F
Fudzy
Guest
Why do you use it over Windows? Lets just say cost is out of the picture, what is like your Top 5 reasons why you use Linux over Windows?
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FrancTheTank
Expert Member
Stability, Stability, Stability, Stability, Stability.
FrancTheTank
Expert Member
OK, i was being silly, cause its late.
1. Stability
2. Speed
3. Customisability
4. Startup time
5. Control
1. Stability
2. Speed
3. Customisability
4. Startup time
5. Control
F
Fudzy
Guest
What sort of applications and functions were you performing that you found Windows didn't provide enough stability for?
vatso
Well-Known Member
- It (open source) remains competition for Microsoft--forces them to remain competitive.
- No 3rd party AntiVirus or Firewall software needed that slows down the system (for now at least).
- Some Open Source applications are great alternatives for otherwise expensive software. I must add however that Windows still offers more powerful applications like Adobe's products (Photoshop) and MS Office 2007.
- Still the best (inexpensive and stable) web server running Apache / MySQL / PHP available.
- I can use both XP or Ubuntu as needed (Freedom )
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First of I'm not running Linux but rather Ubuntu a Distribution of Free Open Source Software where Linux is the kernel of the Distro.
1. Desktop Environment and Window Management: For example in Windows XP/Vista I cant move the order of my programs in the taskbar. But in Gnome its as easy as drag and drop. Another great example is Workspaces and I can have some much as I can manage. I did try the powertoy for multiple workspaces on Windows but it was bugy and unstable. There is also some nice tricks you can pull off using Compiz Fusion like managing the window positions with your numpad. The Windows Desktop Environment is just to restrictive for me.
2. Security: Now a lot of people will say it is only secure because it is the minority Operating System. But then one must just remember more then 50% of the Internet runs on FOSS Operating Systems. Unix was designed up from 1970 and there is true separation between users and groups and what they can access and not.
3. The Learning Curve: I'm a person that wants to know how stuff works. I do feel I'm a power user when it comes to Windows but you can't really separate the processes and how the system functions because windows is close source. Where FOSS I can have a look at the kernel the boot up process, customize it and learn more then what I can do on Windows.
4. Community: There is a very active community around FOSS just have a look at GLUG, CLUG and Ubuntu-za.
5. Bleeding Edge: I'm not talking about the technology here but rather a social problem we have regarding separation between the physical world and digital world. Because the software is free it is legal to distribute it to other people, where as with proprietary software it is just a easy to share it but the developers and sotware houses wants to make it illegal and for them to survive they will need to adapt their business policies where FOSS will continue to be free.
1. Desktop Environment and Window Management: For example in Windows XP/Vista I cant move the order of my programs in the taskbar. But in Gnome its as easy as drag and drop. Another great example is Workspaces and I can have some much as I can manage. I did try the powertoy for multiple workspaces on Windows but it was bugy and unstable. There is also some nice tricks you can pull off using Compiz Fusion like managing the window positions with your numpad. The Windows Desktop Environment is just to restrictive for me.
2. Security: Now a lot of people will say it is only secure because it is the minority Operating System. But then one must just remember more then 50% of the Internet runs on FOSS Operating Systems. Unix was designed up from 1970 and there is true separation between users and groups and what they can access and not.
3. The Learning Curve: I'm a person that wants to know how stuff works. I do feel I'm a power user when it comes to Windows but you can't really separate the processes and how the system functions because windows is close source. Where FOSS I can have a look at the kernel the boot up process, customize it and learn more then what I can do on Windows.
4. Community: There is a very active community around FOSS just have a look at GLUG, CLUG and Ubuntu-za.
5. Bleeding Edge: I'm not talking about the technology here but rather a social problem we have regarding separation between the physical world and digital world. Because the software is free it is legal to distribute it to other people, where as with proprietary software it is just a easy to share it but the developers and sotware houses wants to make it illegal and for them to survive they will need to adapt their business policies where FOSS will continue to be free.
