10 fundamental differences between Linux and Windows
section: windows, for your questions: KezNews forum, 2.9.2008
Tip: Click here to update all your PC's outdated driversI have been around the Linux community for more than 10 years now. From the very beginning, I have known that there are basic differences between Linux and Windows that will always set them apart.
This is not, in the least, to say one is better than the other. It’s just to say that they are fundamentally different. Many people, looking from the view of one operating system or the other, don’t quite get the differences between these two powerhouses. So I decided it might serve the public well to list 10 of the primary differences between Linux and Windows.
1: Full access vs. no access
2: Licensing freedom vs. licensing restrictions
3: Online peer support vs. paid help-desk support
4: Full vs. partial hardware support
5: Command line vs. no command line
6: Centralized vs. noncentralized application installation
7: Flexibility vs. rigidity
8: Fanboys vs. corporate types
9: Automated vs. nonautomated removable media
10: Multilayered run levels vs. a single-layered run level
Those are 10 fundamental differences between Linux and Windows. You can decide for yourself whether you think those differences give the advantage to one operating system or the other. Me? Well I think my reputation (and opinion) precedes me, so I probably don’t need to say I feel strongly that the advantage leans toward Linux.
source:
blogs.techrepublic.com.com
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Comments(27)
because you have been using linux so long that you still can compare differences
wrongly... few are true, but most are false... you should try windows a bit longer before
you do a comparison
go fuc k yourself keznews you morons stop posting this antivista shit
you guys are
so stupid in every way
full hardware support my ass ahahah retards
if i wanted a biased view of a os overview i would read the apple.com forums.
my, some people on here are just so retarded that they will attack anything the see as a
threat to their god. get a life vista retards. he didn't say which was which. you assumed
that he was talking against vista.
btw, i've used windows from the started and
have also used linux and let me tell you, he's got much of it right.
read the full topic before you post comments morons.
link:
http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=406
summary:
i have been
around the linux community for more than 10 years now. from the very beginning, i have
known that there are basic differences between linux and windows that will always set them
apart. this is not, in the least, to say one is better than the other. it’s just to say
that they are fundamentally different. many people, looking from the view of one operating
system or the other, don’t quite get the differences between these two powerhouses. so i
decided it might serve the public well to list 10 of the primary differences between linux
and windows.
note: this information is also available as a pdf download.
#1: full access vs. no access
having access to the source code is probably the
single most significant difference between linux and windows. the fact that linux belongs
to the gnu public license ensures that users (of all sorts) can access (and alter) the
code to the very kernel that serves as the foundation of the linux operating system. you
want to peer at the windows code? good luck. unless you are a member of a very select (and
elite, to many) group, you will never lay eyes on code making up the windows operating
system.
you can look at this from both sides of the fence. some say giving the
public access to the code opens the operating system (and the software that runs on top of
it) to malicious developers who will take advantage of any weakness they find. others say
that having full access to the code helps bring about faster improvements and bug fixes to
keep those malicious developers from being able to bring the system down. i have, on
occasion, dipped into the code of one linux application or another, and when all was said
and done, was happy with the results. could i have done that with a closed-source windows
application? no.
#2: licensing freedom vs. licensing restrictions
along
with access comes the difference between the licenses. i’m sure that every it professional
could go on and on about licensing of pc software. but let’s just look at the key aspect
of the licenses (without getting into legalese). with a linux gpl-licensed operating
system, you are free to modify that software and use and even republish or sell it (so
long as you make the code available). also, with the gpl, you can download a single copy
of a linux distribution (or application) and install it on as many machines as you like.
with the microsoft license, you can do none of the above. you are bound to the number of
licenses you purchase, so if you purchase 10 licenses, you can legally install that
operating system (or application) on only 10 machines.
#3: online peer support vs.
paid help-desk support
this is one issue where most companies turn their backs
on linux. but it’s really not necessary. with linux, you have the support of a huge
community via forums, online search, and plenty of dedicated web sites. and of course, if
you feel the need, you can purchase support contracts from some of the bigger linux
companies (red hat and novell for instance).
however, when you use the peer
support inherent in linux, you do fall prey to time. you could have an issue with
something, send out e-mail to a mailing list or post on a forum, and within 10 minutes be
flooded with suggestions. or these suggestions could take hours of days to come in. it
seems all up to chance sometimes. still, generally speaking, most problems with linux have
been encountered and documented. so chances are good you’ll find your solution fairly
quickly.
on the other side of the coin is support for windows. yes, you can go
the same route with microsoft and depend upon your peers for solutions. there are just as
many help sites/lists/forums for windows as there are for linux. and you can purchase
support from microsoft itself. most corporate higher-ups easily fall victim to the safety
net that having a support contract b
full vs. partial hardware support?????????
no way!!!!!
harware limited
mao. how long ago did you use linux? hardware support is very good now. its better than
vista's.
ever tried a randomly picked usb-bluetooth pen on windows? you have to install the
drivers almost always. linux recognizes the hardware and is set up and working without any
need for the drivers cd nor the operating system disk (windows isn't asking it any more,
as it keeps a copy of all the contents in the i386 folder). i used windows for about 15
years and linux in the last 3. migration is not easy at all, but after a while... in my
opinion it's worth trying. one last thought: linux support is growing much faster than
windows support. if you can say now that windows is better, we'll see in 6 months or
more. people developing linux (for free, in spare time) is in much grater number than
windows paid employers.
it's a matter of time...
i swear... vista lovers are getting as bad a apple lovers.
