why Linux is better than window

A

alohanema

New Member
This is a post of Switch to linux from Myspace
Linux is better than Windows because ...
View linux screenshot at: http://linuxscreenshot.blogspot.com/ to choose a right distro for you.

1. Linux screen blankers don't turn your PC into a Microsoft ad.

2. It isn't fair to say the Windows GUI is a poor copy of X-windows. Actually it's a poor copy of the Mac.

3. Windows, being a commercial product, is so ridiculously insecure an undergraduate student in the Phillipines could accidentally bring down millions of systems. Microsoft's answer to this was that if anyone is stupid enough to click on an icon generated by Microsoft's own software, they deserve what they get. Unix and Linux have not had a self-propagating virus or worm in over 10 years. Of course Windophiles will say that's only because no one ever tries to write a Unix virus, but we know of a few people in Redmond who would do it if they could. Unix was used for years at universities where many of the authorized users were students intentionally trying to crash the system. Now that's reliability

4. You are charged between $100 and $200 for Windows every time you buy a PC (Microsoft dosen't allow you to know exactly how much) even if you're replacing a PC that already has Windows. If you want to run a server you have to pay extra for Windows NT. Then you have to pay extra for a server. With Linux, everything is included for one price. And that price is nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero.

5. Windows protects you from the fearsome experience of being able to see exactly how the operating system works. Just "Wait while setup prepares the Install Shield Wizard".

6. With Linux the source code is included. With Windows having the source code would be illegal, (unless you pay a lot more than you already pay, and even then Microsoft developers get more than you do).

7. Windows requires you agree to a license that no one has ever had the endurance to read all the way through. For all you know, it might include a demand for your first born child. With Linux, the license says: "You can do anything you want with this software. Enjoy."

8. Linux is fully compatible with the Posix standard. Windows is partially compatible with earlier versions of Windows.

9. Unix mail allows you to communicate with anyone. Microsoft mail allows you to communicate with anyone who also has Microsoft Mail. (Yes, we know you can manually enter an SMTP address in a message, but the addressing database is designed to make it virtually impossible to ensure that other users will automatically send to the SMTP address. You can forward your mail, but then reply dowsn't work.)

10. Linus Torvalds is a system programming specialist (and a nice guy) who spent 7 years as a graduate student in Helsinki so he could develop Linux for you. Bill Gates is a marketing specialist (and an egotist) who built a 40 room house with your money.

11. Linux allows you to reboot when you want to. Windows forces you to reboot when you install new software, try to actually use your software, or sometimes just because the sky is blue. - contributed by Derric Tubbs

12. Linux runs on way more hardware than Windoze: SPARC, MIPS, ARM, PowerPC, Alph a, etc. Windoze runs on x86, The NT flavour runs on one real processor in addition (Alpha). That's a small pool of hardware to base a future on, especially as even Intel has calculated that x86 is approaching end-of-life. -- contributed by Willem de Lind van Wijngaarden

13 The Navy's "Smart Ship" based on Windows NT failed so totally it had to be TOWED BACK TO PORT TWICE just because the computers wouldn't work. (This has not happened with another Navy project, a Unix-based submarine control system.) But the DOD still insists on using Microsoft as a "sole source" even though "sole source" procurement is supposed to be avoided and many of its own people would like to use software that's cheaper and better.

14. Microsoft won't let anyone look at its algorithms, so it took painstaking study to determine that the statistical procedures in Excel are inaccurate, invalidating the results of anyone unwise enough to use it. Of course you won't see this in a Microsoft ad. (McCullough, BD, Computational Statistics and Data Analysis v31 (1999) 27-37.)

15. Linus Torvalds didn't have to pay off George Bush's staff to ensure Bush will drop the Justice Department suit against Microsoft if he's elected. ("Ralph Reed, a senior consultant to Gov. George W. Bush's presidential campaign, [and former head of the Christian Coalition] apologized today for lobbying the governor on behalf of the Microsoft Corporation and promised not to lobby him again." -- New York Times, 4-11-00)

16. NT means "not today".
 
to each his own. i didnt read it i just read the title and have you got any pc vs mac? haha i'd like to see that one! :)
 
I can easily counter each one of those statements with reasons why windows is good.

The problem is, that the direction MS is going is what concerns me the most. With DRM, and disabling features for money, etc.
 
Two very good reasons why I haven't switched to Linux......

