Thread: ‘Open source is safer, and Linux is more secure than any other OS’

Linux chief: 'Open source is safer, and Linux is more secure than any other OS' (exclusive) | VentureBeat | Dev | by JOD


In an interview with Linux Foundation executive director Jim Zemlin, VentureBeat got a bird’s-eye view of the future of the open-source operating system for 2014.

We also addressed the controversial issues of government spying and “backdoors” — those nefarious windows into our personal online lives that the public recently discovered in most of the services we use every day.

Zemlin gave us the skinny on how and why GNU/Linux remains the most secure option for concerned consumers — and why it’s becoming the OS of choice for powering cars, phones, TVs, and all kinds of emerging devices.

Here’s our e-mail transcript in a bare-naked Q&A format.

VentureBeat: Security and privacy has been the hottest topic this year, bar none. We’ve heard rumors that Linus [Torvalds, Linux creator] OK’d a Linux backdoor for the government.

Zemlin: If there were a backdoor in Linux, you’d know it.

The whole world can see every line of code in Linux. This is one of the reasons Linux is more secure than other operating systems and why open-source software overall is a safer than closed software. The transparency of the code ensures it’s secure.

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Do you know those things on your keyboard? The keys? I hate the ones on the bottom left!!! With a passion. The windows button and the ctrl buttons.

I had this whole thread typed in and ready to press the Submit button, but inadvertently hit some other button ctrl+windows+something and it just removed and deleted 20 minutes of typing.

Of course I went to the kitchen drawer and picked up a big knife and prised off all three GD buttons and threw them out the window!!!

Who need these hot keys anyway??##!!!
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I had said:

1. Privacy is not for old people like me to be too worried about. I do not have another 60 years, during which time I will be bothered about what I am doing on line today.

2. I am also not doing anything illegal, nor running top secret operations, which require privacy and security. So I don't care about secrecy anymore, like I used to 15 years ago.

But I have been watching opensource move forward since I first began reading about opensource in 1998, the year I got on the net with anything other than AOL crappola connections. And it has certainly been worth watching.

I was just wondering how secure you feel using your computers while you travel to various countries, including Thailand and China and those countries in East Asia?

Also, do you feel safer using the opensource based systems which you do, or not?

I always feel more comfortable, in almost every way, when I am using linux on my computer, not just because of security, or privacy, but also I don't have any crazy ad based or ad motivated software running that I did not install bugging me every second asking for something. It takes extra time to stop these multitude of extra programs from intruding and ruining my computer experience. Not to mention these GD keys I did not want to have on my keyboard, in the first place.

I also have made a linux based (Knoppix) encrypted USB bootable self-contained operating system and storage space on my 8 GM Transcend thumb drive. So if I want to be secure using any computer which is not mine, I can reboot with the USB and get on line, and do what I want, without touching the HD of the computer I am using, and also using any secure connections that I have set up previously on my USB bootable drive.

So what about you and security and OPENSOURCE while you are out of your home country and moving around the world? Or, don't you really care?

I don't really care.

I really don't care.

"Of course I went to the kitchen drawer and picked up a big knife and prised off all three GD buttons and threw them out the window!!!

Who need these hot keys anyway??##!!!"

The keyboard works great now.

Originally Posted by SpamInCan

I also have made a linux based (Knoppix) encrypted USB bootable self-contained operating system and storage space on my 8 GM Transcend thumb drive. So if I want to be secure using any computer which is not mine, I can reboot with the USB and get on line, and do what I want, without touching the HD of the computer I am using, and also using any secure connections that I have set up previously on my USB bootable drive.

So what about you and security and OPENSOURCE while you are out of your home country and moving around the world? Or, don't you really care?

Although you may have been able to do this in the past it is not quite so easy nowadays with the UEFI interface that is replacing BIOS on new machines. Forget any thoughts of being able to boot any computer that you don't own with a USB disk unless the owner has disabled secure boot and put the usb above the HDD in the boot order, something that should only be done during install or repair/recovery.

