[Coco] Windows vs. Linux (was 512K upgrade)

[Steven Hirsch]

On Mon, 10 Mar 2014, Bill wrote:

> What distro of Linux would you recommend? I want to try it, but don't know
> where to start.

Ubuntu is a reasonable distribution for ones introduction to Linux, if 
only for the fact of an active community with well-indexed message boards. 
When you run into an issue, chances are very good you're not the only one 
and it's quick to find answers and workarounds.

In all the lively discussion about Win vs. Linux vs. ... whatever there's 
an important security factor that hasn't come up:  Linux has a lot of 
version diffusion out there in the real world.  What I mean is this: If 
someone finds a new, exploitable security hole in a Windows binary or DLL
you can be sure that EVERY such file is identical on day zero.  That's not 
a safe bet on Linux systems.  If five distributions have a given utility 
or application chances are good that they are slightly different versions 
and were built on different compilers and linkers, etc.  Not a panacea, 
but every little bit of security helps.

Steve


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