Right now, I'm having an "argument" with a person I know who says that Linux is overall the best OS ever made, and that Windows is a like a hobo on the streets, drinking and being slow..... So I thought I'll come here and ask for all your opinions on it (Preferbly talking rubbish about Linux and praise about Windows so I have ammunition to take back to this person >: D ) But yes, lets keep this friendly, right? P.s apologies if this is already a topic on here.
Lets take a look at this. Say you're running Windows 7, thats about a 10 gibibyte install. A typical Ubuntu Linux install (even with it's 10 tonnes of bloatware) takes up 2.5 gB. linux 1:Windows 0. Now with Ubuntu you get all fancy **** lik...e Gnome, Compiz, Beryll, and about 1000 diff. things you don't need, like bluetooth support when you dont have it. The good thing is, if you had bluetooth, it would work. Windows has Aero, possibly the most resource intensive peice of crap ever created by the hands of man. It also has UAC. Accept or Deny? **** off. Linux has limiting the power of the user, and only giving them hgher permissions through sudo or su. However I'd like to see you install Windows Xp (at the least), on a machine with a 233 Mhz processor and 1gb of Hdd (64mb of memory). It has been done with room to spare using Linux. Also Linux is free, fully customizable, open source, and Ubuntu has free all year round help lines that you don't have to pay for, at all. Also a massive no. of servers run Debian or even one of the BSD's due to thier reliability and stability. Also Windows for the ghey. About a third of what i payed for this computer was to have Windows. Why? "This is the other persons argument."
meh its horses for courses as there is no greatest OS as you should choose what suites you better Linux gives choice, stability, choice, better security, choice, and no cost windows gives better third party software and games
So it sounds like Linux is overall better anyway? Well, if you're looking at it from a IT Experience way..
It depends what your after, there's no definitive answer to this and it's been discussed and frustrations thrown about many times in many places. When at uni I had a Linux box to make my life easier, I studied electronic/computer engineering and as such always had a lot of stuff to move about. By remotely accessing the FTP host on my home pc I used it as a mobile storage, I used the apache server for testing websites, wrote all my java and c/++ on vi, makes life easier for compiling, running, error checking etc. It was old hardware but ran nicely, I got really into it over the years. Now it's not easy to do the above quickly with windows. Linux wins here. Now I'm am end user, a game player, eBay seller and general surfer. I do a bit of photo editing but not masses, but I like pretty graphics, I like ease of use, I don't mind spending £1k on hardware for a decent fast, pretty rig. I hate hassle, I work 12hour days, I don't want to waste my time faffing on a pc, want to sit in front of it and use it. Bingo, Windows wins that argument. Linux is a hassle at the end of the day, it's not quick to just jump into but it's powerful, just not very intuitive. It's not for the masses is all I say, I agree windows is bloated, it's bulky and can be slow, but hardware is now so fast that argument doesn't have such validity. Goodluck playing any games easily too on nix. I like both, I'd run both, but only need one, so atm 7 wins. But saying that I'm just about to get an old mac for messing about with, so perhaps things might change again for me.
You've also got to take into account the fact that (probably) 99% of the computers you work on in the 'outside world' are running windows. I know monopoly doesn't = greater OS however for most computer users they just want something hassle free that works, they don't want to learn how to perform the same thing using 2+ methods. Windows generally does work, it's fairly intuitive, or at least you've grown up using it, and it's got widespread support. Even if linux offers additional (fantastic) customisability, its got a lot to compete against.
Wishful thinking lol but very unlikely that anyone who actually knows/uses Linux will have much, if anything bad to say about it... I even have to admit that while being primarily a Windows user, the little bit of Linux experience I have is enough to make me realize that it owns Windows in every possible category, except maybe gaming--and if my main use actually wasn't gaming I probably wouldn't even use Windows at all. Just to add insult to injury (or, the cherry on top of the cake--whichever way you see it), it's free...
Theres only 3 things currently holding linux back: lack of games, its reputation of being a difficult to use os thats only suitable for programmers and other computer nerds, and most importantly lack of general exposure to average computer users. I've dabbled with linux off and on since around 1998, and its really amazing how far it has come in that time. It took Microsoft more than twice as long to accomplish a similar result with the transition from DOS to Windows 7 and they are still lacking on the security side of things. I can't switch though, I still need Windows until there is as much gaming available on linux, which may never happen. Wine and cedega are not enough.
Choose whatever one suites you best. I run windows because I need to run a lot of 3rd party programs and want to play current games. Now if I were to build a machine that was just going to be used for internet browsing and word documents then it would be Ubuntu because I don't need all the feature that windows offers. Like I said pick what ones suites you and you feel comfortable with
Yep, Linux is great for servers for their reliability, but as a desktop OS? Nah. Definitely not if you have gaming needs. It's hard to beat Windows now with what we have with Windows 7.
10gig vs 2.5gig? Is that even an important stat in the world of 2tb hard drives? If so, isn't DOS the best os ever?
Add hardware support to that list. Is a real pain getting wirless cards to work properly whenever i install a linux distro on anything.
Funny, ndiswrapper will allow you to use Windows drivers nowadays. I finally decided that if I can't run it in Linux, I don't need it. It makes me happier. And with CrossoverGames making headway with DX10, it might mean a fairly good bit of gaming.
Not in my experience. Though i've taken note and now check if the wireless card i am away to buy runs on broadcom and if so avoid it.
Used to have problems with ndiswrapper but everything seems to work fine, although most of the machines I use seem to be supported in the kernal so have no need to use ndiswrapper. 3G dongles used to be an absolute nightmare to get working in Linux, the amount of messing about with the Vodafone software/python dependencies in Debian was enough to put someone off Linux for life. now I just plug the dongle in and it works, be that on Fedora,Debian or Sabayon - doing this in Windows is not possible
Linux is great, but not for most end users. The majority of computer users never want to see a console terminal in their life, or have to deal with hunting for drivers. Windows has the advantage of a GUI that covers all aspects of the OS, and wide-spread compatibility (including software).
This graphic is very interesting and quite pertinent.... http://www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/project_details.cfm?id=392&index=392&domain=
Thing is at least under ubuntu based distros you actually don't need to use the console just about every command can be done through the ui. It's just that if you ask for help or read on a topic the writer will probably be a long term user and more used to doing things through the console and so explains how to do it that way. No doubt puts people off though. I find it easier to learn a system by learning how to do things through the gui as well.
