Qubes OS – an operating system that sets the bar high for security and privacy has announced that they now accept Monero (XMR) donations. Qubes OS is an operating system that is built for virtualization of different operating systems. Unlike most other operating systems, you don’t have to install virtual machine software in Qubes.
Why this matters: Monero’s philosophy is that privacy is essential to protecting democracy and that it is a basic human right. Qubes also adheres to this philosophy. Qubes is loved by whistleblowers, journalists, and the Freedom of the Press foundation. Monero has also been protecting user privacy, so it makes sense that Qubes’ privacy-conscious supporters can donate privately.
You can spin up an instance/installation of virtually any OS (including but not limited to Windows, Fedora, Ubuntu, Whonix and Debian) in Qubes. Each instance is called a Qube and it is thoroughly isolated from the other systems on your computer. Qubes also isolates networking, USB, microphones, and other peripherals in such a way that you can prevent apps or the OS itself from accessing anything that you don’t want it to.
This provides strong security and privacy at a level that isn’t possible in other operating systems. You could for example have a Qube for personal use, a Qube for work, a Qube for browsing the Internet or trying apps/websites that you don’t trust, and a Qube only for trusted critical things such as banking, cryptocurrency, etc.
A key reason that Qubes is able to make this feasible is the fact that its interface enables you to start up or shut down any of your Qubes with one click. Qubes also don’t suffer from the poor performance of conventional virtual machine software. It ran nicely on my 8th generation i3 processor. The catch is that it isn’t the most user-friendly way to run a virtual machine.
