Dell reiterates that Linux is safer than Windows

Recently a bunch of news came up about Dell's Ubuntu page (http://www.dell.com/ubuntu) about line item #6 which stated that Ubuntu Linux is safer than Windows, and Dell later retracted that statement, and plainly said that Ubuntu is "safe".

It seems however they have not retracted similar statements from the "Linux 101" video on the same Ubuntu page. In the video, a speaker mentions the following comments about Ubuntu:

"It's safe and secure. Over 95 percent of viruses, spyware and other types of malware are designed and targeted to attack Microsoft Windows. So, by definition, if you're not running Microsoft Windows and if you're running Linux, you just don't have to worry about malware and viruses and spyware."

"There's a lot of reasons consumers like Linux. No. 1: it's a powerful operating system. It can do lots of things very fast."

"It's extremely stable... It's very rare for the system to lock up or freeze... there's no Blue Screens."

I'm not sure if this is because it would be a lot more work to redo the video, or if Dell (and probably Microsoft) doesn't think many people will watch the video into the 2 minute mark where these statements are made.

Talkback

Probably 90% of the people who watch this video are geeks. I would however dare Dell to post this video on their main page beside the 'Dell recommends Windows 7" text. :)
arpikusz 2 July, 2010 07:00 Reply

What a phenomenally shortsighted comment from Dell; "by definition, if you're not running Microsoft Windows and if you're running Linux, you just don't have to worry about malware and viruses and spyware." Every OS has vulnerabilites. Apple is quietly updating the list of trojans Mac OS X detects, and the Gentoo distribution actually included a trojan using IRC for botnet command and control networks for seven months (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/bott/linux-infection-proves-windows-malware-monopoly-is-over-gentoo-ships-backdoor-updated/2206). Whatever OS you use, you need to be aware of potential security issues. If users of an OS believe they're bulletproof, it's far easier to attack them.
M
Simon Bisson and Mary Branscombe 2 July, 2010 12:39 Reply

Security between multiple operating systems is definitely a hot topic. However you have to look at the number of vulnerabilities. Windows by far outnumbers everything else. Yes, it has roughly 90% of the market share for desktops, so naturally this number will be higher than say, Linux, which has about 1% of the desktop market. But, I believe that Linux is safer. I've seen users running Windows simply visit websites in IE running without Admin rights, get infected with malware which ended up destroying their Windows profile. I've never seen anything of the sort on Linux. So just this example of browsing the web, Linux is a safer platform because it is not as prone to these types of vulnerabilities.

With that being said, you are right Mary, every OS will have vulnerabilities. But, I believe that some will have more than others. Dell is simply stating that Linux is a safer platform to run on, which it is. And it's been proven over and over that Linux is very efficient and runs very fast and is rock solid for stability. As the video mentions, Linux does not have a blue screen of death. Linux does have kernel panics though, but those are extremely rare and when they happen, the entire kernel doesn't normally crash.
apexwm 2 July, 2010 13:36 Reply