1. Stability -> +1. My desktop's been online for weeks and weeks with not as much as a single program crashing.
2. Speed -> +1
3. Customisability -> ++1, a Linux distro is more customisable than Windows will ever be... and all in-house.
4. Startup time -> It boots extremely fast, but since I very rarely go into Windows or restart my machine this isn't an issue for me.
5. Control -> +1.
6. Security -> Linux is so much more secure than Windows. I don't have to worry about virii or security concerns or keyloggers or anything of the sort.
7. Programs -> Because just about everything is free, I can have Photoshop, Office, the best music players and just about everything that you can have on Windows.... in Linux. For free.
I just find Linux a more pleasant experience than Windows. I love playing around in the terminal (I can browse through my terminal faster than I can browse through Windows) and absolutely everything is custom-to-whatever-you-want.
2. Speed -> +1
3. Customisability -> ++1, a Linux distro is more customisable than Windows will ever be... and all in-house.
4. Startup time -> It boots extremely fast, but since I very rarely go into Windows or restart my machine this isn't an issue for me.
5. Control -> +1.
6. Security -> Linux is so much more secure than Windows. I don't have to worry about virii or security concerns or keyloggers or anything of the sort.
7. Programs -> Because just about everything is free, I can have Photoshop, Office, the best music players and just about everything that you can have on Windows.... in Linux. For free.
I just find Linux a more pleasant experience than Windows. I love playing around in the terminal (I can browse through my terminal faster than I can browse through Windows) and absolutely everything is custom-to-whatever-you-want.
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d0b33
Honorary Master
-Stability
-Speed
-Desktop management(KDE's compiz built in)
-Stability
-Myth TV
-Speed
-Desktop management(KDE's compiz built in)
-Stability
-Myth TV
Tinuva
The Magician
Ok you guys listed a lot of things. Let's go through them:
1. Open Source
- You also get open source on windows, this just keeps application developers competitive. The OS though maybe a little, but not really, windows is still very expensive imho.
2. No 3rd party AntiVirus or Firewall software needed that slows down the system (for now at least).
- Windows Vista has one of the best built in firewalls, while it cant do everything iptables/ipfw ect do, it can do it on a per application level which is very user friendly, much better than what XP SP2's firewall did.
- You still need an AV in Linux, not as badly as in windows, but still. ClamAV for the most part works, and is free.
3. Some Open Source applications are great alternatives for otherwise expensive software. I must add however that Windows still offers more powerful applications like Adobe's products (Photoshop) and MS Office 2007.
- True, but MS-Office still stays the #1 reason people use Windows, especially for Exchange.
- Also open source solutions are not always 100% compatible, always 1 step behind to add that in.
4. Still the best (inexpensive and stable) web server running Apache / MySQL / PHP available.
- This is probably 1 thing I can agree with, however you then need the experience and skills to do this properly. If only people know how much I had to learn to get this close to 99% perfect. You can have the best protected web server, if the website has exploits the website will get hacked
5. Shared knowledge
- You get this with windows as well, dont really need MCSE for that...
6. Proper threading and memory management
- Windows actually also have this. It also has superfect since Vista which is really leet!
7. (false sense of...) Security
- Windows can be just as secure as linux if not more, this is up to implementation by the user and applications...
8. Enjoyable learning experience
- This is true, but I also enjoy learning on linux, bsd, MacOS, Cisco ect.
9. Speed
- I dont know, in my opinion lately Linux can get slower than windows on old machines, they have just as much bloat if not more!
- To have this sense of speed, you need to use older versions of software, ie. kde2 or gnome 1 ect, the newer versions is quite bulky. There is the alternative of fluxbox ect. tho.
- ps. Browsing with Firefox on windows is faster than Firefox on linux, go do some timed benchmarks and you will see!
10. Customisability
- Windows also have this, in fact why dont you just replace your shell with something other than explorer? That will give you a unique look completely, in fact go install kde for windows.
11. Startup time
- Non-issue, use suspend to ram sleep mode. Though Vista isnt that slow, windows 7 was even better at this.
