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Linux vs Windows 7 Posted at 4:16pm on Thursday August 20th 2009

It's something of a tradition that we pit the latest version of Windows against our trusty old . This isn't because we want to raise the profile of Windows, or ignite further flamewars on which is better or worse. It's about understanding the market and understanding the competition. Windows is by far the most dominant operating system on the planet, and as Linux users, we need to keep on top of new developments, new technologies and new ideas. This gives Linux the best possible chance to grow and remain relevant. So, if you read our benchmarks comparing Windows 7, Vista and Ubuntu and are looking to find out more on what separates Windows 7 and Linux on the features front, read on...

Both operating systems now occupy a distinctly different part of the market. Microsoft has taken Windows down a purely proprietary route, forging relationships with content providers and hardware vendors that keep full control from the user. Linux is completely open. Out of the box, Linux even boasts better media format support than Windows, and it can be the only way to run older hardware at its fullest potential, especially if there isn't a new driver for Windows 7.

Forewarned is forarmed Over the life span of Windows 7, public concern for privacy, digital rights management and locked-in upgrades should help Linux to grow as an alternative when users want to keep complete control over their own hardware and software. Microsoft is now operating in a considerably different, and more technologically aware, environment than nine years ago when Windows XP was released. The European Commission has spent a lot of time, effort and money hounding Microsoft for its alleged anti-competitive behaviour and this is going to have an impact on Windows 7 in Europe, as well as the user's awareness of the issues surrounding choice and bundling. Many average Windows users, for instance, were unaware that Explorer was only one option for browsing the world wide web. Thanks to the European Commission, When Windows 7 is released in Europe it won't feature any browser at all, and for the first time, Windows users will have to make a choice about what they want to install. And making choices can get addictive.

Round 1: Performance Much has been said about the various performance improvements in Microsoft's next operating system. After the apparent gluttony of Vista hardware requirements, Microsoft has tried to make sure that as many people as possible could attend the upgrade party. Many benchmarks have put Windows 7 performance ahead of both XP and Vista, and we saw some improvements over Vista when we initially benchmarked the open beta earlier in the year. But when we compared the 64-bit version of Windows 7 against its equivalent Ubuntu release, Linux was faster on most of the tests we ran, including boot time, shutdown time and most of the filesystem tests. The only test where Windows 7 was significantly faster than everything else was the Richards benchmark of overall system performance. Amount of time taken to execute the Python Richards benchmark. Measured in milliseconds; less is better. Four months later we performed some of the same tests again, this time pitting the most recent 64-bit Linux distribution (Fedora 11) against the Windows 7 release candidate (build 7100). The most dramatic results for Linux were seen on boot speed, which for the final release of Ubuntu Jaunty measured around 35 seconds, with Fedora 11 close on its heels taking 39 seconds from power-on to desktop. Windows 7, by comparison, took almost twice as long, leaving us waiting 69 seconds from power to desktop. We also found that a default installation of Fedora 11 running the Gnome desktop uses significantly less memory than Windows 7, at only 233MB. Windows uses 458MB, which is nearly twice as much memory.

Compatibility But benchmarks and system monitoring is only a small part of the story. Every fresh Windows install feels fast and responsive, and it's only after several months' constant use that any weaknesses will begin to show. In the several weeks we've been using Windows 7 alongside our Linux boxes, we found it to be much more stable than XP, and snappier than Vista. We did have one problem with a corrupted filesystem while crash testing the machine with a reset, but as this is pre-release software it wouldn't be fair to criticise Windows 7 until the final version is available. There's little doubt that Windows 7 is a solid improvement over its predecessor, and we would guess that most Windows users who were previously reluctant to upgrade XP will be happy with Windows 7 running on a new machine. Windows' greatest asset is the variety of software available, and Microsoft is going to offer an XP compatibility mode as an add-on to Windows 7 Professional and Ultimate. This solution bundles Microsoft's Virtual PC virtualisation software along with a copy and a licence to run XP. It's not native, so it's unlikely to run your favourite games, but it will enable you to run essential XP-only software in a window on your desktop. This stands in stark contrast to the cavalier attitude to backward compatibility that Microsoft took with Vista, and it's a step that's likely to make Windows 7 an essential upgrade for many XP users. The same isn't quite so true of hardware, which still suffers from Vista's over-zealous attitude towards hardware signing and backwards compatibility. Even if your hardware is capable of running Windows 7 it's unlikely you'll be able to exploit its capabilities unless the officially signed drivers are available for your device. With no DirectX 10 drivers for your graphics card, for example, you won't be able to enable the Aero Glass effects on the desktop, which is one of Windows 7's best features. Worst of all, you're locked into the resolution data provided by your screen. Our test system uses two 191D cheap screens from Hanns-G. They're perfectly capable devices that work well with Linux, but we wasted days trying every trick we could think of to get them working with Windows 7, and in the end we gave up. If you found Vista's hardware installation frustrating, you're likely to have the same problems with Windows 7. Performance Windows 7 • Better at synthetic benchmarks. • Faster transfer of large files. • Final version likely to improve. • Suspend/resume works! Linux • Faster booting. • Less memory usage. • Smaller install size. • Broader hardware compatibility.

Round 2: Desktop warfare Despite the hyperbole surrounding performance tuning and increased efficiency, the battleground for success is going to be the desktop. This is where we spend the most time, and it's where small changes can make a massive difference in productivity. Windows 7 promises big improvements, but at first glance you could be forgiven for thinking that very little has changed since the release of Windows XP, which never seems too far beneath the surface. The old device manager, for instance, is identical to the now discontinued version and there are many aspects of the desktop that feel the same. But to give the new desktop a fair crack of the whip, we'll take Microsoft's own list of what's good, and compare that with what Linux has to offer.

New features, according to Microsoft Top of the list of usability improvements is the new task bar and full-screen previews. It's now easier to add your own applications to the task bar, using a process called 'pinning', and while this has always been possible through the use of the Quick Launch tool, Microsoft is making a big deal out its new easiness, as well as another major addition - larger icons. No, really. Another much-touted usability improvement is the window thumbnail that appears when you hover your mouse cursor over a minimised application. Each one of these features has been part of the modern Linux desktop for some time. And while features such as the thumbnail preview of an application were initially a cutting-edge part of Compiz, we now take their inclusion on a modern desktop for granted. In KDE 4.2, for example, you get exactly the same task bar functionality, and if you use a cutting-edge distribution such as Fedora 11, you'll get all the latest enhancements. With the panel in edit mode, right-click on any menu option and you can choose to either add an icon to the desktop or to the desktop panel, and once there you can drag it into a location that most suits you. Adding full-screen preview to your Linux box is also is easy. Either use Compiz on Gnome or enable the desktop effects in KDE to get exactly the same feature, and either panel is far more configurable than the Windows equivalent. The KDE one in particular can be resized, repositioned, re-aligned, set vertical or horizontal and augmented with any number of plasmoid additions. Both KDE and Gnome users have been able to 'pin' applications and media to the task bar for years.

Jump Lists Let's see if Windows 7 can catch up in its next new feature - Jump Lists. These are a way to expose certain parts of an application to a menu revealed when you right-click on its launch icon. The most common example is right-clicking on an application to bring up a list of recent files, any of which can be loaded by simply selecting them. There's even an extension for . This trick requires some communication between the applications themselves and the window manager, and the non-standard nature of the Linux desktop makes it a difficult feature to emulate. We can't honestly say Jump Lists are a paradigm shift in desktop use, but they're a nice addition, and it can't be long until either the Gnome or KDE developers come up with something similar. Sticking with desktop usability, Microsoft is keen to show off the new window comparison feature, something it calls 'Snaps'. This is a semi-intelligent window snapping routine that can divide the screen into two and maximises two application windows into each half. Drag a window into one of these snap points, either the top border to maximise the window, or the left and right borders for a 50% view, and the window resizes. While the average Linux desktop doesn't have this exact feature, both Gnome and KDE offer more comprehensive snapping options. From KDE's Window Behaviour panel, for instance, you can set separate snap borders for the edge of the screen, the edge of a window or even the centre of the display. And there are many more options for fine- tuning your window management and geometry, even down to selecting the types of window the options apply to.

Window snapping? We think KDE got there first.

Search tools Another feature that Linux desktops have been threatening for a couple of years, but have as-yet failed to deliver, is pervasive searching. Despite being a killer feature on the OS X desktop and the iPhone, and despite several highly efficient implementations, a simple search that can read documents, your email, and online communication with a degree of intelligence is still some way off. Windows embeds its search icon search in the bottom-left corner, just above the launch menu icon. It feels very similar to KDE's launch menu, and will quickly find the content you're interested in. Microsoft's version expects the user to define libraries of content, and these are locations on your computer where you're happy to have the search engine provide pervasive results, or not. Windows 7 also promises to move file search away from local storage and on to the internet. Searching for a photo, for instance, might take you from your local photo collection and on to those you're interested in online, such as an associated Flickr account or Picasa. The capabilities of this online search are dependent on an appropriate extension for the media and the online resource that you're interested in, but it clearly has a lot of potential. The average Linux desktop needs to get its act together if it's going to to compete with Windows 7 for search functionality. And whether you use it or not, it's a great feature for newcomers. New releases of distributions like Fedora still package search tools like Beagle, but that's a long way from being a single solution for the Linux desktop, and this is what we're going to need. Developers are aware of these problems, but the KDE 4 team, for example, have put off discussions on integrating search until the 4.4 release, which is likely to come long after Windows 7.