Those who value their secure system will probably have locked the USB ports anyway, as well as removing the ability to boot from CD/DVD drive. The ability to enable them will be done from the boot but will require password access.

Linux is becoming quite a pain to install for the casual user. In fact several installations will not even boot correctly from CD/DVD without some divine intervention from Google and the distro forum sites. My latest install of linux 13.10 in various flavours (Ubuntu, kubuntu, OpenSuse and Mint) gave me a blank screen for 3 on attempting to boot the CD/DVD and a blank screen on the final one after installation. I had to do a boot repair; install mesa-utils for the graphics and then set up the grub configuration for the video. That is hardly an out-of-the-box install and I could imagine most simply throwing the disk away in disgust. Even die-hards would be disappointed to know that the version that did install was still not optimum and a new install of a different version using the alternate CD installation disk is required.

I suppose, the fact that it has become such a pain to install makes it secure...

I agree about it being a pain to install.............I have a stack of useless coasters...downloads that don't work. Ubuntu help forums are not much help either. I'd gladly pay for an install dvd that would be guaranteed to boot my laptop.

Originally Posted by thairanat

I agree about it being a pain to install.............I have a stack of useless coasters...downloads that don't work. Ubuntu help forums are not much help either. I'd gladly pay for an install dvd that would be guaranteed to boot my laptop.

Use Opensuse 13.1. This release installs first time, every time.

Opensuse is the best distribution available for completely replacing windows, and is easier to install by far.

13.1 was completed just last week. And just because it is fairly old does not mean that opensuse is not also new.

^ That one one of the flavours that failed to find the integrated graphics on my laptop and gave a black screen when trying to boot from CD. So it all depends on the machine you have as to whether it will work "first time" or requires tweaking just to get it to boot.

...and it was two different verified disks that failed. Oh what a fun week I had....

What is the deal with this lizard I see on linux stuff? Does it symbolize linux programs?

looks like a chameleon - it is probably SUSE mascot
I thought SUSE was a mainly french developed linux - I cannot ever remember trying it

a couple of times in the past i tried use linux...but it's just a pain in the ass.

i'll try again if/when it becomes user friendly for the average person

what else do you do on your computer other than use the web browser , play music or movies , read word docs , pdfs , and spreadsheets ?

Mine Bitcoins. I already have 0.0000000000001 of one.

Originally Posted by baldrick

what else do you do on your computer other than use the web browser , play music or movies , read word docs , pdfs , and spreadsheets ?

that's it really.

i tried using Mint about a year ago, and couldn't get any sound through HDMI cables. i spent hours online trying to figure it out, but just couldn't get it done....so I went back to windows.

a few years before that i tried another distro and i couldn't connect to wifi.

i consider myself to be a slightly more competent than average PC user, so i'm willing to tinker around with a few things to get them working properly....but i really want the basic functions of an OS to work "out of the box".

get a flash stick and boot various flavours that pique your interest and test how they work for you - pendrivelinux.com

Originally Posted by baldrick

what else do you do on your computer other than use the web browser , play music or movies , read word docs , pdfs , and spreadsheets ?

watch online porn ?

Originally Posted by Butterfly

watch online porn ?

what registry key do you use for that ?

Originally Posted by baldrick

I thought SUSE was a mainly french developed linux - I cannot ever remember trying it

Nope...It's German...https://www.suse.com/company/history/
...I use the Enterprise edition at work (amongst others) and it is a good, stable system.

The problem IMO is the attempted monopolising of the market by Microsoft by forcing hardware manufacturers to use UEFI with Windows security keys. Won't be long before they remove the legacy boot and then force secure boot. It will only be a hiccup (I hope) since some distros have already got secure boot access keys. I don't think Linux Mint has UEFI capable distro yet and others still appear to be struggling getting the installation right for all machines.

