| |
| |
|
Software Information |
|
|
|
Linux Vs. Windows
This article will not attempt to advocate the use of Linux over Windows or vice versa. I will try to present the differences and similarities between Linux and Windows in a fair manner. Overview: Both Linux and Windows (2000, NT, XP, Vista) are operating systems. Linux was inspired from Unix, while Windows was inspired from VMS. While no single company "owns" Linux, Windows is owned by Microsoft. Various distributions (often referred to as "distros") of Linux come from different companies (e.g. Red Hat, Novell SuSE, Mandrake etc.), while all Windows flavors (95, 98, 2000, XP, Vista) come from Microsoft. Both Linux and Windows come in Desktop and Server editions. Cost: As far as cost is concerned, Linux is very cheap or free. I used the word "very cheap" for enterprise users. While anybody can download, install and use Linux, the distribution companies usually charge for technical support. Windows is expensive. You first pay for the copy of the software and then again for the technical support if you ever want it. There is another catch though; Windows enforces you to use a single copy on a single computer. This is not the case with Linux though, once you purchase Linux, you can run it on an unlimited number of computers. GUI: Both Windows and Linux are GUI based operating systems. I'm afraid but, Windows has better GUI than Linux and it will get far better with the upcoming Windows Vista release. Linux has two GUIs: Gnome and KDE. Linux is fast catching up and is evolving from a server operating system to a desktop operating system. Command Line: Both Windows and Linux comes with command line interface. Windows calls it the "DOS prompt", while Linux refers to it as the "shell". Linux's shell is far more superior than Window's DOS prompt. It can do a whole lot of things that are not possible in Windows. Linux support various command line shells such as BASH, Bourne, Korn, C shell and many other. Third Party Application Software Availability: Both Windows and Linux run third-party applications. Windows, compared to Linux, has far greater number of third party applications available for use. A program written for Windows will not run under Linux (although it can be made to emulate, but it will be very annoying and hence not recommened). Linux's application base is, however, increasing threefold. On a more close examination, the average computer user uses the following applications 90% of the time: Word Processor (Office suite), E-mail client, Web browser, Media software, and Instant Messenger. Linux has all these applications and in fact has many flavors for each. Like Linux, all third party applications are very cheap or free. Whereas, Windows applications can cost a leg and a limb. Security: Simply put it this way, Windows is not secure. If you are using Windows and don't have Antivirus, Anti Spyware, and firewall (memory and resource eating applications), your computer can get affected by a virus in less than 10 minutes. I remember restoring a fresh copy of Windows XP on my Toshiba A40 notebook. I was browsing the Internet with Microsoft Internet Explorer and my machine got infected with loads of spyware in less than 15 minutes! Microsoft came up with Firewall and Anti Spyware products, but these programs run in the background and eat up your computer's precious memory. Linux, on the other hand, doesn't have these issues. I'm not aware of any spywares for Linux. One can safely run a Linux distro without ever worrying about installing Anitvirus or Anti-Spywares. Windows also has more security flaws than Linux. By security flaw, I mean a hacker can compromise the Windows operating system and break into your machine and destroy your files. But, flaws on Windows are quickly fixed and patches are often made available almost instantly after the flaw is reported. Supported Hardware: Windows was originally designed for Intel based machines. Earlier version of Windows NT also ran on RISC and Alpha architectures, but not anymore. Linux run on a wide variety of hardware. And can support some very old legacy hardware. I've seen a Linux distro running on a 486 based machine. Diver Availability: As one author once said, "Windows is a bag of drivers". I think that is quite true. Installing a new hardware device is a piece of cake in Windows, whereas it can be a nuisance on Linux especially for average Joe. I can't in my wildest dreams imagine my dad installing a sound card successfully in Linux. Things however will not stay the same for long. Manufacturers are also offering Linux drivers for their hardware, which will simplify the process. Network Support: Linux beats Windows bad in this area. Windows was never designed for the Internet. Unix, on which Linux is based, was designed for Internet (or Network) and is far more efficient compared to Windows. A senior Network Administrator working for a Fortune-500 company, recently pointed to me that if we monitor the traffic between exchange Windows based Exchange Server and Client, we can see that hundreds of packets are going to and from even when both are idle. He said that such is not the case with Linux. However, our average Joe will never see or feel any difference. Windows Internet is good enough for him. File System: Windows Vista will use a new file system called WinFS. Earlier version used FAT (FAT16 and FAT32) and NTFS file systems, with NTFS being the preferred choice. Linux supports ext2 and ext3 file systems. FAT file systems were mediocre, but NTFS can be compared with the Linux file systems. Both file systems allows us to create directories, sub directories and file. Linux file systems are case-sensitive whereas, NTFS is not. Normally, Linux systems cannot access NTFS file systems, but with the help of add-on software, it can. Help and Documentation: Linux help and documentation is quite good, accurate and to the point compared. I've been using Windows for well over 8 years now. Frankly speaking, I hardly ever checked the accompanying documentation or the help file because everything is so simple that nobody needs to venture in the help file. What should I buy? OK. Truth hurts, but let it be. If you are average Joe, that extra $300 on Windows are worth spending. If you are looking an OS for your server, never even think about Windows. Buy Linux. About the Author: He can be reached at: umer.mansoor-at-gmail.