If I'm reading this article correctly, the reason that the other laptops went down so quickly, & the Sony running Ubuntu fared the best is that the volunteer "hackers" just didn't feel like messing with the Ubuntu install. Doesn't surprise me in the least.

"'It was actually a lack of interest' on the part of the PWN to OWN contestants, Forslof said. '[Shane Macaulay's] exploit would have worked on Linux. He could have knocked it over. But [the contestants] get a lot more mileage out of attacks on the Mac or Windows,' she continued."