One of the tech video content creators that are fairly popular among tech-tubers, Mental Outlaw, has done a review of QubesOS in his latest video: Qubes OS - First Impressions
One thing that grabbed my attention was him claiming that he chose and made his dom0 to be a debian based one, although as far as I know, dom0 can only be based on fedora.
He also mentioned some possible future review topics regarding QubesOS that he might further do in the future.
Overall, nice to get some attention from the wider part of the tech-tube community. This should bring new users and possbily new contributors to the QubesOS.
“One thing that grabbed my attention was him claiming that he chose and made his dom0 to be a debian based one, although as far as I know, dom0 can only be based on fedora.”
He changed his default disposable vm for dom0 and thought it changed the os dom0 was using.
I think it is possible to do that if you build Qubes OS from start but I’m not sure. One thing I’m sure is that compiling something is not new to “james”(Maybe it is his real name)
It’s possible to use a different distribution, but it’s not a good idea. If you change the Linux distribution, you adopt all the responsibilities in terms of stability and security.
You shouldn’t be running any software in dom0, it really shouldn’t matter which distribution is used.
Mental Outlaw dropped another review of Qubes today, which made it into the popular feed of the invidious instance I use (youtube link: /watch?v=uRBgQAwRagQ). Also available on Odysee:
Decent video quality as usual from him, but there were way too many comparisons to Tails. Qubes isn’t even in the same category as Tails. They don’t even do the same things.
The applications for Qubes OS go way beyond being “paranoid”, whatever that means.
It’s disappointing that being “careful” gets branded as being “paranoid”.
Honestly, I have yet to see any videos about Qubes OS that aren’t centred around “The glowies are out to get me!”, which isn’t exactly fair…
My thoughts exactly. The term “paranoid” suggests a different audience from those who regularly contribute to the Qubes forum. While the term “Ultra Paranoid” may capture the attention of an algorithmically manipulated audience, it falls flat here. I highly doubt a video for the “Ultra Savvy and Prudent,” that demonstrates the full power of Qubes, would garner much attention on Youtube, even though I’d do my best to amplify it!
Most certainly true. Definitely not disputing this.
I’m taking issue with the way Qubes OS seems to be constantly branded as this “OS for people who obviously have something to hide”, similar to the way the Tor network gets branded “the internet for criminals”, which it isn’t…
It goes back to the old “Knives can be used by both murderers and chefs, but we don’t ban knives…” argument.
What Qubes OS actually is, is probably the best UI for VMs to date, along with so many security features implemented by default, that the user doesn’t have to feel like they’re “walking on eggshells” when doing anything on their machine. And, most importantly, if any aspect of those features are not to your liking, you can change them, which is absolutely glorious.
…and I just wish someone would make a video focusing on this instead…
I think people that watch his video understand the point his is making.
From the official documentation, this is the target demography of Qubes OS
Qubes provides practical, usable security to vulnerable and actively-targeted individuals, such as journalists, activists, whistleblowers, and researchers.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with assuming that people are using Qubes OS to keep their data safe/hidden.
I think VMWare, Proxmox, Boxes, or VirtualBox are a lot easier to use than Qubes OS, so I don’t really see how it can be the best UI for running VMs, and I don’t think anyone (except for Qubes OS users) sees Qubes OS as the go-to solution for running VMs.
Have you read the comments on YouTube?
I tried Qubes OS on a laptop once as an experiment. Really upped my opsec as I avoided using my computer at every opportunity so I didn’t have to deal with Qubes OS
Qubes OS in incredibly difficult to use for most people, many don’t even manage to install it, and many of the ones that do don’t want to commit to learn to use it.
Saying that people use it because they “like VMs and security” seem more disingenuous than saying people use it because they are paranoid, even if both statements are false.