12. Free Programs
- 90% of those programs have windows binaries, if not just install a cygwin environment in windows and compile it on there and tada!
So why do I use Linux? Well I prefer it actually. I work with it everyday at work, my laptop runs Linux only, heck even my HTPC is going to be on Linux. I have one pc at home with windows on, my gaming pc.
Thus in the end it is only about: Choice. I like Linux for what it is, not because of any of the other million reasons. Its like I like drinking Black Label or insert you favourite drink in there.
1. Open Source
- You also get open source on windows, this just keeps application developers competitive. The OS though maybe a little, but not really, windows is still very expensive imho.
2. No 3rd party AntiVirus or Firewall software needed that slows down the system (for now at least).
- Windows Vista has one of the best built in firewalls, while it cant do everything iptables/ipfw ect do, it can do it on a per application level which is very user friendly, much better than what XP SP2's firewall did.
- You still need an AV in Linux, not as badly as in windows, but still. ClamAV for the most part works, and is free.
3. Some Open Source applications are great alternatives for otherwise expensive software. I must add however that Windows still offers more powerful applications like Adobe's products (Photoshop) and MS Office 2007.
- True, but MS-Office still stays the #1 reason people use Windows, especially for Exchange.
- Also open source solutions are not always 100% compatible, always 1 step behind to add that in.
4. Still the best (inexpensive and stable) web server running Apache / MySQL / PHP available.
- This is probably 1 thing I can agree with, however you then need the experience and skills to do this properly. If only people know how much I had to learn to get this close to 99% perfect. You can have the best protected web server, if the website has exploits the website will get hacked
5. Shared knowledge
- You get this with windows as well, dont really need MCSE for that...
6. Proper threading and memory management
- Windows actually also have this. It also has superfect since Vista which is really leet!
7. (false sense of...) Security
- Windows can be just as secure as linux if not more, this is up to implementation by the user and applications...
8. Enjoyable learning experience
- This is true, but I also enjoy learning on linux, bsd, MacOS, Cisco ect.
9. Speed
- I dont know, in my opinion lately Linux can get slower than windows on old machines, they have just as much bloat if not more!
- To have this sense of speed, you need to use older versions of software, ie. kde2 or gnome 1 ect, the newer versions is quite bulky. There is the alternative of fluxbox ect. tho.
- ps. Browsing with Firefox on windows is faster than Firefox on linux, go do some timed benchmarks and you will see!
10. Customisability
- Windows also have this, in fact why dont you just replace your shell with something other than explorer? That will give you a unique look completely, in fact go install kde for windows.
11. Startup time
- Non-issue, use suspend to ram sleep mode. Though Vista isnt that slow, windows 7 was even better at this.
12. Free Programs
- 90% of those programs have windows binaries, if not just install a cygwin environment in windows and compile it on there and tada!
So why do I use Linux? Well I prefer it actually. I work with it everyday at work, my laptop runs Linux only, heck even my HTPC is going to be on Linux. I have one pc at home with windows on, my gaming pc.
Thus in the end it is only about: Choice. I like Linux for what it is, not because of any of the other million reasons. Its like I like drinking Black Label or insert you favourite drink in there.
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for me it is its much superior use of resources as a first.
secondly, every thing (well more than 75%) i use in windows i would have to pay for while i can get on linux for free. providing similar if not better functionality.
stability and security
and tbh i love playing around with my system and linux allows me better control when it comes to that. which is what wizard said. but don't take that to mean that it is not used for my serious use.
secondly, every thing (well more than 75%) i use in windows i would have to pay for while i can get on linux for free. providing similar if not better functionality.
stability and security
and tbh i love playing around with my system and linux allows me better control when it comes to that. which is what wizard said. but don't take that to mean that it is not used for my serious use.
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Smiley_lauf
Expert Member
Let me add my 1c:
1. Use it to power my old machines--can use effectively for word processing and emailing fine (XFCE, LXDE based distro's)
2. Use it a recovery disc (live CD), especially when Windows breaks down
3. A great partitioning tool
Otherwise, for everything else there is ligit version of Windows Vista to do my everyday work.