what's linux?
linux does not support as many pieces of hardware as windows does, end of.
has a system builder i'm often asked to install linux on a new system because they want
to save £100. they soon ring up a week later wanting windows on it because they can't get
to grips with it because its simply not user friendly enough compared to windows. linux as
a long way to go.
linux is great but if u use commercial software like autocad or 3d max ....etc you will
not find a good alternatives also file names case sensitivity is not useful all the way ..
i've been using linux, in different forms and flavors (mandrake, back in 2003, ubuntu
since 2006) and i've seen tremendous improvements in both usability and hardware
compatibility in just a few years. most people who talk linux down have basically never
used it for any significant lenght of time, if ever. one thing that most so-called
"windows gurus" out there find difficutlt (i know, i used to be one) is the fact that
linux is not windows, and that means that they need to start from scratch. that all they
so painfully learned in the past, about the windows environment, is now for the most part
obsolete or useless. and that's a very scary thing for a lot of people... for my part,
i've never used vista and have no plans to do so any time soon. i run linux 99.99% of the
time, and if the need arises, i just fire-up virtualbox and open a win xp session right on
my ubuntu desktop...
pix
if you're using windows xp anyway then why not just use windows xp?? linux and mac
users kill me with that. i thought the purpose of using linux or mac was to get away from
windows altogether. it's apparent that windows is still the os of choice, even with so
called linux and mac fans.
i was on a plane the other day and a guy next to me
(mr. self important) brings out his mac gear. he had a it all. the macbook, ipod, etc.
and out of the corner of my eye i see him booting windows on his mac! classic!
linux s ucks! i tried it. suse, ubuntu, whatever else. it is completely
user-unfriendly. hardware support is virtually nill. for any decent piece of hardware
you still need a driver if you can find it. then good luck trying to install it and
getting it to work. linux is nowhere near ready for the masses. it's lightyears behind
all other os's in usability and compatibility. it's nothing more than a hobbyist's os.
most people's first os is windows, so the user friendlyness is just based on how much an
os looks like it. if you still want to learn something (i understand at all those who
"don't have time to learn" this and that feature), you have to test and use for a while
an os. it's obviuos that something you don't know isn't friendly to you. once you've
tested the three main gui os out there, you'll probably stay with osx or a linux flavour
before switching back to windows. for sure, there aren't as many (and as good) games for
linux and macos, maybe because those are mainly aimed at specific working purposes. xpsp2
is perfect for playing and for win-only softwares (autocad, 3dsmax and many others, as
said by ak).
you're a tard if the 10 points on that list are your top priorities.
nobody cares
about help desk services or licensing.
normal people care about 3 things:
1. functionality - something linux has very little of.
can linux run any decent
games?
can it play licensed high def stuff?
can it run ms office practically?
(emulators and third party crapware don't count)
can it run the 90% of apps out
there that were made for windows?
no. and it never will. linux will always be a
server os.
2. performance - something linux fails at when it comes to anything
but text based stuff.
because apps and drivers are programmed by teenagers, you
don't get any optimization when it comes to things where knowledge in that field is
needed.
(e.g. a shitty clone of a 3d windows game)
3. content - when
something is made for a computer, it's made for windows.
if i go out and by some
weird piece of hardware like the track ir, i can know that no matter how advanced the
drivers and software are, it will run on windows.
when things like hd
technology are created, you know they're going to work on windows.
windows
runs things companies make for computers. with linux you need to wait for some kid to
attempt to program some shitty implementation for it.
10 points of bullshit noone cares about in an os.
where's the 10 million things
windows can do but linux can't?
at the end of the day, whether you're a
programmer or user,
it doesn't even matter that windows is a better os.
you use
windows because you're confident it will always pwn in marketshare and everyone will
always use/support it above anything else.
because other people use it, you use
it. this creates a loop that means windows will always retain marketshare.
the
only way linux is ever going to challenge windows is if say, windows 7 source was leaked
and someone made an linux-like open source windows port that ran all the same apps.
os's are a matter of choice and intelligence, let the person have his review without any
stupid comments, no wonder the world is the way it is.
choose which you have more:
$$$$ = windows (everything is buyable)
time = linux
(everything needs time to make it work)
have you copied this from zdnet.com or is it the other way around?
any opinion has an opposite.any.
linux is still better. hands down.
all hd content is created on a mac!
linux is far superior to windows!
i've
used ubuntu and mandrake for years with no major problems. i don't need to use ms office
when openoffice is available free. i prefer to spend my money on good wine instead of
license fees!
using linux is like using ms-dos from the 1980's.i use xp,vista,win server 2008 with no
problems.vista haters are people
with inferior machines,you cant put a ferrari
engine in ford model t and expect the same performance
vista is yet another cash grab from ms. windows 3, 3.1, window nt, win 97, win 98, me,
xp and now vista?
each is more bloated then the past, rarely any better, stringing
customers along like heroine addicts, just one more fix....
the era of the
monopolies stringing us out is coming to an end.
better business models from
companies like google and sun are leading us from the dark.
more software and
content is going to be created on web-based servers so we can access this through smaller
portable devices.
at the moment firefox imo is far greater the explorer and
firefox for linux is better then the xp version.
as more people shift from
using xp, some will upgrade to vista and curse, some will switch to mac, and some will
come to linux.
when more companies add linux versions or create online versions
of their software this will truely be the death knell of microsoft.
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Inaccurate comparison
By CibehGuaiLAN on 03.09.2008 - 05:09