Topic: What's your OS (Read 276 times)

I don't think that is an accurate statement. While I'm not sure about Apple's OS, I can say for sure that Windows, despite its widespread use, has indeed experienced its fair share of security issues over time. Even though developers work diligently to patch vulnerabilities, hackers continuously find new ways to exploit weaknesses in the system.

Windows 10 most critical vulnerabilities in 2022



That's how open source software works. Yes, you do have to trust a third party, but unlike closed source software, it's not just one centralized entity; rather, it involves numerous programmers and security experts from all over the world. Moreover, the more popular the software, the safer it becomes because it attracts more attention and undergoes scrutiny from an even larger number of users.

Don't use a mobile OS that isn't linux based. Rule of thumb. As already explained, nothing is nearly as stable as Android, let alone as maintained.

The real question is which mobile, Android based OS you should use. That's a never ending topic for discussion, but I have come to this conclusion: de-googled or open-sourced google-based OSes (which are what portrait themselves as safer alternatives) are quite frustrating to use. Depending on your preferences, it's most likely that in such OSes you will face a lot of trouble (especially de-googled). But the main problem, in my experience, is that they aren't available for the vast majority of mobile devices.

I use Tails 5.15.1. Tails is one of the best choices for privacy, and privacy is good for personal security.
But normal Linux is easier, now some websites are inaccessible.

--Knight Hider

For me, Linux is the system with which I have been familiar for a very long time, and I am not at all going to change it for something else. Anyone who will one day take a serious look at Linux systems will see their convenience, and I know a lot of people who have abandoned Windows forever, knowing all its constant jambs.
There are a lot of versions of Linux, so it's quite a mistake to talk about anyone as the best. Anyone can try several versions and see what suits their preferences and convenience.
Difficulties in familiarization only seem difficult, but everyone should understand that only we ourselves are responsible for our devices and therefore for their safety.

If we are talking about an Operating system that runs on a computer, I would surely pick Linux. It's the best and the most secure, private, Open Source Operating system existing in the market.
There are some other mods available for Linux that you can use however vanilla Linux is the best.

In phones, I prefer iOS. It's privacy and security is on the next level and can never be competed with Android. Please don't quote me though, I will not reply on this topic lol. It's always a fan war between these and I would simply stay quite.

Since Windows and Apple have an operating system that runs on billions of computers, it is unlikely that these systems contain a clear vulnerability that enables hackers to easily access your private keys. If you are extremely skeptical, there is no solution but to read the entire open source code yourself or trust that there are people who have reviewed the open source code, and here again the problem is that you will trust a third party to read the code for you.

In crypto wallets, it is differs because by downloading a closed-source wallet with the number of users who downloaded it may be less than 10k users, and the number of developers is limited, which is a big difference between it and an OS that works on billions of devices.

the use of a hot wallet is a problem in itself, even if the OS/crypto_wallet is open source and without any bugs.

iOS has much stricter policies than Android based operating systems. Only approved software is allowed to be installed on iPhones. There is technically a way to sideload apps but the process is very cumbersome and most people won’t bother with it. Being more restrictive makes iOS safer in my opinion but the downside is that it is less customizable and users have less control. A lot of crypto and defi apps have less features than their Android counterpart and sometimes aren’t even available on iOS.

I don't think there is any OS option that's actually safe even linux is not 100% safe, if you want a guaranteed safety you should use hardware wallet, that's it no other option. All we can do if we don't want to spend money on hardware wallet, is doing preventive action to avoid losing the fund from malware or hacking

Even it is open source if you don't understand what the code inside just the same you use something but don't know anything inside it. I am really sure we are here is feel comfortable when using something that marks open source, but I really sure 90% of you don't know what the code inside even if that code is already open in GitHub.

It just trusts, even if it is open or not, if people recommend you to use that gadget without mark: open source, don't ignore it, maybe that recommendation is better to use than open-source.

No. It isn't. Imho both are pretty much equally bad.


I don't expect you'll get too many different answers to this, since afaik Android is open source and iOS is only partly open source. And any other options are barely used.


However, imho phones are inherently unsafe: your control over what happens there is rather limited, you don't have so many apps you can use like on PC and, most important, phones are pretty easy to steal (eg by pickpockets). This being said, my advise is to use any OS you prefer and just use hardware wallet with your phone. You may be thanking yourself in a couple of years for doing this.

My OS is Android but the answer to your query is Android is another open-source OS but as many others are saying and your interest is also changed to know about which OS is better is it IOS or Android. In my opinion. IOS, no doubt IOS is also Open-source but only a few components of IOS are open-source. Because Apple Developers don't want anyone to make copies, or I should say modify the security and main level of code of IOS OS. Because the security of their OS is the main factor that is still making them so valuable.

But, with Android OS, I also see Many smartphones like Infinix, Spark, Redmi, etc. which are using another OS that provides a basic layout and theme to the phone even if the features are coming from those AI-built OS. Which I doubt are very dangerous. For example, in Infinix phones they use XOS for UI and in Samsung phones they use ONE-UI but my query is, XOS is available on Playstore. does it not make it vulnerable to attacks as it could also be open-source?