1. Absolutely no mainstream gaming capablities unless you subscribe to a substitute..... *Edit* aka. Cedega (WINE, in my books, doesn't count.....)


2. Absolutely BIGGEST reason: Absolutely no X-fi driver support.... (May see some later this year.....)
 
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That highly depends on what games you play. For example, ID ports all their games over to Linux. Lots of major games get ported over to Linux they just aren't released to it.

WINE has come a long and will only get better.

Driver support is not Linux's fault either, it is the developer. What you do see though in Linux is the community trying to create their own open source drivers, which never happens in the windows realm.

I am using Linux right now as I am typing this and I think that Linux for the most part is more productive and better than pretty much anything in windows, with the exception of gaming. I don't game as much as I used to though, plus I kind of get tired playing 14 year olds online all the time in every game I play.
 
Hi guys, maybe the topic title would have been more better if its "which is much better linux or windows" right?(still its not an original topic anymore) but us(users) can trigger out the real deficiencies of both Windows and Linux far better than just apprehending their advantage against each other ^_^:)

For me both can be very good in specific cases.

Linux(open source software development, servers, networking)
Windows(games, interactivity, user friendliness)

Well there's a lot more.. Just pointed out my opinion
 
alohanema said:
2. It isn't fair to say the Windows GUI is a poor copy of X-windows. Actually it's a poor copy of the Mac.
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Since apple and x-windows were both readily available before windows hit the market, that speaks something to their quality if a late-comer overtook both in market share.

I wont base my o/s choice on pity for other companies who blew their head start. There's a reason windows is #1, and i don't mind paying for perfection.
 
Windows is #1 because it comes pre-installed on the majority of machines.

As for perfection... if Windows is so perfect, why do people use MAC OS's, Linux, BSD, Solaris etc. ?

I've noticed you're very pro Windows and that makes you biased in my opinion.
 
XP was pretty solid, especially after SP1, and SP2 made it even better.

Vista is a steaming pile of crap. It is:

1) way over priced
2) sloppy and demanding
3) breaks compatibility with tons of existing technologies
4) does not play nice with other platforms
5) has caused some known network issues, ie SMB2
6) Is a forced upgrade if you want DX10
7) Does not out perform XP in any way shape or form
8) Heavy with DRM

I could go on and on about how much vista sucks, and on top of that, it has been in development for 6 years! 6 years, and they couldn't do it right! Wow, is all I have to say. I use windows because I am forced to, not because it is a superior product. Windows XP, OTOH, is pretty solid as far as windows goes and I still run that on my PC at home. My copy of vista ultimate is still shrink wrapped sitting on my desk. I installed vista business edition on my desktop at work, only because I work IT for a living and I will be forced to support this OS someday, might as well learn it now before we deploy it.

MS has lots of money so no doubt they can pay some of the best people to program for them. However, I think that they are just too big, and when you have so many products and so many developers there can be lots of project management issues. I think MS needs to quit trying to get into everything and just focus on their OS. I mean over the last few years they have come out with: XP home, XP Pro, server 2k3, exchange 2003/07, vista (and all its counter parts), tablet edition, media center edition, server 2000, advanced server 2000, office 2000, office xp, office 2k3, office 2007, so on and so forth. I mean if they just focus on one thing at a time maybe their OS wouldn't have gone down hill so much.

As for linux, well lets just say that a lot of the same applies. You have many different FOSS license, GNU/GPL/BSD etc. Now certain distros may only work with certain things under certain licenses, because that is how they are designed. Google search for ice weasel and you will see what I am talking about. Other problems with linux is, that some things work great out of the box and others do not. If you do not know your way around linux then it will be really hard for you editing the conf files, or locking down permissions because it is just different. However, it is not by any means less effective. I just started learning shell scripts, and I wrote a script the other day that backs up my home directory every night to a network share, and if the back up fails it emails me and lets me know it failed. I haven't worked out all the kinks in it yet because I am just starting to learn shell scripting, but its only a few lines of code compared to having to run a full blown application to automate such mundane tasks.
 
why is linux better? because all the fanbois say so.....seriously what a lame list. I know linux has its place and is great for the server market but all the linux evangelism gets really old. its a bit over the top.
 
psych0fish said:
why is linux better? because all the fanbois say so.....seriously what a lame list. I know linux has its place and is great for the server market but all the linux evangelism gets really old. its a bit over the top.
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well what pushed me over is vista and how bad it sucks. I am not an elitist typically because I use os x/windows/linux about equally. Linux I use to set up file servers, network security, desktop OS. I use windows to pretty much play video games. I use my mac for everything I do at work since it runs every OS.

