Moreover, majority of the people keep away from linux because of a somewhat tedious learning curve.. Ubuntu however is one of the most fun and easy linux distro(s) to use and it can easily be the OS for folks building up a config for internet, programming and learning, home cinema and other general tasks.. There are so many of variety distro's available that everyone will find one of their requirement and taste..
 

BulkZerker

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[citation][nom]guzz46[/nom]A casual user would not know how to install a driver in windows either when windows can't find one, infact linux is compatible with more hardware than windows.Thats part of the better security of linux/unix where a normal user needs a password to gain root access. Comparing desktop to server is fair when people say the only reason why linux doesn't have viruses is because no one uses it, in server's it gets used a lot more than windows so where are all the linux viruses then?[/citation]

I dunno, how many Admin use the server and Cmd Prompt to check their emails? Besides Strongbad.

Linux is secure, very secure. But about 80% of that security is through obscurity.

As for Dell's half truth statement, I hope really hard this means they're going to offer Linux with their home systems finnally.
 

daggs

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[citation][nom]Gin Fushicho[/nom]"simply work"? Linux is a pain in the ass to get the things to work you want to work, unless everything is pre-installed.But I have the feeling that if Dell starts selling Linux only computers that soon they will get heaps of viruses too.[/citation]

I'm running linux here, you are most welcome to write a virus and send it to me, we will see if it even runs here because unlike windows, linux doesn't run files by default, it runs first files that have the exec bit on, usually that bit isn't saved when passing files between computers and you actually need to have another existing program that runs or the user to run it. for the former you need to replace that running program's code somehow bringing you to the problem I've started this paragraph with...

[citation][nom]Emperus[/nom]The only reason windows has that dominating market share is gaming.. There are just no other alternatives.. Moreover, majority of the people keep away from linux because of a somewhat tedious learning curve.. Ubuntu however is one of the most fun and easy linux distro(s) to use and it can easily be the OS for folks building up a config for internet, programming and learning, home cinema and other general tasks.. There are so many of variety distro's available that everyone will find one of their requirement and taste..[/citation]
wrong, let review something first, steve balmer has announced not to long ago that they sold over 7 million copies of W7, what is the percentage of retail sales of that? not too much, microsoft and oem vendors have deals where oems my a bunch of special windows versions, installs them on computers and sale them in higher price rate.
in an essence, usually you do not get the chance to choose your os, you get what the oem vendors choose for you.
nowadays, for the average user (net surfing, video and audio watching and non professional editing, basic office usage and maybe mild gaming), linux offers the same link windows, in fact because of the linux is built, it mode safer (users that don't have a clue cannot do more harm on linux then on windows.
 

guzz46

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I dunno, how many Admin use the server and Cmd Prompt to check their emails? Besides Strongbad.

Linux is secure, very secure. But about 80% of that security is through obscurity.

How can it be because of obscurity when linux dominates the server market? it's because it's designed better not because of obscurity.

They only recommend antivirus software for linux to prevent you from sending on a windows e-mail virus to one of your windows buddies.

 

Tamz_msc

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Safety and security comes down to the user in the end.One can run a decade old OS with the latest updates, being aware of the risks on the Internet and having good habits like doing a regular backup etc and not have viruses while the other can run a brand new OS without having an idea about the risks and threats posed by malware, thinking that some fancy nomenclature like Time Machine(you know what I mean)is going to rescue them and still have tons of viruses and trojans.So whatever Dell has said is Bulls**t.

 
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Dell should be commended for trying to raise awareness of alternative OS systems avaliable to customers, the fact is that yes a default install of Ubuntu has less vunerabilities than Windows 7, and most of the time it is pretty straight forward to get running and comes installed with most things needed for desktop work.

I have running, Linux Mint (Still the best Gnome desktop by far, simple painless and very slick) Ubuntu 10.04 (also very good but not as polished as mint) Fedora 13 (A bit more technical, for Linux Users not consumers) OpenSUSE 11.2 (THE BEST LINUX DISTRO, Use it with KDE, its a blast, half my tested windows games work in wine, yes a bit slower but with good hardware not noticeable, its fast looks great and is complete, can be fiddled with or left default) Windows XP/Vista/7 (7 being the finest product ever created by Microsoft, fast stable powerful and great looking)OSX Hackintosh (Support reasons and I cannot justify the price for Apple equipment when I have it running on hardware 2x faster at 1/3 the price! only use it if I have to because it is not the best OS out there-Windows 7 takes that title easily.)

So its about choice, and anyone who says Linux does not work, try the latest distros mentioned here, the are all easy to install, come with everything needed and are fast, work on far more hardware configurations put the box than Windows 7 and are free to boot, If you dont try you dont know what you are missing, and thanks Dell for Supporting Linux!
 

fatedtodie

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Being that the user is what determines how secure/safe a computer is, you can have the safest OS in the world and still be open to everything evil and vile.

Ubuntu isn't any more safe than Windows 7 is vulnerable. If you setup a computer RIGHT and use it RIGHT then it doesn't matter if you troll the most horrible spots on the net, you won't get viruses and you won't have your privacy breached.
 

Houndsteeth

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Posix systems, from a design perspective, are a much better security model than any flavor of Windows. Granted, Microsoft has gotten better, but their inability to "clean house" between versions has left a lot of holes that can be exploited.

That being said, there is no single foolproof OS out there. Some are very hardened, but give anyone with enough knowledge 5 minutes alone with that particular system and they will have it rooted and under their control. What you do is close down any obvious avenues of attack and limit access to the ones you can't close.

But half the battle for security exists between the keyboard and the chair. The average user is the one who puts their machine into compromising situations. They are the ones browsing to untrusted sites, ignoring obvious warning signs, and failing to update the software designed to prevent problems from arising.
 

Tomtompiper

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All these people spreading scare stories about having to jump through hoops to get mouse buttons working and having set up problems, hare the stuck in the past? I have been using Linux as my main OS for around four years, and only use Windows for games. Modern distros like PCLinuxOS and Ubuntu have very good Hardware detection, and this laptop, only two months old has both, and I had to remove the HP windows to install the Linux as it hogged all four partitions, and Windows was by far the hardest OS to install. It took longest to install, longest to sort out after, downloading drivers and such and the valid product key was rejected and a phone call was needed to activate Windows 7. Ubuntu boots quicker an I use this for a quick look at the Internet, PClinuxOS runs much faster than Ubuntu or Windows and I use it for most things, Windows is just for games.
 
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