How Linux will look when Windows 7 is released At the time of writing, we've still got a short while to go until Windows 7 is released. This means there are several major Linux releases between now and then that could add some significant updates to the Linux desktop. Most recently released is KDE 4.3, and it seems the KDE team are finally getting on top of things. Rather than being a release purely full of bug- and usability fixes, 4.3 added some cool new features and some nice eye candy. The whole KDE desktop and associated applications will now have general access to geolocation data, which could be useful for laptop users. The task bar panel should be able to distance itself even further from Windows 7 with the addition of spacers. These will let you group a collection of icons together, rather than as a single glut, and the system tray should also get better management functions. There are plenty more Plasmoid desktop widgets too. More Plasmoids are being added to KDE with every release, bringing fast feature turnaround for all. Most importantly, considering the emphasis in Windows 7 on merging local and remote data, the new KDE release resurrects the Nepomuk desktop idea - the so-called 'social desktop'. This means creating a connection between local and remote data, and making the desktop a seamless integration of the two. A lot of work has been done on the Akonadi PIM framework, for example - Nepomuk can analyse and annotate the body of an email automatically. This means adding information like your location, people you're with and maybe events you're attending - the kind of information currently found on sites like Facebook and . There's also a new menu system, called Raptor, that attempts to guess what options you're most likely to want based on what you're currently doing. It's a cross between KLauncher and Gnome Do, and is a massive improvement on the current 'Lancelot' system. Desktop innovation Windows 7 • Desktop search is well implemented and can go online. • Media libraries can be pinned to the start menu and task bar. • Jump lists can genuinely help improve efficiency. Linux • Nepomuk blurs the border between local and online. • Gnome Do replaces the task bar entirely. • 's Desktop widgets now on Gnome and KDE.

Round 3: Essential apps The best example of a core application associated with an operating system is the . But thanks to the legal wrangling that has surrounded Microsoft's browser bundling, 8 isn't going to be as fatally intertwined in the operating system as its forebears were. The European release isn't even going to include a browser by default, which leaves users with the bizarre difficulty of not having a browser available to download an alternative. This may also be why Microsoft chooses not to create more powerful applications for these core tasks, perhaps not wanting to risk the wrath of competing vendors or the European Monopolies Commission. And while these restrictions may seem harsh in today's online environment, it's a great opportunity for Linux to push integrated desktop applications as a serious bonus. In Windows 7, these essential tools need to be downloaded separately under the Windows Live branding. Eight applications are selectable, and these include the latest generation of Microsoft's Messenger, Outlook Express, Word Pad, a content filter and Silverlight - Microsoft's competitor to Adobe's Flash. In Linux terms you might liken them to Pidgin or Kopete, Evolution, Kate and Gedit, DansGuardian and Moonlight. But the difference with the Microsoft offerings is that they feel very much cut-down, as the company would rather have you pay more for the fully functional versions.

Instant messaging Despite Windows ports of Pidgin, Windows Messenger is still the instant messaging client of choice for most people on the Windows desktop. This is probably because it offers Windows users a seamless way of communicating with other Windows users, and as long as your contacts are using the same client, video and voice chat is usually just a click or two away. Over the years, there has been steady progress, but nothing revolutionary, and the same is true of the version currently shipping with the Windows 7 release candidate. It's the same version that was shipped as Windows Live Messenger 2009 at the beginning of the year, and the first thing the average Linux user will notice is the embedded advertising. You can't open the main window or a chat window without a small banner or text fighting for your attention. If you're chatting to other Windows Live users you do get the advantage of seamless voice and video chat, but that's the only advantage that Microsoft's Messenger has over multi-protocol clients like Pidgin and Kopete. Kopete in particular is a brilliant application that can send messages to almost anyone and anything willing to accept them. AIM, Jabber, Google Talk, Windows Live and even Facebook are all catered for through a series of plugins. The best thing about instant messaging with Kopete is that (unlike with Windows) there's no advertising.

Photo management Whether you choose Digikam or F-Spot, there's no doubt that Linux desktop users are well catered for when it comes to photo management. Both apps can both talk to the vast majority of digital cameras, enable you to organise your collection using tags, comments and geographical data, and then upload sections of your library to a variety of online photo repositories. Microsoft's offering, by comparison, is far more modest, and a little creepy, as you have to sign into your Windows Live account when you first launch the application. This is because your library is closely tied to your online presence. They can be published on to Windows Live with a single click, and Flickr, Facebook and SmugMug are supported through third-party plugins. Google's Picasa photo hosting is a conspicuous absentee, but that's perhaps because it's associated photo management tool is a better application. But Windows Live Photo Gallery is very fast, and it's an efficient way of getting photos from your camera on to an online repository with the least number of mouse clicks and CPU cycles. Like iPhoto, Digikam and F-Spot, it offers only bread and butter editing tools such as colour, contrast, crop and redeye reduction, but there are some weird usability errors. You can't drag tags on to photos, for instance, and photos that are part of your Pictures library aren't imported into the application unless they happen to be located under the My Pictures directory, which is confusing.

Online Another aspect of Microsoft's new operating system that isn't quite so obvious is the default installation of Silverlight. Silverlight is web browser plugin, and it's Microsoft's attempt to unseat the dominance of Adobe's Flash, and it performs much the same function. It helps web developers create accelerated and interactive online applications for their users that plain old HTML just isn't capable of, such as YouTube or BBC iPlayer, and represents the pinnacle of Microsoft's .NET framework, using it to both develop Silverlight and as a method for creators to add program logic within its online applications. Windows 7 is going to be the first Windows operating system to install it by default, with version 3 currently going through a period of beta testing before its planned release in July. The interesting thing about Silverlight is that there's a Linux version being developed by the same team porting .NET to Linux, and it's called Moonlight. Moonlight offers only a subset of the functionality currently in Silverlight, but it represents an incredible effort by the programmers. Since January 2009, it's been fully compatible with Silverlight version 1.0, and a beta version released at the beginning of May implements some features from 2.0, as well as a few from the planned 3.0 release. There's no doubt that Moonlight is a considerable way behind the Microsoft implementation, but there's a bigger problem. For some users, Moonlight represents a big chunk of Microsoft's intellectual property sitting at the heart of the Linux desktop. This is why the inclusion of Mono on distributions like Fedora and now has proved such a contentious issue, and if Silverlight becomes as dominant on the Windows platform as Microsoft hopes, it's going to become increasingly difficult to ignore either its potential on the internet, or its potential as a patent time-bomb.

Touch me One of the most touted features in Microsoft's new operating system is its new-found ability to be controlled using a touchscreen interface. Microsoft has been experimenting with touch technology for years and its implementation has been overhauled for Windows 7, adding better hardware support and the ability to detect more than one finger press. Touch also seems to be the primary motivation behind the overhaul of the toolbar. In its old incarnation, icons could be too small and their placement too unpredictable for fingers. In Windows 7, buttons have been resized, and custom spacing options should make it easier to hit the right target. This is also the first time multi-touch has been included, which must have been quite a task for an operating system than usually has difficulty if you connect more than one mouse, let alone 10 fingers. But Microsoft has also put hardware behind the rhetoric, demoing a hefty piece of multi-touch hardware called 'Surface'. Until recently, multi-touch ability hasn't been a priority on the Linux desktop, despite various announcements on the subject in 2007. The ability to keep track of more than one controller on a standard desktop has been implemented by a project called Multi- Pointer X (MPX), and this is due to be rolled into the main X.org server code for the 7.5 release, due in August 2009. But there is one important difference between MPX and Microsoft's Surface, and that's that multi-touch provides only a co-ordinate reference for each point. It can't interpret the shape and the size of the touch, which could be a problem if Microsoft pushes its advantage in this area. The most promising signs of progress comes from the netbook sector, where touch capabilities look like becoming the next big thing.

Windows 7 makes it easy to resize all the GUI elements to accomodate touch devices. Version comparison Windows 7 • Starter: No Aero and no 64-bit. • Home Basic: Developed for emerging markets. • Home Premium: Standard edition including Aero and touch. • Professional: Adds remote desktop and encrypted filesystem. • Enterprise: application support and volume licensing. • Ultimate: As with enterprise, but for individual users. Linux • Starter: No Linux is this restrictive. • Home Basic: Crunchbang or Ubuntu. • Home Premium: For eye candy, try Mint or Kubuntu. • Professional: Fedora offers encryption as an installation option. • Enterprise: OpenSUSE should work well with Windows. • Ultimate: No matter which Linux you choose, there's no restrictions.

Round 4: Power users One of the biggest criticisms levelled at Windows over the years has been its lack of proper user access control. Despite the last few versions featuring user accounts with different levels of authority and control, nearly everyone simply created an administrator's account and neatly side-stepped any attempt to rein in what the average user could and couldn't do. Windows 7 attempts to do things differently, upgrading Vista's User Access Control to finally achieve what Microsoft must hope is a major feature in an age where thousands of Windows machines run as zombies on the internet. The idea behind UAC will be familiar to users of Ubuntu and OS X. When a user's application requires a higher set of privileges, a password requester asks for authentication. In Windows Vista, this password requester could be a little overzealous, appearing every other minute if you weren't careful, especially if you were configuring hardware. This annoyance was even seen as an advantage by some, as it forced software developers to avoid asking the user to elevate their privileges though UAC if they wanted to remain usable. By default, a standard user will have no administrative control over their system, and neither will any viruses or trojans may have been inadvertently run by that user. Of course, this is nothing new for Linux users, as this feature is embedded within Linux thanks to its use of groups and permissions to restrict users and processes. It's our main defence against wayward applications wreaking havoc on our systems. Even if a user's account is compromised and a virus is able to run on that user's desktop, a utility with limited privileges can do very little system-wide and network facing damage, although your personal data isn't likely to be so safe. This is part of the reason why there are so few Linux viruses, and why so few of us consider it any kind of threat. User Access Control can limit what a user sees on the internet as well as the configuration options they have access to.