What technically makes Android is safer than iOS?

You are confusing that being open source does not mean that OS is better than other OS which are close source. Being open source only helps community to verify their codes and nothing more. Do you think a bad, inexperienced developer, assumed me, create an open source code, so will it be safer than either Android or iOS?

Surely it is not.

It's really not that simple. Using closed-source software isn't necessarily bad if you're just going to use it for something that's not privacy-sensitive (e.g. work, gaming, etc). Compared to something where you store investments, of course open-source is important.

Open source doesn't necessarily mean it is safer, it allows us to view the codes and ensure that data is not mishandled and if you are knowledgeable enough you can make something on your own above those code.

I can't say IOS or Android is better because it entirely depends on how user handles it but I personally prefer android cause without it it is impossible to have an open sources OS smart phone now.

For PC there are tons of Operating System beyond Linux but people prefer Linux more because its stable and reliable than others.

I've worked with AIX for many years, at that point i had freeBSD on all my home computers. Several years ago, my company switched to SLES (suse linux enterprise) because IBM hardware (POWER architecture) was simply to expensive. At this point, i swiched my freeBSD home machines to opensuse leap (so i had a sneak preview of the features that would be available to my work servers in the future). I'd probably rate AIX (which is closed source) safer than most (if not all) linux distro's. Usually, there was no choice of package selection, but everything you needed to do to harden a system and run a certain product was completely described from a to z in a redbook. Every binary was tested by ibm engineers and downloaded straight from ibm... Updates were regular, and they simply worked... Those systems could handle a huge workload flawless and we've never had any security breaches... But it was pricey...

I can say, without a doubt, that security isn't just depending on wether or not the OS you're running is open source or not... When you talk about linux, it depends on which specific distro you run (cubes OS for example is considered really safe), it depends on how you configured said OS (for example, do you run a lot of daemons that are listening, did you configure a firewall,...), it depends on your behaviour,... I'm pretty sure some people run a not-considered-to-be-really-safe distro in a very secure way, whilst others run a considered-to-be-really-safe distro in a really unsecure way.


In my experience, i'd say that openBSD is one of the most secure free os's out of the box that i've ever ran. I haven't used it in a long while tough, so my info might be outdated. A common misconception is that BSD is linux, it isn't... BSD started from the unix sourcecode, linux was initially an attempt to copy unix's features for free. If you really want to run an as-secure-as-possible distro, it might be worth looking into openbsd, cubes os, sles,..., but you'll also have to look at all the hardening guides (in my workplace, i use audit tools like openscap together with very hard profiles in order to make sure my systems are hardened as much as possible)

I also have the same opinions about Open Source OS as mocacinno has. Which are: In Open source OS, code is shown to everyone. And thus that code could be used to make a replica of the Android OS to use in phishing attacks. Like recently, as electrum (desktop version) was used in phishing attacks. Back to the discussion, scammers could insert anything harmful as they can easily understand what defenders and security guards are providing security to Android OS code. Thus they could easily break those security codes.

The final words are I think Apple is better if you wanted a secure phone because Android phones consist of too many blots and unnecessary apps built in when we purchase them. I prefer you to read this thread started by umeridrees.

• Is storing bitcoin is more secure in iPhone than in an Andriod phone

There is no doubt about the Linux operating is the best for security. I will not say that other operating systems do not provide security at all, but no other operating system can provide so much security like Linux operating system.
But in the reality we most of the poeples are like to use those operating system which are more user friendly I mean easy to use. Even then most of the cases if anyone wanna take the official version of windows then he have to pay a good amount. And in this case most of the people cannot afford that.
Moreover, not everyone can use Linux operating system due to lack of technical knowledge. In this case if you see most of the programmers or those who work related to hacking are mostly using Linux operating system.
But the people's who are wise they will definitely use Linux operating system if they know how much greater from others.

For phones, it'll probably get pretty hard to find an open source OS that's not linux based... Like Faisal2202 already said: android is linux based...

There are several open source firmware alternatives, but most of them are not as stable as android (or not as mature), and afaik, most (if not all) are linux based.

When you're talking about open source desktop os's that are not linux based, i'm thinking about BSD...

Open source doesn't automatically make things safe tough... It's not because you can read the sourcecode it won't contain any vulnerability's, it just means that people have access to the sourcecode.


No, not per se... I'm an android enthusiast myself, i don't like apple products (i think their price/quality ratio for the EU market is bad) but a closed source OS *can* be much safer than an open source OS. It all depends on the competence level of who wrote the code and the competence level of the people that reviewed the (open source) sourcecode.

So technically android is safer than IOS

obviously Android. Because it is open source like Linux and IMHOif you would make some time to read the history of Android then you will come to know that Android is based on Linux Kernel and Linux Kernal is open source. If you are good enough then you can read, examine, or modify the android code. But some companies using Android OS might restrict some functions.

I may not be an expert but I read this course in my last semester and I can tell you for sure that Android is open source just like Linux. Now, other than open source characteristics, you have to be more open about why you need another OS other than Linux.