Why are Linux-based operating systems considered safer than Windows?

Posted by echoblaze on Server Fault See other posts from Server Fault or by echoblaze
Published on 2009-07-03T18:26:29Z Indexed on 2012/10/10 3:40 UTC
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linux

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Windows

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security

I hear that Linux-based systems are better for security. Apparently they don't have viruses and do not need antivirus software. Even my university claims this - they refuse to have Windows on their servers, which is a real shame because we wanted to use the .NET framework to create some websites.

The only reason I can see Linux being safer is because it's open-source, so bugs theoretically would get caught and fixed sooner.

I know a bit about how operating systems work, but haven't really delved into how Linux and Windows implement their OS. Can someone explain the difference that makes Linux-based systems more secure?

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