PolicyKit But the truth is that there's plenty of potential on the average desktop for any malevolent coder with enough motivation. How many of us install third-party binary packages on our desktops? And how many of us could check the source code if we had to? Even riskier is the number of times we resort to typing sudo or launching a shell with administrator privileges, effectively bypassing the security inherent in the normal/root user system. Many distributions and developers think there needs to be an extra level of security, and the closest we can get to the technology behind Microsoft's UAC is PolicyKit, originally developed by Red Hat but now shipped as standard in Fedora, OpenSUSE and Ubuntu. PolicyKit gives application developers (and distribution builders) a finer degree of control over what an application can and can't do while it's running. It could enable a user to mount portable storage, for instance, but not allow the same user to mount a local filesystem, avoiding the potential hazard of sudo completely. The impending KDE 4.3 includes PolicyKit integration, which means that many system administration applications for the KDE desktop will be able to take advantage of PolicyKit's finer-grained privilege control in much the same way that certain applications request authentication on the OS X desktop. Gnome has had this functionality since the beginning of last year, and its inclusion in KDE brings us a step closer to a unified desktop on the Linux platform and a unified system for accessing administrative tasks.

Online security Despite all these improvements to User Access Control, Windows is still going to be the main target for hackers, and as such, a virus checker is always going to be necessary. For the first time, Microsoft is going to bundle a virus checker and spyware detector with the operating system. This is likely to raise considerable protest from manufacturers who sell competing products, such as Symantec and McAfee, as they're making a tidy living from plugging this lucrative hole in current Windows security. But bundling a free virus checker with the operating system is a great step forward for the rest of us who have to endure a constant stream of attacks from compromised Windows systems. Microsoft's checker is going to be part of the 'Security Essentials' download package, and it replaces Windows Live OneCare, a similar package that Microsoft previously charged for on XP and Vista. Microsoft's Security Essentials covers only the basics of online security: real-time virus checking, system monitoring and download scanning. This should leave plenty of room for the commercial solutions to fight over more advanced features and neurotic Windows users. As Linux users, we don't need to run a virus-checker unless you're receiving files from, and sending them to, Windows users. It avoids the extra CPU and memory load of constantly running a checker and keeping it up to date. But there are several checkers that are up to the task if you need them, including tools from BitDefender and AVG, as well as the excellent ClamAV. The Windows System Monitor app has been redesigned to show more information and show it more clearly - it's actually very nice to use. PowerShell vs Bash Windows 7 • Integrated scripting. • You can type ls to get a directory listing! • Syntax highlighting. • Remote execution. Linux • 30 years of refinement. • Used by almost every Linux distribution ever. • Plenty of online help and documentation. • Can be used to administer the entire system.

Who wins? As you should be able to tell from the scope of the features we've discussed, Windows 7 marks a significant point of maturity in the development of Windows, and is what the much-maligned Vista should have been three years ago. There's still a distinct lack of innovation, but the improvements to system stability and performance are what's going to matter to most users. And most users of Windows are businesses. They're not interested in eye candy, Twitter integration and hardware acceleration. They just need Windows to be a sober working environment that doesn't get in the way of helping people work. And this is where Linux can make a big difference. There's nothing in Windows 7 that Linux can't do, and in most cases, do it better. Our machines are quicker and more efficient. Our desktops are more innovative and less static. Our apps are more powerful, cheaper and less partisan, and Linux security has never been better. But best of all, we have complete control over the future of Linux, and it's success or failure at the hands of Windows 7 is in our hands.

