this post was submitted on 24 May 2024
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Linux

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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What else am I missing?

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 5 months ago (6 children)

You say that because you don't realize the benefits:

  • Better support for Linux with any new PC hardware on day 1. This includes things like USB devices, monitors, KVMs, UPS, everything.
  • Better support for all commercial software in general. More software will become available and it'll be higher quality.
  • Vendors will be forced to test all their stuff on Linux which means it'll all become more reliable and less glitchy.
  • There will be more diversity in software and distros which means widespread attacks (aka hacking, worms, viruses, etc) will have less success and smaller impacts.
  • The more Linux users there are the more Linux developers will result. It's also much easier to start learning how to code on a Linux desktop than it is in Windows.
  • Better security for the entire world. Linux has a vastly superior security architecture than Windows and a vastly superior track record. The more Linux users there are, the harder it will be for malicious entities to break into their PCs which translates into a more secure world.
  • It's much easier (for experienced users) to troubleshoot and fix problems in Linux than in Windows. This will lead to support teams everywhere getting frustrated whenever they have to deal with Windows users (this is already the case for many software vendors, haha). Therefore, it makes support people happy and easy going. Who doesn't want to reach a happy, helpful person for technical support instead of the usual defiant/adversarial support tech? 😁
  • The worst sorts of hardware vendors won't be able to get away with their usual bullshit. For example, if there were enough Linux users HP wouldn't be offering extremely invasive 2GB printer "drivers" because their Windows customers would know enough Linux users that they'd be rightfully pissed and not depressively submissive like they are now.
  • When you do have a problem it will be easier to find a solution because the likelihood that someone else already had it and posted a solution will be higher (though admittedly this factor doesn't seem to do much for Windows currently because of how obtuse and obfuscated everything is in that OS).

There's actually a lot more reasons but that's probably enough for now 😁

[–] [email protected] 11 points 5 months ago (2 children)

better security for the entire world...

The moment Linux takes over as a dominant desktop/laptop OS we'll start seeing a metric ton of the windows hackers follow suit to attack us. We'll end up in a situation where they'll probably go after some random kernel bugs that nobody else.has found yet or just don't think are critical/exploitable. Or they'll just attack the biggest, most widely used distros, going after people using them and any derivative distro similar enough for their malicious tools to work on it.

In general though, it would be a good thing for Linux to become a lot more prominent in the desktop/laptop market for general users. Especially since I imagine thanks to Linux being open source, people would be able to stop these malicious actors from doing damage much quicker (even though I imagine the majority of normal people switching over would almost never update because they're used to forced updates and not having to do it themselves).

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

People don't realize this enough.

There will be just as many vulnerabilities found with Linux distros as there are with Windows as soon as there's real interest in finding them.

Not saying we should stop linux adoption or anything, but there's a massive illusion that Linux is more secure. It isn't.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

I mean it might be more secure, it might be less secure, we just can't read through the source for windows, so we won't know until linux is attacked as much as windows. It would (will?) definitely be interesting to find out.

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