Question:
is UbUntU a safe operating system?
chunyewsun
2010-01-06 01:48:39 UTC
i mean in security. can it run exe programs or is it like a mac where it cant run most windows programs
Six answers:
2010-01-06 01:55:33 UTC
It is safe to a certain degree. Nothing is totally safe. No you will not be able to run most Windows programs, however there are usually comparable programs for Linux that are like Windows programs, but are free.



The inherit design of the Linux kernel makes it more secure, and the fact that programs can not run with out user interaction, and the root (admin) account is not the default account makes Linux safer. Plus the amount of viruses that are written to attack the Linux kernel are nowhere as high as there are for Windows registry.
Seamonkey
2010-01-08 14:48:02 UTC
Ubuntu is a very safe operating system. It's nothing to do with it's small market share, it's to do with the design.



Ubuntu can't directly run .exe programs - with Wine, some software runs well (like Picasa - some people think it's a native Linux application).



Stuff that won't work in Wine will run in a Virtualbox (I once installed XP, and Vista ultimate - and could open one Linux (Ubuntu) desktop, then open Virtualbox, and launch XP in another desktop, and Vista in another - and then logged into Yahoo Messenger on each one, and chatted with my gf and my friend - it was crazy.



It was about a year ago that I did this - and don't bother with it now (though I still have XP in a virtualbox to run Yahoo/MSN messenger occasionally).



Here's a shot of the expose - showing the desktops :P it's so easy to switch, it's a bit like having a machine running the operating systems full screen side by side - you can simply switch desktops by using a mouse gesture, or run multiple monitors and have one OS on each monitor - up to you.... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/446031/Pictures/Workspaces.jpg but actually, it isn't - you don't get the full speed of a dualboot - but it's pretty good.



So in short, the answer is 'yes'. With Seamless mode, using Virtualbox, you can run any Windows application seamlessly on a Linux desktop. Because Virtualbox runs XP from 'XP.vdi' (a virtual disk file image), it's also very very easy to copy it - you just backed up Windows. Windows now boots in 15 seconds for me, and any problem - just copy the old VDI back - 2 minutes to totally restore it.



Safer than houses M8 ;)
Klearchos-Angelos G.
2010-01-06 19:27:12 UTC
ubuntu is very safe OS (operating system)

it's open source opering system and of course



You'd be amazed how many people make this complaint. They come to Linux, expecting to find essentially a free, open-source version of Windows. Quite often, this is what they've been told to expect by over-zealous Linux users. However, it's a paradoxical hope.



The specific reasons why people try Linux vary wildly, but the overall reason boils down to one thing: They hope Linux will be better than Windows. Common yardsticks for measuring success are cost, choice, performance, and security. There are many others. But every Windows user who tries Linux, does so because they hope it will be better than what they've got.



Therein lies the problem.



It is logically impossible for any thing to be better than any other thing whilst remaining completely identical to it. A perfect copy may be equal, but it can never surpass. So when you gave Linux a try in hopes that it would be better, you were inescapably hoping that it would be different. Too many people ignore this fact, and hold up every difference between the two OSes as a Linux failure.



As a simple example, consider driver upgrades: one typically upgrades a hardware driver on Windows by going to the manufacturer's website and downloading the new driver; whereas in Linux you upgrade the kernel.



This means that a single Linux download & upgrade will give you the newest drivers available for your machine, whereas in Windows you would have to surf to multiple sites and download all the upgrades individually. It's a very different process, but it's certainly not a bad one. But many people complain because it's not what they're used to.



Or, as an example you're more likely to relate to, consider Firefox: One of the biggest open-source success stories. A web browser that took the world by storm. Did it achieve this success by being a perfect imitation of IE, the then-most-popular browser?



No. It was successful because it was better than IE, and it was better because it was different. It had tabbed browsing, live bookmarks, built-in searchbar, PNG support, adblock extensions, and other wonderful things. The "Find" functionality appeared in a toolbar at the bottom and looked for matches as you typed, turning red when you had no match. IE had no tabs, no RSS functionality, searchbars only via third-party extensions, and a find dialogue that required a click on "OK" to start looking and a click on "OK" to clear the "Not found" error message. A clear and inarguable demonstration of an open-source application achieving success by being better, and being better by being different. Had FF been an IE clone, it would have vanished into obscurity. And had Linux been a Windows clone, the same would have happened.



So the solution to problem #1: Remember that where Linux is familiar and the same as what you're used to, it isn't new & improved. Welcome the places where things are different, because only here does it have a chance to shine.
Overcaffeinated
2010-01-06 09:57:54 UTC
Ubuntu is a very secure Operating system, designed to be a lot safer and harder to exploit than Windows. However, it is not Windows, and most windows programs will either not run, or will have problems. You can use an Ubuntu program called "WINE", which emulates Windows, to run some programs, but most games do not work.



Fortunately, most software have an Ubuntu-based equivalent. For example, if you want to run Microsoft Office, you can get OpenOffice for free.
2010-01-06 10:25:35 UTC
Run dual boot Windows/Linux. Have the best of both systems. How secure is Linux is dependent on how well you actually harden the system. It requires more than just the basic setups. I have an issue leaving a Windows computer online 24 hours a day, but no issue with doing the same thing with Linux.
Masked Musketeer
2010-01-06 09:54:27 UTC
Ubuntu is completely different to Windows. It runs it's own set of applications -- Windows applications cannot be run since it doesn't understand .exe files.



*Note: Though with the help of WINE, Ubuntu can be configured to run *some* windows applications.



Since the market share of desktop Linux OS's is something like under 1%, you can consider Ubuntu quite safe. But not 100% foolproof.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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