First published in Linux Format magazine You should follow us on Identi.ca or Twitter Your comments Story Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 20, 2009 @ 10:34pm Windows 7 is a nice, well-rounded operating system; not a major step up from Vista, but it works well. It has excellent program compatibility. I prefer Linux, but both function and do their jobs in ways I appreciate. While I dislike stories that attempt to "objectively" figure out which one is best, I feel that for a fair and balanced OS market, more attention should be leveraged toward Linux. Even Microsoft fans will realize that competition leads to innovation. Let the games begin. Re: Silverlight - on Linux there is HTML5, SVG & fast ECMAscript Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 2:54am Using the W3C standards conforming with tests, in conjunction with HTML5, and including a fast ECMAscript JIT compiler, browsers such as , Chrome and Firefox already come with as much functionality as Silverlight can provide, without any pligins. Given the costs in preparing and serving Silverlight content, compared with zero cost for open standards content, it would seem unlikely that Silverlight content would increase much beyond its current level of being almost non-existant. Just about the only thing Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 3:37am Just about the only thing that keeps me from using Linux is the fact that it was overall poor game support. A few games I play support Linux but the rest do not. Great comparison Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 5:18am I would have never thought I would read something like this in a Linux publication but you did a great job of comparing Windows 7 to Linux. For me I am sticking to XP and Ubuntu, Fedora 11 and AntiX. These run my older hardware the best. No love for Arch? Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 6:33am Why not throw a different distro in there like Arch? There are plenty more out there than just Ubuntu, openSUSE and Fedora! Seeing at least SOME performed on an Arch machine would have been really nice all well and good, but... Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:04am hi there i am an average computer user - i have a work laptop and a Dell PC at home. nothing fancy, not a high end user or anything... i recently decided to try Ubuntu for my home PC, since the Windows XP install was getting clunky and i thought it would be a good idea to run it more efficiently - the big thing i had heard about linux systems. the problem is, for your average user like me, it's just too much hassle. i don't know how to run command line stuff in the terminal to fix this or that, and it's a little frustrating trying to get stuff working with your PC... a lot of patience and time trying to get the web cam and my scanner to work! and even when you get them to work, it just doesn't work as it's meant to. i know i will probably get shouted down for this, but if you know what you're doing with linux and have some of the programming skills, it would be a fun, challenging way to 'stick it to the man'... but if you're just an average everyday user like me, i'd prefer things to work the way they are supposed to, even if it's a little slower and costs more. 1 word... GAMES. Until Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:10am 1 word... GAMES. Until Linux (and Mac) start supporting windows games (emulator?) Linux will remain a business only OS. Re: all well and good TuxRadar - August 21, 2009 @ 9:11am Please don't think you'll be "shouted at" for saying you had problems with Linux. It's a big community, and most of us are really nice people - trying to pretend users don't have any problems with Linux is really just denial! It's great that you took the time to try Linux yourself, and it sucks the hardware compatibility for your scanner and web cam just wasn't up to scratch. Hopefully that's something that will get fixed soon so you can try it again and have more luck! "Operating System" Anonymous GNU (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:14am It's GNU/Linux to be politically correct, but since you aren't... "... help Linux to grow as an alternative when users want to keep complete control over their own hardware and software." Yeah, except Linux, the kernel, has binary blobs that restrict you, just as the entire Windows operating system does. While GNU is fully free. "Linux was faster on most of the tests we ran" Actually, Linux, the kernel, doesn't perform all that well when you take away GNU Bash, powerful scripting made to the kernel, GCC, Linus' compiler of choice, gLibc, responsible for the kernel being able to run all that Free Software you call Open Source. You are another person ignoring freedom, ignoring politics, and ignoring good will and faith in the operating system, so much that you even had to try out Windows 7. Sad, as always. I invite you to read GNU.org, maybe, just maybe, if you read it slow enough, you'll understand the importance of advocating freedom. Finally something Dark_tower (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:35am Windows 7 has to be the best thing thats happened to us users in a while. Speed, connectivity, and extremely good on laptops with 3 year old configs. Am all for leting companies have control over software. As long as I can get the job done why would I even want to know the back end. Let them do what they do best and I want to be able to do what I do best:-) Re:Anonymous GNU Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:35am @ANON GNU Well.. to be more technically correct.. it should be GNU/X11/[KDE,GNOME]/.../Linux.. come on!.. give it a rest already Finally something Dark_tower (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:35am Windows 7 has to be the best thing thats happened to us users in a while. Speed, connectivity, and extremely good on laptops with even 3 year old configs. Am all for letting companies have control over software. As long as I can get the job done why would I even want to know the back end. Let them do what they do best and I want to be able to do what I do best:-) Meat ball stew Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:36am It's articles like this cause some of the scorn that gets thrown at the linux community. About as balanced as a 1 legged zebra. Apologies... Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:37am I regularly use Win7, Linux (fc10), and mac osx (10.5.7) and found this article to be fairly biased in both tone and content. I have titled this comment as an apology because I feel sorry for speaking harshly of any article or blog post that has obviously had a lot of time poured into it. There are many good points here, but this is far from an equal and unbiased comparison. In my opinion, the most common attitude in the community with respect to Win7 is that it "has come a long way since the train-wreck of Vista, but is still a far cry from the latest linux distro" which is a bit misleading as Win7, Linux, and Mac OSX are all fairly distinct in their offerings (beyond the most basic of word processing and browsing). In fact, I would argue that the current balance of operating systems is rather nice, and would prefer that Windows continue to cater to the mainstream (and consequently retain most of the market share), while linux remains in the power user, embedded, distributed, research, and highly customizable space. Anyone agree? :-) This article really reads Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:44am This article really reads more like it's designed to stop Linux users switching to Windows 7. There's talk about average users near the beginning then by the end of the article it's comparing Powershell to Bash. And if control was such a big issue to consumers then I really doubt Mac OS X would have gotten it's feet off the ground. Ever used office apps on linux? They suck Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:57am Ever used office apps on linux? They suck compared to MS Office. I've used OpenOffice and Google Docs & Spreadsheets for over a year, and can tell you that they simply don't compare in functionality, usefulness, and productivity versus MS Office. A better title for this article would have been: Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:58am "Reasons I feel Linux is better than Windows 7" Nice try, but you're hella biased. Linux with multiple screens is useless Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 10:02am "There's nothing in Windows 7 that Linux can't do" Anybody who's tried to use linux with multiple desktop knows its a pain in the arse to do. And when you do get it working, the OS and the apps can't cope with it. Windows will appear randomly on either screen. I can plug my Win7 laptop into any screen in the world and it will work first time , and work well. Unfortunately linux doesn't do multimedia well. I use Linux when im developing and Windows 7 at home. Allthough linux can play many different video formats. Applications just don't cut it for me JAmes (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 10:17am I work in IT and unfortunately a windows environment. On my personal systems I would dearly love to run Linux. I have tried and tried over the years with most of the major distros and always come back yo the same problems. I use dreamweaver for work and while I can run it in wine it is slow and crashes I have tried some of the alternatives like blufish but they just don't cut it for me. Too much of my work is based in windows apps and ie compatibility, I have run xp in virtualbox which is excellent but I find myself wondering why I am just not running native. Of all the window managers I have tried I have not found anything as usable as mac os, I am not focussed on eye candy but it is nice when you are using a system all day. Most recently i was doing some work on coldfusion and installed the server along with mysql running on apache and edited using bluefish. It ran much slower than my xp version taking ages to display pages in ff. I am very much a Linux newbie but feel it should be much easier to set up properly without the need to investigate speed issues. But I do like Linux and admire the work done and will continue to try new versions and distros as they are released. Re: all well and good Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 10:18am Well, actually my webcam worked out of the box w/ Linux. I didn't have to install any extra drivers. Comparison breakdown Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 10:36am I think a problem with this article is you refer to two different desktops when you refer to Gnome and KDE. For example, listing KDE window snapping and Gnome Do. They're not available together really. Equally, the article uses Ubuntu for speed comparisons, and then KDE for many of the counter-points. Essentially the article takes two desktop managers to compare to Windows. While I enjoyed the article and thought it did well to compare Win7 features to available Linux equivalents, it wasn't really a fair fight. Of course that's not to suggest I'm going to run out and buy Win7 - I'll stick with Ubuntu... I just wanted to flag it. A proper list Wax (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 11:07am Ubuntu (and general linux) Flaws: Poor compatibility with graphics cards particularly ATi Poor compatibility with iPods Poor performance adobe flash playback Ugly including KDE, gnome, custom themes, compiz Duplicated effort eg KDE vs gnome Windows XP (and general windows) Flaws: Poor file system - constantly needing to defrag Requires a lot of nurturing to maintain performance Over priced Too many versions such as ultimate, home, professional etc Having to find the right anti-virus software - free or purchased Feels locked in I spent 2 years running linux and have returned to windows xp simply because the hardware I own is more functional under it. My iPod, DVD/flash playback, and graphics card just work better under windows xp. whoops Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 11:07am I've tried making the switch several times, and have gone back to windows every time. This article is pure propaganda because it skims over the serious showstopping issues that keeps linux from actually being ready for prime time. the lack of proper games support, the well-documented inability to handle more than a single monitor for extended periods of time, and the ridiculously fractured nature of the linux environment which said community doesn't understand is not nearly as beneficial as they think it is. directory listings Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 11:18am what they added 'ls' to the windows command line. Genius. I'm switching. Wow, I've been waiting for this feature for years. The amount of times in the past I've entered 'ls' instead of 'dir' on the windows command line has frankly been quite embarrassing. Games? Get a console Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 12:27pm People use the excuse that Linux/Mac don't have the games that Windows does. That's why there are PS3's and Xbox's. maybe nitpicking, but this Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 12:28pm maybe nitpicking, but this statement is not accurate: "With no DirectX 10 drivers for your graphics card, for example, you won't be able to enable the Aero Glass effects on the desktop, which is one of Windows 7's best features." I have an old P4 with an ATI Radeon 9600 with DirectX 9 drivers and it runs Aero. There are even very few games today that require DirectX 10 given that DirectX 9 has the largest installed user base. baloney! Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 12:29pm "My iPod, DVD/flash playback, and graphics card just work better under windows xp." Those all work just fine under Linux. You want a fair Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 1:41pm You want a fair comparison? Windows Pros: Runs all drivers, programs, and games. Linux and Mac OS X Pros: Better than Windows in every conceivable way other than the above listed. And...that's it. Does Linux have steps to make? Sure. Audio's a pain, drivers are slow coming, extra monitor support is poor, and package management between multiple distros is a joke. But what we have now is so much better than anything Redmond has plugged out, so I can't say I'd bother using anything else. Once I purchased a PlayStation 2 back in May, I stopped booting Windows entirely. Other than gaming, I just never have a reason to. I like the potential of Linux Anonymous Penguin - August 21, 2009 @ 2:09pm As someone who has dabbled with Linux many times over the last decade, it has always been a frustrating affair. I really want to like it and use it but it is just so much harder than using Windows. Until Linux is easier to use, it will forever be the OS of the minority regardless of what it is capable of doing. Simply installing a new program in Linux is a challenge in itself for the average computer user. You can see why Apple has done so well in recent years - simplicity! Money vs Windows Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 2:43pm Most Windows home users don't buy windows... they copy it. They don't buy Office... they copy. They don't buy games... they copy. No money! Less assemblers buy windows, and many now charge it on PC purchase. No money! The more successfull PDAs don't run Windows. No money. M$ hardware sucks (except mouses). No money. M$ Game console games... are "copied". No money. Most companies are dropping windows to linux due to cut on costs. They are now using web apps, cloning PC's, LOW BUDGET COMPUTERS, remote terminals and User control. User doesn't know Linux... means less mess in OS. No money. Most successfull ISP's on the planet run on Linux distro's. No money! Most Cloud Computing Farms are made with Linux. No money! Most T500 SuperComputers on Earth run on Linux. No money! M$ gets money from braindead companies that pay for drivers certification, compatibilities, and such, that pay for software development kits. M$ offers OS to children and lobbies to make the children of the future M$ fans, like they did with many of us. Brainwash marketing is all they spend money on. Marketing, marketing, marketing... And that, my friends, each one eats what it likes! Let's be fair please Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 3:29pm Saying that linux is better than linux is a careless and frankly rather stupid thing to say. It all comes down to expectations and what one requires from one's pc. If office work and general mucking about is what you need then windows wins, no doubt about it. If you're a gamer, windows wins hands down. The only real place of dominance by linux is for servers. In my view linux has some fundamental problems which until they are resolved/changed, linux will forever remain the "other os for geeks". These include: 1) Pathetic package managers. 2) Pathetic file system. 3) Really bad monitor,scanner,printer,camera,support. 4) Crazy situation with dependencies/libraries. 5) No standard executable format. 6) Really bad help. And so on. M$ may not have a very dependable or safe os but it's overcome all the bad features of linux I've mentioned above and most people couldn't give a rats a%#$ about free software, open standards etc etc. They want an easy to use package to get the job done. This is exactly one of the short comings of a lot of open source, they concentrate on the technology and not on the user experience. Who wants to mess about with make, grof, lib this that and the next thing. Just download the executable with perhaps a lib or two and it's running. No wonder M$ charges so much for it's software, it can as the man in the street is concerned there ain't an altervative. (please don't mention apple, cause that is real rubbish.Infact if it wasn't for the iphone and ipod I doubt very much if apple would be trading today). Flame me all you want, but at the end of the day I and billions of others will turn to M$ to get the job done. The only way forward for linux is to make a fresh start and leave all the luggage behind and get some sanity. a little change Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 3:35pm ....perhaps that change is coming in the form of Gobolinux. Never tried it but it certainly looks like it's heading in the right direction. Where is the Developer story???? Windows Developer (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 4:59pm This article is just BS, the whole time it tries to give the impressions that it's fair but it is VERY VERY biased to Linux, for example no one mentioned the developers story on Linux vs Windows, with Microsoft great tools & technologies which make developers' life much easier this whole thing makes a huge difference over the Linux story. With Microsoft.net technologies performance on Windows and also the other non Microsoft technologies such as Python & Ruby, PHP, ... are running way better on Windows Client & Server than on Linux with better monitoring and manageablibity options out of the box. Linux is just a stage in the life time of a superuser, it is like being a teenager, you have to go through it, but once you grow up and start working for money, Windows is no brainer Nuts and Bolts Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 5:16pm These include: 1) Pathetic package managers. WRONG! Good package managers... I ask this... which files doesn't a windows install place on filesystem? I care about garbage on the FS. I care about trojans and that crap. Apt is an AWESOME package manager, not considering the millions of packages and files it indexes. In windows all installs comes with the dlls of MFC, ... that install on a CRUCIAL part of the OS, with Admin permissions. 2) Pathetic file system. WRONG AGAIN! Windows ONLY has FAT16, FAT32 and NTFS. Besides NTFS all other are crap. Like NTFS Open Source FS's there are about 10 EXCELENT ones. NTFS has very bad performance, is very prune to errors, has no cache engine, no optimization method, no snapshot support, ... Linux has ext3, ext4, Reiser (prison), BRTFS, Cachefs, LVM, ... Either one of these surpasses NTFS by performance and features. I'm sure NetApp would laugh reading your comments. 3) Really bad monitor,scanner,printer,camera,support. Monitor WRONG, the rest you're almost correct... But Why is that? Because vendors try to put those "gadgets" CPU inside your CPU, instead of developing good chips, they try to pass that processing part to what they like to call the firm-crap-ware, that does not work, makes a LOT of interrupts spending more power consumption. I understand firmware... and that reads... LOUSY TESTS, HURRY TO SELL. Printers... your lost on that... most what we call REAL printers are now supported even better than windows... with transmission compression capabilities, client side notification of requirement of toners, ... 4) Crazy situation with dependencies/libraries. You must have had a bad experience with a distro... or you tried it more than 2 years ago. 5) No standard executable format. Why would you need one? This is called FREEDOM! The funny thing is that even with LOADS of compilers, interpreters, executables, and crappy programs... the OS still WORKS, without crapping all the other 35 users that use the same Server as a Desktop. 6) Really bad help. WTF? There is more help... than your brain can cope with! If you tried Linux 13 years ago... You would be closing that mouth of yours. And so on. Another nice description of a "I have a problem!" and I can't make my brain understand it, so "And so on." is a nice problem that everyone understands. Mate... You should really try and learn something before coming here and posting giberish about something you seam not to understand. Besides... Linux has some good things that windows WILL NEVER had... for example: - My Laptop automatically backups when I get to my home network, using a script with NetworkManager, arp requests and a few lines of bash script. - My Ipod automatically syncs when connected to my "Media" Server. - My External USB Disk copies all content in a specific dir into itself on connection All these features are used using the factory SERIAL number so that no "joker" can "hack" the system. All this using HAL. Besides HAL, you have DBus and its notification "system", full STATEFULL Firewall, Soft RAID, and many many more systems that make Linux the Next OS. Microsoft/Windows used to invent features... now they copy them. Linux is on the fast lane... and Windows is on the same lane. Optimizing and Performance Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 5:40pm In windows you never hear about optimization of the OS. In Linux you have the freedom to do it. Either by - changing/tweaking filesystem mount options, - making your disk pre-read blocks, - using those 2 network interfaces has a "trunk"(bonding), - having different routing tables according to firewall rules, - using Jumbo Frames (MTU 9000), - placing the SWAP (pagefile) on the faster outside of the disk platters, - using better SWAP FS's, or tweaking the one you use, - reducing power consumption by disabling USB devices on specific ports, - tweaking the FS so that it doesn't write the last access time to a file - optimizing your network IP settings, - changing keyboard keys as you need them to be, - using multiple workspaces, - limiting (ulimit/apparmor/selinux) the user capabilities inside the system - locking of a program/process to a given CPU - disk, partition, directory or file realtime encryption - support for User Space Filesystems (FUSE) - using multiple remote Filesystems - virtualization of other OS's Most of THESE can be made with just the LINUX KERNEL. Without commercial products, and without much trouble or time spent. In Windows the solution to most performance problems is "BUY BETTER HARDWARE!" Thank you Sassinak (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 5:41pm Thank you for a great comparison. I don't agree with every point but it could just be my user experience. I wish MS users would realise MS doesn't contribute a single line of code for the drivers of all it's supposedly "compatible" hardware. It merely provides the "secret keys" to access it(funny how only the good guys pay for this. The bad guys have no problems breaking in). The manufacturers deserve all the credit and some of them are getting tired of having to fit inside such a tortuous OS. They have started to provide code for Linux, or approve code allready written by the linux community. Geeks may not pay for code, but they have to get their hardware somewhere... No file fragmentation (and risky defrag) and security should be top of the list for any computer user. Always being able to access your data, no matter when, being it five years down the road, using whatever tools are at your disposition, rather than being locked-out of your work by the "lastest, greatest upgrade", should be as important. Linux (and Open Source) provides all that. Those who prefer games and utter simplicity are just lazy children (or sheep. Love those lamb chops, I bet Bill eats plenty of those). I think sheep shouldn't be allowed to drive cars. Oh, and anyone calls Linux "ugly" can't change a backgroud image, or has poor personal tastes. I didn't mean to get nasty but it seems MS just brings out the worst in people. Developer we are... NOT! Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 6:27pm "... no one mentioned the developers story on Linux vs Windows, with Microsoft great tools & technologies which make developers' life much easier this whole thing makes a huge difference over the Linux story...." Windows = Great Developing Tools... Agreed! Do they tweak your code? Nope! Do they teach you the inside of a TCP optimization? Nope! Do they teach you how a browser renders a page? Nope! Do they compress images to the "Web size"? Nope! Do they compress your CSS's, Javascript and stuff? Nope! Do they allow you not to care about previous points? YES! They allow developers not to know what really makes your code rock! And I mean Rock like "Velocity 2009" conference rock. Not like those ten billion same crappy sites. I mean those guys running sites using S3 backends, using 256Mb servers and serving 1k pages/sec. It's always up to the developer to self teach more and more each day... but knowing the "How things Work" makes you the best. "With Microsoft.net technologies performance on Windows and also the other non Microsoft technologies such as Python & Ruby, PHP, ... are running way better on Windows Client & Server than on Linux with better monitoring and manageablibity options out of the box." Besides compiler architecture optimization, and interpreters support for +4Gb mem... YE... I kinda agree! But today its not the language that should make the code run faster... it's the developers brain! The use of Memory caching (Memcache, ...), FS distributed cache (MogileFS, GoogleFS, ...), Distributed BD engines (Hadoop, BigTable, ...) and the tweaking of the all the parts from the webserver to the DB server, passing by the reverse proxies, webcaching engines, ... All these require knowledge that most Developing "GUI" don't teach. If you can attack a script with a bastard web benching tool... you will know. Off course must websites don't really care, they don't have enough requests... and when they do, they are willing to loose an amount of money on selling, advertising, ... Todays Servers are over powered, but that doesn't mean you can develop badly. This is like having an F1 car! Would you leave it for you private mechanic to tweak it? Microsoft and browser Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 6:50pm Microsoft went back on their decision and they will YES include a browser and that is Internet Explorer, but seems like once you install windows it will pop out a windows under internet explorer for you to download other browsers if you. My point of view is that most users will probably ignore that window and continue with Internet Explorer. Gobolinux and $HOME Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 6:58pm (Can you please stop making the coffee so strong) ;) I agree that Linux $HOME is a mess, full of "Application" configs, user options and lots of things we don't really need. But that doesn't make the Windows/Gobolinux way... The right Way! Teaching time: Most of you never read "XDG Base Directory Specification" or "Linux Standard Base" or used autodir or FUSE customized $HOME. These allow you to customize most of your HOME and get you into an "arranged" home. (Go Read) Most distros respect them, and there are papers written about the "directory" structure of Linux, and WAYS of the future. There are some really nice ideas around, and most of them go by the "XDG Base Directory Specification" as a "salvation" to your Home. On the other side of things... Wouldn't you want to take your home and all your browsers cache with you when you move it to another PC or Server? Why would the PC have to take your browser cache in his TMP dir? It's your crap... deal with it. Save it on your home. Now lets see the Windows "Way"... Windows roaming profiles is the WORST CRAP ever invented to this day. Especially, if you don't use it in a centrallized way... that obvious goes against the Roaming "Way". Why? Because Windows users save TONS of Gigabytes on the Desktops, that get Sync'd via Roaming Profile... that take a lot of time and BANDWIDTH to sync from the Roaming Server to the new logged in "PC". This is not a Windows fault... it's a lack of GOOD policies regarding Desktops. But why should the SysAdmin care about how and where does the user saves its things... He SHOULDN'T. He should only backup the HOME. But the server SHOULD NEVER HAVE TO DEAL with users cache. NEVER. When you discuss technology... be carefull about pointing fingers, cause if you point a finger at someone... 