4. and Oh, did I mention that is just fun knowing how OS work--with windows you just say aaah, and swallow; with GNU/Linux you first check, chew, and if you like it you swallow, if not then you don't even try it. (sorry had to put this in).
S
1. Use it to power my old machines--can use effectively for word processing and emailing fine (XFCE, LXDE based distro's)
2. Use it a recovery disc (live CD), especially when Windows breaks down
3. A great partitioning tool
Otherwise, for everything else there is ligit version of Windows Vista to do my everyday work.
4. and Oh, did I mention that is just fun knowing how OS work--with windows you just say aaah, and swallow; with GNU/Linux you first check, chew, and if you like it you swallow, if not then you don't even try it. (sorry had to put this in).
S
d0b33
Honorary Master
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
#1) Its got a geek factor thats lacking in Windows.
#2) Security - no matter what your level of experience you will always have a secure PC
#3) apt-get (so wish Windows had that for open-source packages)
#4) the console / terminal - just works like it should
#2) Security - no matter what your level of experience you will always have a secure PC
#3) apt-get (so wish Windows had that for open-source packages)
#4) the console / terminal - just works like it should
MyWorld
Executive Member
Top 5 reasons for using Linux. There are no 5 that stand out above the rest.
The main reason I started using Linux exclusively is because of the philosophy behind it and I just could not bring myself to click the "I Agree" button on the Windows installation. There is always an issue (like DRM) where MS wants to tell you what you can with your computer, and nobody tells me what I can and cannot do with my stuff/PC.
Linux is not like this, what do you want to do, how do you want to do it, this is the Linux way.
What I have noticed is that almost everything is faster on Linux, and much, much more flexible.
DVD ripping, video editing, audio encoding and editing, etc, etc. IOW, it just works beautifully for me in every aspect.
Security has become second nature on Linux to the point that I forget that there are viruses and mallware on the web.
I do not play games anymore, I have outgrown it a bit, but there are hundreds of open source games to choose from and play, I honestly did not miss any gaming that Windows could offer.
Most people will look at an OS and slant it because they cannot do this and that on it, all this points to is the incompetence of the keyboard user, whether it be Windows, Mac or Linux. Blaming an OS for something you cannot do is like laying blame on Nike because you could not finish the Comrades, it's not the shoes people, the shoes are just a tool, same with every other OS.
The main reason I started using Linux exclusively is because of the philosophy behind it and I just could not bring myself to click the "I Agree" button on the Windows installation. There is always an issue (like DRM) where MS wants to tell you what you can with your computer, and nobody tells me what I can and cannot do with my stuff/PC.
Linux is not like this, what do you want to do, how do you want to do it, this is the Linux way.
What I have noticed is that almost everything is faster on Linux, and much, much more flexible.
DVD ripping, video editing, audio encoding and editing, etc, etc. IOW, it just works beautifully for me in every aspect.
Security has become second nature on Linux to the point that I forget that there are viruses and mallware on the web.
I do not play games anymore, I have outgrown it a bit, but there are hundreds of open source games to choose from and play, I honestly did not miss any gaming that Windows could offer.
Most people will look at an OS and slant it because they cannot do this and that on it, all this points to is the incompetence of the keyboard user, whether it be Windows, Mac or Linux. Blaming an OS for something you cannot do is like laying blame on Nike because you could not finish the Comrades, it's not the shoes people, the shoes are just a tool, same with every other OS.
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I used to notice this most on my old P4 2.67Ghz with 1GB RAM. In Linux I could play FM08 in wine, have my WinFast TV2000XP TV card playing and have a browser running. Everything was smooth. If I tried to do the same setup under Windows the system was visibily sluggish.
Other Pineapple Smurf
Honorary Master
1000% yes, my current PC is a 5year old 3Ghz P4 (socket 478). Its is painfully slow under windows when I try and do multitasking.
And gaming, well I bough Quake Territory to support Linux game developers and it performs so much better than under Windows.