The same argument can be said about MS fanboys, and I haven't really read any articles that actually take an unbiased looked at what each has to offer, it basically comes down to shut up, no you shut up type of arguing about which is best.
 
Simon@Linux said:
As for perfection... if Windows is so perfect, why do people use MAC OS's, Linux, BSD, Solaris etc. ?
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it's because people think it's cool to do something that other people don't do.

FACT: people will listen to crap music, for no reason other than the fact that it's underground and most people haven't heard of it, regardless of whether or not it's good.

FACT: people will watch crap movies, just because they bombed at the box office, therefore creating a community of fans that they can call their own

FACT: people will champion a lesser operating system for no reason other than the fact that most people have never seen it, or used it, and they feel like they're doing something "Cool"

FACT: The velvet underground is faux art-music, the evil dead films are garbage, and linux and mac take a backseat to windows.

And yes, i'm biased toward windows. But i don't like eating rotten food or smoking brown weed either, and nobody's faulting me for that. Why settle for 2nd best?
 
And if anyone questions my logic, all i can say is take a look at apple's advertising campaigns.

"Macs are cool, young college kids"
"PC's are old, boring office workers"

Linux and mac get the bulk of their business from people who fancy themselves as "Trendsetters"

And how about you, simon@linux, both your screen name and avatar advertise the fact that you use linux.

It's not enough to simply USE linux, you want everyone to know it, too.

You wouldn't do that unless you thought it was "cool"
 
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heyman421 said:
it's because people think it's cool to do something that other people don't do.

FACT: people will listen to crap music, for no reason other than the fact that it's underground and most people haven't heard of it, regardless of whether or not it's good.

FACT: people will watch crap movies, just because they bombed at the box office, therefore creating a community of fans that they can call their own

FACT: people will champion a lesser operating system for no reason other than the fact that most people have never seen it, or used it, and they feel like they're doing something "Cool"

FACT: The velvet underground is faux art-music, the evil dead films are garbage, and linux and mac take a backseat to windows.

And yes, i'm biased toward windows. But i don't like eating rotten food or smoking brown weed either, and nobody's faulting me for that. Why settle for 2nd best?
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well said.

And for the record I have nothing against osx or linux. I have used both and I particularly like OSX....its pretty solid. Though linux was a nightmare every step of the way......

you have to config it, then you have to write some shell scripts, update your rpms. You have to partition your drives, and patch your kernel. compile your binaries. check your version dependencies, probably do that once or twice. its just so easy. its just so simple. I don't see why most peopel don't run linux. thank god they don't, cuz then they would all be supervilians.
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:)

heyman421 said:
take a look at apple's advertising campaigns.

"Macs are cool, young college kids"
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The Irony is that Justin Long is B list movie actor, while John Hodgman is an author and humorist whose work has been published in the The Paris Review, The New York Times Magazine, and McSweeney's Quarterly Concern. He has also contributed to Public Radio International’s This American Life, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Wiretap and, of late, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (...)
 
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heyman421 said:
And how about you, simon@linux, both your screen name and avatar advertise the fact that you use linux.

It's not enough to simply USE linux, you want everyone to know it, too.

You wouldn't do that unless you thought it was "cool"
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I don't do "cool" maybe I'm too old.

I advertise it because it's a viable alternative that many people just write off because of misinformation. The more people that use Linux and talk about it, the more people become interested and try it. Some people think Windows is there ONLY choice.
 
I use Windows, only. But that is about to change, as I am about to jump into Linux, in my next PC, which will dually Linux and Vista. Xandros is a Linux OS, right? It is as if I am enslaved to keep using Windows, I am a Gamer. I wish they would make some type of Gaming OS.
 
heyman421 said:
it's because people think it's cool to do something that other people don't do.

FACT: people will listen to crap music, for no reason other than the fact that it's underground and most people haven't heard of it, regardless of whether or not it's good.

FACT: people will watch crap movies, just because they bombed at the box office, therefore creating a community of fans that they can call their own

FACT: people will champion a lesser operating system for no reason other than the fact that most people have never seen it, or used it, and they feel like they're doing something "Cool"

FACT: The velvet underground is faux art-music, the evil dead films are garbage, and linux and mac take a backseat to windows.