3 are pointing at you... and 1 at "God"! So I point 3 at Linux: - We get lost in all the dirs... "which", "find" are your friends - Being ALMOST all dirs Mountable from another place or partition... You just mount the HOME central server. This does not work good with roaming "not always on" laptops - When moving to a new PC... copying HOME is a charm. Excepth when you install a new distro with different versions of software. RE: Developer we are... NOT Windows Developer (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 7:16pm Seriously you don't know what you are talking about, so just shut the fuck up, Windows Applications run faster period, even FireFox which is built with no Microsoft technology run faster on Windows. slow down Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 7:57pm Wow, what a reaction! Stange how linux fanboys always get their nickers in a knot at the smallest of "attacks" on their pet OS. I never said that M$ is perfect, infact it does have a lot of crap in it and yes a lot of peripheral manufactures pass on the processing onto the main CPU (winmodems and latest generation of DVD-rom being two examples). But overall for ease of use it still can't be beat. Now before you start foaming at the mouth let me be the first to say that I wish linux was better. I don't like M$'s new business model and I have to admit that of late they have only come up with rubbish like .net, office, asp and my absolute worst....Vista! Gone are the days when they actually provided anything of value like MASM and support for good old fashioned programming. That is exactly why I want to change but the current state of linux is simply not conducive to an easy switch over. Now before you attack me over my brain/stupidity/laziness, consider the following: There are only a certain amount of hours in a day, and when dead lines have to be met, it's bad enough trying to iron out any bugs one has in their software without the extra hassle of having to wrestle with the OS to do even the simplest of tasks. RE: Developer we are... NOT Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 7:58pm "Windows Applications run faster period" Yup they do! I never put that in question. But I never talked about SPECIFIC OS applications. But who cares about Windows Applications? A smart company would use Web Apps and shit on Locked Servers, Maintenance, SysAdmin and Management teams. There are TONS of companies offering Application and Server Hosting... I understand that for many Windows users... an Excel Sheet is a Database, I understand, and M$ too, that most small companies, turning their Windows Apps into Web Apps is not a solution. Firefox is faster on Windows! Quite Very unfortunately True! You should ask is why? It should be the same when run'd with a Native Nvidia drivers on "both" environments. Many people pose that question, but I guess Mozilla doesn't. I honestly... recompile Mozilla to my arch... so I don't care. And I do understand your "crappy" point because I was a Windows developer, then became a Web Developer and I'm now, and been for many years, a Linux SysAdmin turning fucking rotting Windows Desktops into Fast Running Linux Desktops in a procces of migrating an Insurance Company desktops to Linux. I KNOW what I'm talking... when I talk about BAD, LAZY AND CRAPPY PROGRAMMING. But I guess the hat fitted you nicely. I was about to buy what you say but @slow down (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 8:02pm I was just about to buy your words but once I read that "I don't like M$'s new business model and I have to admit that of late they have only come up with rubbish like .net, office, asp and my absolute worst....Vista!" I completely knew you are no where near a professional, just another kid of Linux fanboy culture. If .net & office & asp (or asp.net) are crap why do linux devs are screaming to support Mono & Wine to run them, or you want Developers in 2009 write their apps in MASM :) What a BS RE: Developer we are... NOT Windows Developer (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 8:06pm I am both Windows & Web Application developer and I use C# and .net in both of them, and I also use Windows Server which is still better, because whenever I need to run a php or even a crappy old CGI stuff I can run them side by side with my AWESOME ASP., I can even extend the PHP applications with ASP.net modules that runs on IIS level, Good luck trying to do something similar on apache" go figure Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 8:09pm If linux is so good and free and M$ so crappy and expensive, then why is linux not on 95% of the world's PC's? RE: go figure Reality Shocks (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 8:14pm Can't agree more Linux is for free if your time is for free, otherwise go with Mac OSX or Windows Windows Rocks! Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 8:36pm After my posts on how good Linux is. I think, that Windows deserves a chance in a Linux "Website". This time I will defend Windows to my best. Major Windows OS advantages are the drivers support, UI usability and stability when used with standard Microsoft distributed drivers. But this is where it ends. We are comparing the OS itself, not the applications, not the distros, and specially not commercial applications. Its the kernel and drivers that make the System work. When compared in pair, both OS's are good in usability, f.e. when comparing an Ubuntu 9.04 to a Windows Vista. These are the OS's I have installed on this laptop. I prefer Linux, for the previous stated reasons. And I honestly only use Vista to play games. I'm not an average Windows Desktop User, and have not been for many years. But my work forces me to know the core of both OS's. And to that I say... Linux is absolutely faster, better and more stable, has more drivers supported in the kernel than Windows. Comparing Natively! With external drivers put on the mess, well, like windows supports webcam's, etc ... Linux supports other ISPs like features. But these are the features a Desktop User doesn't want or need. When we start putting applications to the comparison: This is not an "even" comparison, either because Windows has a major codebase of developers, more years spent on windows application development, either that Linux has more development tools inside the distro than Windows has of Help's. But Windows is definitely the winner on applications! Most of them just work, most of them don't even exist on Linux, and when they do exist it is as a "low level one". If you compare the GUI, it's no even fair when placing Compiz, Emerald, KDE 4 on the stand. Windows as a distro... looses gravelly, either because its dumb and dull, either because it offers almost no "native" freedom of exchanging of f.e. Window Manager. But it sure works, and that is what most users want... a working, stable, and long lasting UI. Basically and honestly... Linux is used on FULL LOCKED, old hardware and working "Enterprise" desktops. Windows is more "Home" having a possibility of use in Enterprise when you add products like AntiVirus, AntiSpyware, a good Firewall, Encryption Technology and another tumble of things that Linux doesn't need or it supports for many years. The article brings nothing but the obvious to "glare" and focus not on the main benefits of both... or this wouldn't be a "TuxRadar" but an "OS News". Bare no dreams... I'm defending Microsoft... or I wouldn't now have this job of converting Windows Desktops to Linux. Thanks Microsoft! Windows Rocks.... bottom! consider this analogy Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 8:38pm 30 kids get onto a school bus and the teacher says "right kids we have the whole day to go places, please tell me where you would like to go first". The result, chaos, mayhem and bedlam. Now another 30 kids get onto a diffirent school bus and the teacher says "right kids first we going to the museum then to the library then lunch and after that for a nice run in the park". Now that itenary might not be the most efficient but hey 3 hours later the second bus full of kids have actually gone places and had some fun, discovered and learnt new things whilst the first lot are still parked on the side of the road deciding where to go first. Get my point? the first bus is linux. Too much freedom ain't always a good or productive thing! It's high time a group of people sat down, set some guide lines stick to them and actually produce a good distro and leave out all the extra garbage and luggage. And of course you would still have your freedom of choice, don't like that distro? no problem get another one. Les Benchmarks, More Meeting needs Kevin Dean (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:02pm I've been a long time Linux fan and advocate. However, most distros have seemed to actually get worse for me over the past 18 months. I'm literally at the point where installation of fglrx on any distro newer than 12 months works but doesn't display anything viable. Windows 7 enables 3D acceleration by default. Also, depending on the kernel, wifi has been extremely retarded for me. If it can connect, it's got weak signal strength. If it's got decent strength, it can't stay connected long. Windows 7 includes working drivers for my chipset on a default install. Unless the various distros can pull a working spin out of their butts in the next few months, Microsoft might well get a Home Premium license of out me until my hardware needs replacement in a few years. benchmark Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:09pm linux does'nt even feature as a contender to Win7. The real comparison most people will make will be with XP. captive Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 9:39pm The most frightning thing is the fact that there exists no viable alternative to windows for the average man on the street. Are we all doomed to forever be tied by the M$ shackles that bind us? Perhaps if linux was more cohesive and distos standardised on more things then more vendors would write drivers for it, there would be a greater uptake and things would be looking up, but until then I'm afraid that the boys in Redmond will continue to call the shots. There's a lot of whining about the Orwelian style of M$ but the linux Czars are no better by refusing to listen to what people want and need. The real meaning of .... Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 10:34pm LINUX = Leave It Now Unless Xpert WINDOWS = When In Doubt Order Windows Seven nearly forgot.... Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 21, 2009 @ 10:54pm MAC = Make Another Choice SOLARIS = Surely Only Loads After Running Immense Script Analogy Anonymous Penguin - August 22, 2009 @ 3:14am Funny thing the kids analogy... especially when kids can't play games in their OS. If the lesson was about learning and teaching... some kids learn more alone than having a full time private teacher. Many people are sheep and are guided by dogs... others have own motivation, dedication and brains! They self teach, read books, and discover things for themselves, kinda like learning a new OS. Life gives you paths and choices... some pick the easy ones, others pick the hard ones. Whatever the choices one thing is always a constant... arguments about choices and others questioning your choices and methods. While they question methods... others take actions... guided by their instinct and brains. Sometimes good things come out of those actions... other times... a top notch product. Analogy Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 8:03am You make a few good points about self teaching but what you seem to forget is the fact that learning should be fun. Now that's exactly what the M$ platform offers, an easy entry point for further exploration since the learning curve isn't so steep. Some will never progress, but that's fine too as it provides a market and oppertunities for others to make some money helping them. The whole PC revolution is down to M$ like it or not. Linux is too clunky, unfriendly and puts most people off. Sad state of affairs really as I want free software to dominate but no chance of that in the foreseeable future unless linux undergoes some radical changes! Ubuntu not always the best advert for desktop Linux? Fraxinus (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 9:25am I hesitate to mention this, as I know that Ubuntu has many adherents in the Linux world. And with good reason! However, many newcomers to Linux - even Windows and Mac power-users - will be seriously put off by the need to use the terminal for many configuration tasks. For people making the switch, I'd strongly recommend distros such as PCLinuxOS and Mint which can be configured and driven almost entirely from a GUI if the user choses to do so. Like it or not, this issue can make a HUGE difference to the learning curve. New users who have never encountered the CLI before can soon feel in control of their new systems, and can go on to discover the power of the commend line - if they choose to do so - as and when they need to. Bunnies spaceyjase - August 22, 2009 @ 3:42pm I killed a cute and fluffy rabbit each time someone typed "M$". vim says that's 16, including mine. and I kicked a penguin up Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 4:39pm and I kicked a penguin up the jack everytime someone mentioned linux.