[peterwwillis]

Yes, Linux software is generally less prone to erroneous installs than Windows software, when it is done through your distribution. However, I think a parent commenter was pointing out how much easier it is to hack all of the users with this unified system of installation.

Is searching for, downloading and installing Putty actually resulting in users with malware-laden files? It would seem not, as the highest-ranking results for Putty are the official ones, and downloading/installing is a breeze once you get to the official page.

For software that's a more likely target for scams (like Firefox) you'll find a lot more user error and potential for abuse. And consider that many users may download and install Firefox by hand instead of using their distro (it's faster and less complicated). And similar to the attack on popular Windows end-user software, Linux server software is often a more high-value target for attack also results in users unknowingly installing insecure software, as we've seen in[1] many[2] cases[3].

Realistically the only thing keeping Linux more safe is that the user base and culture are different. But it would be naive to assume that somehow distro packagers are a more trustworthy source of files than the ones you could find on your own. It would seem to completely depend on the application and the user.

[1] http://www.darkreading.com/attacks-breaches/open-source-proj... [2] http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/02/malicious-backdoor-i... [3] https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/23334/example-o...