And yes, i'm biased toward windows. But i don't like eating rotten food or smoking brown weed either, and nobody's faulting me for that. Why settle for 2nd best?
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LOL, who are you Dwight Schrute?

FACT: People are ignorant!

If windows was so superior then why are some major manufacturers starting to preinstall Linux on their machines at the factory? You can now order your Dell with Linux. There is definitely a small demand which is growing of people who are sick of using windows. Macs have had market share increases every year since OS X came out, and it keeps growing.

There are many ways to win over a market, and being the best product isn't one of them as you mentioned by your FACT statements. However, assuming that people do stuff because they want to be cool is kind of asinine in a sense when talking about technology. Most people could care less of how something works, they just want it to work. You are comparing pop culture to computers, and granted apple has made its own pop culture in a way with the iPod, iPhone, ITMS, etc.

The reason they advertise the mac as being more fun because out of the box you can:

1) Record and master audio tracks
2) Author a DVD with menus
3) Edit video
4) Play a DVD (yeah windows STILL can't do this out of the box!)
5) video chat
6) Conect with built in wifi and bluetooth

I have come to the conclusion that the windows platform is better for 2 things. 1) Video games - I will admit most video game technologies are developed for the windows environment 2) Quickbooks - there is no mac version of quick books

I just want to point out that a Mac can do everything a windows machine can do except for the 2 things I mentioned previously. There is a mac version of everything else out there, and you have open source options which saves you money.

Lets now look at Linux. Microsoft just bought a ginormous amount of security technology (approx 300 million worth) from Novell. Novell, as some of you already know, acquired SuSe Linux a few years back. Novell has migrated netware into the Linux environment. Windows is buying security technology from Linux, that should say something right there. However, security really is a non issue with most users these days. People expect to get spyware and viruses on their systems, they accept this because windows is a poorly coded OS from a security stand point. They want dvds, music, video games, ipods, internet and email. All of these can be done with Linux. Also, the days of compiling are almost over. I mean sure you still have the option of downloading the binary yourself and compiling it, or you can just use some of the built in technologies like APT, YUM, rug, Yast, etc which will automatically download and install all dependencies needed for an application. There are even GUI based versions now like SuSe's Zen installer.

The fact of the matter is, that whenever someone writes an article about which is best they are almsot always bias. Most windows users hate everything else, and most mac users hate windows. This is pretty much because no one wants any change. The fact of the matter really is, if you can navigate yourself around in windows, it would take you a matter of days to navigate yourself around in OS X. OS X is built off of the BSD kernel and is a form of Unix, which in many ways the same as Linux.

So, really once Linux comes out with a gui based system that operates like windows, and runs quick books and video games, there will really be no reason to run windows at all, unless you really wanted to.
 
Simon@Linux said:
I don't do "cool" maybe I'm too old.

I advertise it because it's a viable alternative that many people just write off because of misinformation. The more people that use Linux and talk about it, the more people become interested and try it. Some people think Windows is there ONLY choice.
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are you aware of the fact that misinformation goes both ways?

90% of people who i see 'use and talk' about linux claim its better then windows because "windows sucks" and "is expensive". most of the time those are the only things they can say. just saying "it sucks" is not a valid reason and the price can't even be considered in this age of peer to peer networks.

atleast 70% of those poeple are ones who believe that it was windows fault when something went wrong with there pc when it had nothing to do with windows, thus saying "it sucks" without even being able to give a logical reason. one of the funnier things i heard was "i hate windows because it made my hard drive crash" when the crash somehow had nothing to do with the fact he kept the pc in an enclosed cabinate with no ventilation for the heat. other things are crashes due to corrupted files, bad ram, or overclocking that resaults in instibility.

so, before you say that people don't use linux due to misinformation, take a look at how many anti-windows people hate windows over misinformation.


windows ME is said to be the worst operating system ever. even by windows fanboys. i used it for over a year in a pc running game servers 24/7. the only downtime was from power outages a few times during the year. it didn't have a single problem running 24/7 for months at a time. no crashes, no blue screens, no nothing. it was actually a nice OS to use since it would boot up in under 15 secs.




overall, it depends on what you grow up with and learn to use.
people will like the operating system they know how to use. so that said, neither is 'better'.
if somebody (like me) is having no trouble with windows at all, there is no need to switch to linux and go threw the trouble of learning how to do everything on linux that i already know how to do on windows.
 
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