Originally Posted by baldrick

what else do you do on your computer other than use the web browser , play music or movies , read word docs , pdfs , and spreadsheets ?

Hmmm.....computing?

That's right, it is German. And those Germans really know how to build things well. I have been using SUSE since 8.1, and I have found no reason to change, although I have also tested and tried that South African entry, which is OK too.

But I think that SUSE still is the best distribution for the average user, simply because it is a cinch to install, and it is stable and versatile.

The SA offering I mentioned is Ubuntu, and I have nothing against it, although it is not as good as SUSE.

You are right about the big problem with having Microsoft able to dictate too much to manufacturers. And I have had varying problems with the UEFI thingy that you mention. I can turn it off using the ASUS provided BIOS controls, but I do not have experience using other computers.

And I have not used my Knoppix pendrive installation on enough computers to find out what the situation is there, either.

I am just glad when I learn that ever more people are using Linux on their PCs, but especially in all the many devices today.

I can't believe you cunts give this dullard the time of day.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I can't believe you cunts give this dullard the time of day.

I guess you must think you are in a Deja Vu situation:

"The Thing That Couldn't Die".

Originally Posted by SpamInCan

That's right, it is German. And those Germans really know how to build things well.

Originally Posted by SpamInCan

The SA offering I mentioned is Ubuntu, and I have nothing against it, although it is not as good as SUSE.

Ubuntu is distributed by Canonical, which is owned by a South African but based in I of M. However, it is based on Debian and that is.... hmmm..... German.

Six of one and half a dozen of the other as to which is "best". They have their individual pros and cons...I like bits of both...rather like comparing gnome and kde...each to their own. Again, I like bits of both.

I have now solved the issues I was having with the new machine. The problems I had with the SUSE install were due to bad DVD writes (fixed by slowing the write down by forcing a verify) and incompatible graphics requiring a boot option addition on the DVD coupled with a multi disk access problem requiring the shift key to be held down during boot. After install several changes were required to improve slow wi-fi and graphics support....so still not out-of-the-box for casual use but you get to know a lot more about your system....

Once installed, to my liking, it was worth all the effort!

Originally Posted by Troy

Originally Posted by SpamInCan

That's right, it is German. And those Germans really know how to build things well.

Originally Posted by SpamInCan

The SA offering I mentioned is Ubuntu, and I have nothing against it, although it is not as good as SUSE.

Ubuntu is distributed by Canonical, which is owned by a South African but based in I of M. However, it is based on Debian and that is.... hmmm..... German.

Six of one and half a dozen of the other as to which is "best". They have their individual pros and cons...I like bits of both...rather like comparing gnome and kde...each to their own. Again, I like bits of both.

I have now solved the issues I was having with the new machine. The problems I had with the SUSE install were due to bad DVD writes (fixed by slowing the write down by forcing a verify) and incompatible graphics requiring a boot option addition on the DVD coupled with a multi disk access problem requiring the shift key to be held down during boot. After install several changes were required to improve slow wi-fi and graphics support....so still not out-of-the-box for casual use but you get to know a lot more about your system....

Once installed, to my liking, it was worth all the effort!

But, was Debby German?

You do know, I presume, that Debian is short for Debby, the hacker's daughter, I mean the first author of Debian's Daughter.

^ No I didn't...but you could have argued that Debian is more US than German.....

Back to the OP...Is Linux more secure than Unix? Doesn't it depend on the flavour of Linux? I'm pretty sure not all distros have the security qualification for civil aircraft use...or Government use.

I was a lot happier when Lufthansa (to name one) moved away from Windows on their Airbus and drove the entertainment system using Linux. Individual station reboot rather than pulling the circuit breaker and resetting it after 30 minutes....

Has anyone tried the Mandrake/Madriva/Mageia flavour of Linux...or has it died a death? Problem with being French I suppose...

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

I can't believe you cunts give this dullard the time of day.

Message vs Messenger?

The thread interests me....I don't really give a gnats cock who starts it or contributes....