Recently Dell did something amazing. The Austin, TX computer giant admitted on one of their Web pages that “Ubuntu [Linux] is safer than Microsoft Windows.” (PDF Link) But, now Dell has backed off to the far more generic “Ubuntu is secure”. Boo!
The explanation for both statements has also changed a bit. When the statement was stronger, Dell’s explanation read, “The vast majority of viruses and spyware written by hackers are not designed to target and attack Linux.” Now, it’s been watered down to ” According to industry reports, Ubuntu is unaffected by the vast majority of viruses and spyware.”
Ah, no. Anyone who pays any attention to operating system security knows that Windows is insecure both by design and by poor execution. Linux, while far from perfect, is far more secure.
You see Windows was designed as a single-user, non-networked operating system. That design is still at the heart of Windows, which is why security must always be an add-on to Windows. Linux, in contrast, was built from the ground up as a multi-user, networked system. Linux, like Unix, which came before it, was constructed to work in a world with hostile users.