WEEK13 Ubuntu and Kali

    Over the years many different operating systems have been developed on the base of Linux. Due to its moldability the individual systems are tailored to a certain user-group and thus for a certain set of tasks. Distributions vary from versions for office users to systems for super computers, the range covers all aspects of operating systems. One of the more known systems are Ubuntu and Kali. Whilst Ubuntu focuses on Linux starters, offering a clean user interface and complementary applications such as LibreOffice, media players and browsers, Kali was designed for offensive cybersecurity. It has pre-installed tools that were developed for penetration testing and ethical hacking.

    Kali is being developed by only a small team; thus, they concentrate on the cybersecurity specifications and use an existing operating system as a base. In 2010 and 2011 they used Ubuntu as their base, they since have changed to Debian and kept it. Ubuntu, which was also initiated in 2004, is developed by a community worldwide, with thousands of enthusiasts and experts having contributed to its growth over its lifetime. Its founder Mark Shuttleworth had the mission of creating a social and economic operating system. Social in the sense that it is free and available to everybody and in the economic sense to reduce costs of “professional services”. Differently Kali’s founders, Mati Aharoni and Devon Kearns, designed their software for Kernel Auditing, which is also the origin of its name “KA Linux”, or Kali. The first Kali-version was released in 2013 although the project started much earlier in 2004, with other published versions predating the Kali system, such as Whoppix and BackTrack.

    The basic idea of Linux is to create a free and open-source system that users can develop and modify to their needs, which is also implemented by both parent companies to the systems, Canonical (Ubuntu) and Offensive Security (Kali). The users are allowed to redistribute the product as long as no changes have been made or make changes to the individual version. Both Kali and Ubuntu are run with the GNU General Public License, although some elements of Ubuntu are also open source. This gives their users many freedoms allowing the goal of Linux to prevail. Without effective operating systems such as Ubuntu or Debian more specific software such as Kali would face larger hurdles to achieve their goals.

Linux offers its users and developers a unique opportunity to create a system tailored to specific needs. Through the licenses protecting its free use and companies and individuals increasingly creating higher quality software, a large variety of effective tools is brought into existence. Ubuntu and Kali are just two of the hundreds of products, that show the variety and potential of Linux distributions.