( I didn't even bother to count, I just took it out on 40 penquins) first bit of good advice Windows Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 4:47pm Thank you Fraxinus. I am considering taking the plunge into the murky waters of Lake Linux and your advice about Mint is very helpful. Can not compare Oranges to Pineapples Matt K. (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 6:29pm To compare 'Linux' to Windows (any version) is like comparing a car to a human being. The software architechture is designed completely different (single/multi user permissions) The Way the software is built (Monolithic Corp vs Global Corps and Individuals) Open vs Closed source You simply can not compare the two... they are in two totally different bubbles. Same Universe, by different Galaxies...as if a different species was creating each one. Night and Day is the difference. Windows will dominate until ISV's start to port their software and write software to include the *NIX's. Like games and major editing suites like Adobe and 3D rendering and CAD and on and on and on... Until than Windows will be the de facto standard (on the desktop) But, who care? When Google OS comes out and Chrome Browser supports WebGL (openGL for 3d accelerated graphics within the browser along with faster Javascipt and the coming HTML5 canvas and SVG standards ) THAN you will see Linux as a 'Brand'. It will be called Google OS or Ubuntu and others that want to come play in the Desktop areana. The Desktop Operating system SHOULD BE transparent... it shouldn't get in the way of the user at all... it is the applications that run on top of the OS that matter in the end. So, the only place the desktop is to go, is to transparency, using the Web as the new super platform, as well as having Local running apps and storage which the Desktop can allow the user to access. It will turn into two worlds. Online and Offline worlds. The Online world is growing at a massive pace, which Microsoft is still stuck ( and always will be ) in the Desktop business. This will be Microsoft's down fall, unless they adapt and offer things online. Which is why Yahoo! partnership and Bing and all that is happeneing. MS is not stupid to this 'Internet Tidal Wave', as Bill Gates observed with /Java emergence in the early-mid 1990's. SO my point is... in a decade or so, after Google OS is out, and Chrome and other browsers are so powerful they can run 3D games and other important Apps inside them, while having an X windowing system for Local computer...the Operating system will become a commodity. Something you will NOT have to pay for, nor the OEM (dell and hp). The OS will end up like the Web Browser, something that everyone uses, and will become free of charge. How the software business will make money is with SERVICES that software allows, but the direct sales of software will slowly die and dry up, including the Operating System. Redhat will prevail as they sell a SERVICE to Linux and Open Source Enterprise, they do not SELL software. Are you serious? Blast Hardcheese (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 7:53pm I've seen more fair and balanced comparisons on Fox News. Inspiration and new ideas in Linux Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 8:15pm If you are only using Linux, like I am, then it is difficult to know anything about the features of M$ Windows. The developing pace of Linux is huge, and inspiration and new ideas is seen all the time in the Linux society. This article contributes to this. Very good article (though a little long) :-) A few notes... Silviu C. (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 8:19pm Windows Live Photo gallery will happily add all photos included in the "Pictures" library. One can add any folder to this library on any drive/partition. DirectX 10 for Aero ? Hmm, my 7600GS card handles aero just fine. Last time I checked this card had accelerated DirectX 9 and OpenGL support. Install: Everything just worked when install was done doing it's thing. And this is a rather new rig. New mobo and CPU and 4GB of RAM. Windows Security Essentials vs. no antivirus. On this rig I just don't feel the antivirus. No penalty for me on WoW, Runes of Magic, Quake 4, Doom 3. However, from the last round of testing on Phoronix, seems that gaming on Linux would take a higher performance hit from not so great drivers than Windows gaming would get from running an security product. Messaging: Well, voice chat is almost all we do nowdays. Almost. Tell my 60+ mom she needs to type in messages to her nephew in the US because Linux has whatever tech. advantages over Windows, I dare you, tell her that after she just spoke to him online via Live Messenger. Despite all the above, Ubuntu is so fun to use on my Centrino 1.6Ghz lappie. Seems to be a question of using the right tool for the job after all. almost forgot one Silviu C (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 8:29pm Windows Backup in W7 is just one fine utility able to create an image of the partition(s) one wished to backup. I too happened to deal with weirdness after one app gone ape started to spawn windows like crazy until windows gave up the ghost and BSODed on me. Upon restart it would not go further than the login screen. After running some diagnostics from the windows install dvd and not being able to fix the problem I decided to restore the system from an earlier image created with windows' backup tool. In less than 10 mins I was back in biz. To be honest, I have no idea how I could easily recover from a major disaster with any Linux flavor available at this time. Who said Linux doesn't work? Fluke Airwalker (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 8:57pm I am not a programmer. I am not a power user. I do work in an office but it's the type of place I can't take work home from. And up until six months ago I had an immense fear of a command line. Then I took the dive and bought a System 76 laptop because I was sick of my "gaming laptop" being barely able to run Guild Wars and a browser simultaneously. And I haven't looked back. Webcam worked from the moment I plugged it in. Mic worked too. Wireless keyboard and mouse worked right out of the box. Projector worked once I figured out I had to push Fn+F7 to switch monitors. My laptop syncs with my digital camera and iPod. I run Skype and Second Life natively. I watch movies, DVDs, web shows, and listen to music without issue. The internet seems to run native on Linux for me. I like that when I do have a problem, I just go to the Ubuntu forum to ask it, and I get a reply in a day. To me copy-pasting a command is way easier than fishing through obscure GUI menus. Aptitude is the best idea for safe and reliable computing I've seen... well, ever. Oh yeah, I run Guild Wars on WINE at max graphics. Who are all these people having issues with Linux? Why can't they figure this out? If a regular joe like me armed with nothing more than a willingness to read and experiment can figure out Linux, why can't anyone else? Tired Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 9:06pm I'm just tired of Windows. People ask me about their Windows problems and I just shake my head and say "I have no clue".Sheep. Why do I use LInux Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 9:15pm A lot of us forget that Linux offers many a choice. However there is a learning curve, just like any operating system. People grew up with Windows as their operating system. Many of the students today are growing up with Linux. I recently installed Mint Linux 7 KDE version on an older system that what I have at work. This system is at least 3 years old and runs better than my work system running Vista. Am I going to bash Vista, no I am not. I hate to say that after SP2 Vista is a great operating system. I really can't see why people bash Vista after sp2. I think they just belong to the bandwagon of bashing operating systems. However as my choice of OS I choose Linux. Why because it does everything I need to do. While $300 isn't too bad for me to pay, I prefer Linux. They provide a great deal of innovation and quite frankly I haven't run into anything that I can't do with it. For those of you, who bash Open Office. Have you ever seriously tried to use it. I use it a lot. I prefer to use this over Word any day. It's because that's what I am use to also it provides a means of editting PDFs which I can't serious use that abomination called Adobe Acrobat. I honestly can do more with Linux but YES I had to learn how to use it. Being an IT professional I understand the need of teaching most people simplicity, so we stay with what they know. By the way I don't like paying for software, so tell me why will people go to the internet and purchase their services. Come on people, people want freedom and they sure as heck don't want to be paying a lot for doing so. dunno Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 9:29pm I mostly run windows xp as my copy of win 7 does not have an ati driver for my x800 series video card. Today I was about to wipe my win 7 away and put linux on that hd, so that when I am bored I can perhaps learn some linux. Well I haven't wiped win 7 yet, as its just too damn good. So much faster than my XP (sure 7 uses more ram on my system but thats ok with me as I have 2GB and would rather have more performance). My video card is a bit old and am thinking of upgrading anyways. I have played around a bit with linux over the years in short time segments for various reasons: 1. Installing flash under ubuntu a few years ago required(I mean, I had to do this, perhaps some would not copy and paste) copy and pasting some code from a forum that I had to look up. I did not understand the code that I copy and pasted as I am not into computer programming. I hope the issues with flash are less pathetic now. 2. If I wanted to play a game (a good game, a game that is commercially available and no I did not buy it, I used a little thing called utorrent), I had to reboot my pc into windows. After doing so, I found myself wondering why I even have linux. 3. I do play games less now and use office software more. Openoffice is not as good as MS Office 2007. Will it ever be? Probably not, but maybe eventually the difference will be much smaller. 4. The main concern I have with the linux community is the false argument used against windows. The argument I speak of concern the importance of free (as in beer) software being important to the end user. Most people that I personally know, have no problem at all in downloading software (the kind that is supposed to eb paid for) for free. Now it is good to state that GNU/Linux is free (as in beer), but don't assume most people care (its a slight perk). The point on free (as in free speech) is a much better point to state. A lot of the problems with Linux wrt to a desktop user, are not really the fault of Linux or it's developers. It would be nice for hardware developers to better support Linux. Oh well, life is not fair. wake up and smell the coffee Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 9:31pm A lot of you still don't get it. Windows is dominant not because it's better but simply because dear old Bill had a vision, dumb down software and people will use it. It's no good looking at any software as a power user and saying "what is so difficult about this?" To you and I it's not difficult but to the average man on the street, an O.S., word editor, whatever it may be is simply a tool like a screwdriver or hammer to get something done. The harder it is to use, the less people will like it no matter how good it may be. People are inherently lazy (well most anyway). Linux developers are mostly out of touch with the average population by thinking that it's ok to type a whole bunch of obscure "words" into the command line to get something done. People relate better to pictures, hence the popularity of the GUI and in this regard windows can't be beat. I take my hat off to what has been accomplished with linux but it's just too difficult for the average user. you must be joking Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 9:40pm Why expect hardware vendors to support linux when there are no standards and it's such a mish mash of code. Companies expect a return on investment, and as linux stands now, it's simply not a good deal to invest a whole lot of time and resources into a "fringe" operating system. "Why expect hardware vendors Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 10:29pm "Why expect hardware vendors to support linux when there are no standards and it's such a mish mash of code." That's a BS excuse. All hardware support is handled by the kernel. There are no standards or mish mash of code to worry about. RE: go figure Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 22, 2009 @ 11:52pm 1. People don't know of it. 2. People are afraid to switch. (FUD) 3. People don't know how to use it. There are quite a few Alan (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 2:09am There are quite a few whiners in here! Here's my setup, I'm running Linux Mint 7 (GNOME) with as my browser. Instead of running Wine, I am using VirtualBox OSE and have that setup with multiple OS's. One of those is XP, use it for gaming and it works well! Instead of saying, "this doesn't work, that doesn't work," sob, sob, sob, look for alternatives. They are out there and they work REALLY well! Windows is yesterdays news Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 2:11am I use Windows and Linux at work. Linux is simply better. It's less expensive ($0). It takes a lot less futsing with to get it to work well and look nice than Windows. All of the applications are free. The package management systems, yum and synaptic are almost too easy. If you think Linux is hard you simply haven't tried it recently. I helped my daughter in law set up Kubuntu last weekend. I told her to go on and chat with company since this would take a while. I had to call her back in a couple of minutes because the install was done. I couldn't believe how fast the full install went. I have installed Linux for a 70 year old lady who knows practically nothing about computers because her Windows was so crapped up with internet debris that it would hardly run. She is now a happy Xubuntu camper. Her computer is no longer slowing down week by week. It simply works, well. Windows is yesterdays news. Linux is the future... The only thing that saved Microsoft in desktop Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 2:40am Is Directx! Bill Gates really won the developers hearth more than 10 years ago with integrated API for game development. The free contender, OpenGL was, and still is too broad for serious support from the game industry. Sure we have SDL, but there's no major player advocating for it. I would love to play game INDEPENDENTLY of OS. That would be a revolution! Linux is a very moving target Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 3:44am "There