One of desktop Linux’s chief selling points is its near-immunity to malware. Whether this superiority is due to the Unix security measures that Windows lacks, or to the mere fact that comparatively few people use Linux on desktop computers, it makes Linux attractive in an era when all manner of nasty things can be done to computer users by exploiting bugs in the software they run.

While Linux may not suffer from the software vulnerabilities of Windows, however, its users are still threatened by attacks that employ social-engineering—that is, those that dupe users into compromising their systems by running code or installing software without understanding the consequences.

Indeed, on a platform like Ubuntu, where the relationship between users and developers is defined by trust and presumed goodwill rather than financial exchange and a corporate EULA, the opportunities for social engineering are perhaps more abundant than they are under proprietary systems.

The cons of community support