Microsoft Vs Ubuntu (Linux)

[TonyG]

After years of use, I conclude with any windows operating system, it becomes slower over time, I notice that some virus checkers/Firewalls are making this even more painful.

Licencing issues and office/microsoft updates are also contributing to this, making using Microsoft, become painful and almost pointless for day to day stuff.

 

I have recently switched to (free) Ubuntu and am pleasantly surprised, the more I use this and its free apps (compatable office and email etc) the less I use MS, I also noted that dual booting I can always switch back if needed, I like the way Ubuntu imports your settings into its Operating system, and the way you can still view files in your Microsoft partition when you use dual boot.

 

I wont be switching back unless there are apps that wont run in Ubuntu.

[Match]

TBH I have just also installed Kubunto, a linux based OS, this mainly because of the fact that Google is developing a Linux based OS, and with the increasing popularity of Linux, and the growing availability of applications, I can see in the near futur Linux becoming a serious contender to Windows, especially with the current cost of windows compared to linux.

 

Unfortunately though as I say I have just installed it and basically not really spent more than a couple of hours playing with it, so can't really say as yet if I think it will replace windows on my system just yet.

[halo45121]

I am running 9.10 on my other laptop as the only OS. I like it a lot, it seems so much simpler than Windows, and yet there is a lot of strength for web browsing, media, and some games here and there. I always remember how much I dislike Windows whenever I use it. It feels so cluttered once your used to Ubuntu. But yeah, OS X and Windows better watch their backs. Dell even makes several non-netbooks that run Ubuntu now.

[Shellack]

Linux is customizable in a way that Windows is not. For one, the user interface, while similar in concept, varies in detail from distribution to distribution. For example, the task bar may default to being on the top or the bottom. Also, there are many special purpose versions of Linux above and beyond the full blown distributions.

 

The flavors of Linux are referred to as distributions (often shortened to "distros"). All the Linux distributions released around the same time frame will use the same kernel (the guts of the Operating System). They differ in the add-on software provided, GUI, install process, price, documentation and technical support. Both Linux and Windows come in desktop and server editions.

 

However most developers, hackers, gurus will have both laying around, heck some of them may even have a copy of ReactOS which is a complete re-write of the Windows source code by a group of enthusiasts who wanted something better than the bloated chunky API coded by Redmond.

 

The biggest crutch against Linux is it is not easy to get to grips with if your not used to using it, it's possible to bork or kill your own machine from installing the wrong package from an on-line repository or archive. Making a mistake in windows usually gives you an error message, however making a mistake on linux can lead to the dreaded kernel panic or worse.

 

The thing in Linux's favor is it runs on both PC & Mac whereas PC & Mac software wont run on each other due to constraints put on there respective operating systems by there manufacturer. There are Software hacks you can do to run those system on not native hardware but why bother when Linux presents a far easier solution as it runs on both.

 

Linux used to be all shell driven, meaning it used to be all command line, X-Windows or X11 only came along later. When Microsoft was dominating the market with Windows98SE and NT4 Linux was very much still in its infancy with most people oblivious to it's existence. (I think I still have a copy of the old 2.5beta Kernel laying around on CD somewhere!) Windows has something akin to 200 or so commands that you can learn and pass to the DOS command prompt whereas Linux has so many commands and functions you could spend your lifetime reading and still find yourself not having covered every subject.;)

 

To improve your overall experience of Linux I advocate trying out all the different types of Desktop, there are a fair few to choose from, some offering more speed than others, others being maybe a bit slower but more functional in terms of graphics and point and click. The best thing anyone new to Linux can do is start to familiarize themselves with the Terminal, as that is where - as your experience grows you'll find you'll end up spending 99.5% of your time. The other .5 will probably be spent surfing on the Internet. :p

[jamiestuart]

I like linux because all the programs/services have plain config files and command line ability to do things

 

Great when used with cron etc

[jwalter]

Linux has been the talk of hte town in the recent times and is bound to get more and more popular because of its usability, you can model the OS to behave the way you want it to. It also provides a better protection than the Windows. Linux also help you to enhance the look of your OS graphically and OpenOffice doesn't allow you to miss MS Office even for a little while. There are even better audio and video players in Linux, thus Linux is a complete package of a good OS.

[Tootech]

Another alternative I have tried recently is PC-BSD 8.0. It is based on Unix, very stable, very secure.

 

Looks nice and runs well, just not everyones cup of tea.

 

Worth a look for all those computer geeks out there - you know who you are :rolleyes:

 

PC-BSD - Home

[Armageddon]

am gonna download that lol

[jimmytazz]

i am also using both OS on my system windows xp with ubuntu 10.10.... i think linux will rule over all os in future cause its open source and continuously working to make better and better their distributions.. now they have "wine" which can run all windows software on linux so its near that people ll migrate towards Linux, and save their money paying for windows with no security ....:cool:

[Pixelkitten]

Jimmytazz is right about the community effort that goes into improving Linux-based OS'es, rather than the profit that Microsoft and Apple is expecting.

However, Wine isn't able to run "all" windows software, as it doesn't support programs written for the old DOS-based windows versions. This leaves a lot of old-school games outside, and a lot of other games doesn't work at all, or works a bit slow. This will probably improve with time, but currently Linux works best with Linux-programs and Windows with Windows-programs.