are no standards or mish mash of code to worry about." So why does almost every module from earlier 2.6 kernels require major structure and code changes? I would expect only minor changes within a series and major additions requiring rewriting of drivers and modules should go into the 3.x series. I'm glad things are being worked on and improved, but it shows poor or no planning when major changes happen midstream. I for one would LOVE to see several of the Linux camps quit fighting and join forces, make some plans and get developing together rather than fracturing and competing. Two people get way more done on a job than two people doing two jobs which are the same. Any time you look, the two separate guys are at least 50% behind. !Not saying Windows 7 its not as a good product as Linux! Locoxella (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 4:14am "Why expect hardware vendors to support linux when there are no standards and it's such a mish mash of code." Come on... ¿No standars on Linux? You got to be kidding here. Linux IS by definition a plataform of standars. Furthermore, OPEN STANDARDS. Hardware vendors can do drivers for inux or simply let some other people to do it for them because of this (this is the case several times). Had you tried to plug new hardware (like printers) on old Windows systems. You wont get drivers for that. This is because Windows does not have a Standard for its drivers. Drivers for Windows 7 will differ from drivers For Vista. Same Way Drivers for Vista differ from Drivers to windows XP. Really... calling "STANDAR" to an OS that need a new driver development with each new version its not serious at all. AGAIN, as stated on y title. I think Windows 7 can be a fair product. Just as Linux is it now. This is just a recovery from the total dissaster that Vista was, not the even yet to come "final" blow of Windows over Linux. Windows fans might no be aware of this, but Vista let Microsoft at an underdog paper in front of Linux. This is just the recovery to catch up with Linux and MacOS. And Microsft seems to had do it really well. Being funny already? Locoxella (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 4:27am "I for one would LOVE to see several of the Linux camps quit fighting and join forces, make some plans and get developing together rather than fracturing and competing. Two people get way more done on a job than two people doing two jobs which are the same. Any time you look, the two separate guys are at least 50% behind." Now, you are not being serious, or you really don't know what Linux is. Theres only one Linux Kernel. And several people from all over the world contribute to it, and already (and keep doing it) achieved a goal: To have a stable OS running over several flavors of hardware. Windows will never run on some devices where Linux kernel can run. You have a missconception of what Linux is sice day one: when Linus invited any developer to contribute with it. You might be confused with some other concept like developing two applications that do the same... like developing two applications for web design. But you know what? this is also the case of windows... several companies develop different applications which happens some times to do exactly the same. But, they cannot contribute to each other because they source is closed mst of the time. So you have Adobe making an application like Dreamweaver an other several companies (like microsoft) making other web developing applications that are having the problem you just described. On the Linux case, the same happens, but the applications are able to share the code (95% of the time) if they want to. Command Line FUD Fluke Airwalker (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 5:47am This is some nonsense I'm reading about the command line. As I stated before I'm not a power user by any stretch of the imagination, just a guy with a willingness to research and experiment. I would much rather copy-paste a code I get from the Ubuntu forum that I know will fix my issue than search for some obscure GUI menu that may or may not solve the issue. Sure, I don't know what I'm putting in there, but one copy-paste and a password later, the problem is solved. I switched my wife's computer and a friend's computer to Ubuntu and they both agree: copy-pasting into the command line is *way* easier than GUI. Why use Linux or Windows? Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 6:49am So, why using Linux? a) it's free, no strings attached b) it's free, costs you no money Why are people still using Windows? a) Games b) OEMs I'm using my computer every day, mostly for software developing and I never ever missed one application for my work or at home on my Linux box. Well, except Skype maybe for chatting with some friends. Linux is becoming the best OS for business. You have free updates, you don't need to pay licenses fees, it's secure. Of course it's bad if you company depends on Windows applications, so you have to pay double (Windows license and app license). If the OEM market wasn't so locked down, Linux would be also best for consumers, for the same reasons. Well, hopefully it will be more choice in the netbook/nettop/smartphone market. But I guess, the Linux ecosystem isn't so friendly for third-class developer. I mean, antivirus, winzip/winrar, media player, audio player, office, chat/messaging, all the small helper applications are all for free on Linux. If Linux had a dominant market share, than I think that Symantec wouldn't had such a big office building in my city. Linux always the loser Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 8:09am Given the multimillion pound/dollar advertising that will be used to promote Windows7 then Linux will be the loser. It doesn't matter how good the operating system is, it is all down to money. The Fact Windows Developer (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 8:24am The Fact is, when Windows Vista disappointed the Windows Customers for some incompatibility of drivers and applications, the customers didn't go to Linux, 99% of the complaining customers switched back to Windows XP, and 1% moved to Mac OSX, Linux is not even a choice for a customer his #1 priority is backward compatibility, which Microsoft excels in it, and their customers expect that from Microsoft, for example you can see a crappy DOS game still plays on Windows 7, and with Windows XP mode in Windows 7 even the crappier applications designed only for XP will work just fine. Linux is a completely different world, and most consumers are either unaware of its existence or don't care, however because the Linux community loud crowd we keep hearing about the year of linux everyday, while on the other hand if Windows croud were half as loud, Linux crowd would have been blown away. the real world Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 9:25am The more I read these postings the more I wonder if linux supporters are from planet earth. To say every kind of app is available for linux is just madness. I'm an electronics engineer and getting decent cad packages for pcb's with proper gerber file support is like looking for rocking horse droppings. As for circuit simulation software well these wont exist for linux for the next 50 years. And what about compilers and programmers for such as the 8051 family? The same situation exists for mechanical engineering and I'm sure all other aspects of engineering. Even in the production enviroment such as the company that produces our pcb's and metal housings guess what they use for their automated machines? no sign of a penguin there either. Bottom line linux grew out of a hobby project and it's quite remarkable what has been achived, but windows is in a completely different league. The execption being vista, which is absolut crap. At least Microsoft accepts this and quickly released win7 to rectify the problem unlike the linux lot that keep bashing on and finding riddiculus patches to overcome shortcomings in linux. Get your heads out of the sand and write proper code then people might actually consider linux. re: the real world Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 9:54am Nobody will say that all apps are available for Linux. I for myself only had the statement that I didn't miss anything yet in Linux. And Linux isn't so much a hobby project either. Over half the embendent, server and super computers runs Linux or *BSD. Furthermore, 3/4 of the codebase of Linux is from companies, like , sun, ibm, amd, and so on. As you can see here: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/whowriteslinux.pdf 1. Red Hat: 12.3% 2. IBM: 7.6% 3. Novell: 7.6% 4. Intel: 5.3% 5. Independent consultant: 2.5% 6. Oracle: 2.4% 7. Linux Foundation: 1.6% 8. SGI 1.6% 9. Parallels 1.3% 10. Renesas Technology: 1.3% Linux for big computers kcph (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 12:57pm LINUX is a clone of Unix. Where Unix is made for CPU's in mainframe computers, then Linux can run on an ordinary pc's CPU, like Intel, AMD or similar CPU's. Linux has thus inherited the qualities of Unix: excellent networking, multiuser ability with protection of each users data and not least protection of the programs on harddisk(s). So Linux was borne for big and fast computers and for using the computer in a networked environment. When the IBM Personal Computer was borne, its operating system was DOS, an extension of the primitive CPM operating system. The first pc's had less than one MegaByte of ram - rather they had something like 64 kiloBytes of ram. The file system was the insecure FAT, and the (floppy) disk size was around 360 (?) kiloBytes pr. floppy. And by the way, DOS was developed for IBM, who outsourced this little project to a company named Micro Soft or something like that. This company was allowed to sell DOS for itself, so for many years you could by both IBM's PC-DOS and the similar MS-DOS. MS Windows grew out of DOS - for example the file system in Windows95 was the aforementioned FAT and its bigger version VFAT. Some people think that Linux was created as a hobby system. But SO VERY NOT! Yes, the porting of Unix to an ordinary pc's CPU started as a hobby project, but the fundamental principles, qualities and tools of Linux stem from the UNIX-world! To continue the history: the Linux kernel quickly joined forces with the GNU free software movement, and today we have a huge and excellent software system called Linux/GNU or in short Linux - ready for super computers and networking and the Internet !!! Let's be fair and not forget that there are other Unix-clones that can run on ordinary pc's: the BSD-versions and OpenSolaris and probably some more operating systems :-) But speaking about growing out of a hobby system ... holey winblows Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 1:05pm I helped my daughter in law set up Kubuntu last weekend. . I have installed Linux for a 70 year old lady who knows practically nothing about computers because her Windows was so crapped up with internet debris that it would hardly run. She is now a happy Xubuntu camper. Her computer is no longer slowing down week by week. It simply works, well. Thank you for that information ...... I for one will be giving linux a try ... within the next few weeks .,, it may not be for you , however im going to be like the 70 y o lady an have a bebris free computer .. well thats my aim ... :) . Nobody uses Linux Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 1:36pm Face it everyone uses Windows. That includes of course: * All of you air travellers who watch movies on.... Linux * You Googlers who search the Internet using.... Linux * You web users who get served up pages, at least 60% of the time from.... Linux * You Tom Tom users who navigate home using.... Linux Seems to me the Linux is actually quite a powerful platform for businesses to deliver products to their customers. The only common thing with the above is that they don't need the concept of a desktop OS to work. Anything that needs a 'desktop', thanks to the OEM market, is pretty sewn up. Not because Windows is better, just because it's what you'll get when you buy a computer. Pity us all as we're paying a very high premium for this in all of our traditional computer technology. Why so divided? Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 2:12pm I've never had a religious attitude to operating systems. For me, I use a Linux box for internet, word processing and accounts, gaming, watching films etc. I have a Windows box for Cubase. It never connects to the internet, so it is reliable, and I never install any other software on it. This works very well. I have found Windows can work perfectly well if you only install a single program and minimal drivers on it, and don't use the internet so you don't need the firewall and antivirus stuff that makes it run slowly. This seems to avoid the 'rot', and a single install will run fine for ten years or so. Linux works perfectly well if you buy compatible hardware, and then you can do pretty much what you like with it and it stays reliable. But, if there is a single Windows program you really need that won't run in Wine, a separate clean install computer off the net keeps Windows reliable beyond even experienced Windows users expectations. Theres plenty of games for Linux Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 2:48pm To those posters whining about no games for Linux etc. Thats getting way old. Quit living life with your heads so far up Billy Boy's rearend that you smell the lunch he had yesterday. Try educating yourselves. The no games for Linux myth is dead and has been for a long time. If you want to play specific "Windows" games in Linux quit blaming Linux and get off you're butts and contact those lamer game companies who also seem to be sniffing Billy's lunch and ask them to support Linux. Otherwise start exploring Linux games,There are plenty of them and more all the time. Windows won, as per usual. Anonymous Penguin (not verified) - August 23, 2009 @ 3:12pm I didn't even read this article, I just scrolled all the way to the bottom to the "enter a comment" section and started typing. Of course I know that Windows 7 is the winner, I don't even have to read the dumbass article to know this. I've tried linsux: it sux. No sound, no support for video capture or web cams, slow as molasses, no applications, no games, no nothing. Why does anyone bother? 1 2 3 next › last » Post new comment Top of Form Anonymous Penguin Your name:

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