Ask HN: Is Linux Safe to Daily drive in 2026?

I have been increasingly interested in daily running ubuntu (sorry, Arch people), and was wondering: how safe is it to daily drive an easy linux distro like Ubuntu in 2026?

To clarify what I'm asking: - Is Linux relatively safe compared to Windows or MacOS in a desktop setting - If it's not, what needs to be changed, configured, or avoided to make it so (if it can be)

Thanks for your time.

EDIT: (clarification) I have been experimenting a little with Linux already. This is more of a second step towards daily use for me. A more pressing concern (for me) is [gui] app sandboxing.

Perfectly safe. I would argue that it is the safest of the three, the least invasive both in terms of its design and in terms of privacy.

The open source model of development has encouraged the correct incentives for people to become active in identifying and fixing possible exploits in a global, communal effort.

Every server on the cloud has (by a large margin) chosen Linux as the OS to trust specifically for this reason.

Yes. Significantly safer than a Windows system in the default config.

If you expose a Windows server default install to the internet it will be compromised in days. (I don't know how. I do know AWS was very unimpressed with me.)

In contrast Linux systems are often set up that way without issue.

Linux comes in a wide range of distributions, so it is hard to make universal claims. One area where security defaults need to improve is sandboxing.

If security is a major concern, bwrap or firejail can easily provide that extra sandboxing.

NixOS and GuixSD make it quite trivial to sandbox applications in a declarative fashion using firejail.

An alternative is to use e.g. Flatpak, which gets you sandboxing for free via bwrap. But I am not a fan of application images that bypass package management.

Assuming you're already running a PC with a desktop OS, you can use virtualization to 'get your toe wet' and try linux without diving in entirely with a real install. On windows virtualbox is free for non-commercial use and pretty simple to set up.

If you've got a spare drive then install it on that leaving your existing install alone, or if you have spare space on your existing drive you can shrink a partition (backup important data first) and set up a multi-boot