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Software - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Great Plains Sales Order Processing and Invoicing Modules - Tips For Consultants We'll give you non formal view, based on our consulting practice.Common Features. Can You Calculate Complex Financial Calculations? Are you a whiz at calculating financial information? Not the easy personal stuff, like figuring out your monthly mortgage based on a fixed interest rate for x number of years, or how much money you have available each month after all your bills are paid. (You can probably use your fingers to figure that one out!)But the hard stuff, you know, the things you need to know when you're running a small business. You Can Write Microsoft Office Program in About 60 Minutes Microsoft Office program is a programming tool called Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) that comes with Microsoft Excel, Word, Outlook, Power Point, and Publisher. VBA can make your repeating jobs automatic. Your Computer May Be Infected, Heres How To Check (NOT about virus) NOTE: Please take time to read on - it may be vital for your PC's security. If you are not in the mood, just save it or print it out for later reference. Does your Company have Documentum? Are you lost in the mess of documents that get passed around your company, never knowing what the latest version is and which one you should work on without worrying if someone else has already made the same editions that you are making? Perhaps you have heard of collaboration software solutions such as Documentum to help your company manage its documents that are passed around. Documentum is a very good solution to this problem but is it the only one? In this article you will be presented with some basic information about the differences in collaboration software from Documentum and NextPage. What is Shareware? Shareware is software that you can try before you buy; shareware is a kind of marketing method for software. Software developers post trial versions of their software on websites. Microsoft Navision and Crystal Reports - An Overview Microsoft Business Solutions - Navision is an integrated solution for small and midsize companies looking to expand their business operations without much interruption to its existing processes. Microsoft Navision enables businesses to alter as much or as little of its existing system, integrate add-ons and vertical segments of its development. Scrap Booking Online: Word Perfect or Corel Graphics Suite? Scrapbooks are very popular these days. I think that almost everyone wanted to capture family histories and stories in any which way they can. Bridging the Gap between Paper and Data The cornerstone of successful automated office systems is the ability to convert printed information into electronic data. Document processing applications need to capture and index data accurately and efficiently to bridge that gap. Microsoft Business Solutions Products Selection: ERP, CRM, Retail Management Let's first look at your ERP system selection (without Retail Solution). Your options are:Microsoft Great Plains. Reporting for Microsoft Great Plains/Dynamics/eEnterprise: RW - ReportWriter - Tips for Developer Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is written in Great Plains Software programming tool: Great Plains Dexterity. Dexterity in turn was built with conception of graphical cross-platform transferability (in time - 1992 - mostly Mac and MS Windows). An Easy Way to Deal with Email Viruses and Worms If you feel intimidated when someone tries to teach you something new on the computer, this article is for you!In the course of my career, I've worked with many people who I knew were smart but were convinced that they couldn't learn how to do new things on a computer. At some point, they'd convinced themselves that they weren't one of those "computer people". The Dreaded Paper Label - Should it be Used? While paper labeling CDs and DVDs may appear to be a cost effective solution for printing on your media, there are solid reasons why you should consider other options.1) Hand application of paper labels can be time consuming and frustrating. Online PowerPoint Presentation - Convert PowerPoint to Flash Although we don't know whether Microsoft ever envisioned such a big market about PowerPoint on its first release. Today this software is impacting profoundly on education and corporation's activities in the way that nobody could ignore. Microsoft Great Plains in Construction & Building - Implementation & Customization Highlights Microsoft Great Plains could be tuned and setup to fit most of horizontal markets. You can deploy third party modules or build your own custom logic in Great Plains Dexterity. Great Plains Dexterity - Microsoft Great Plains Customization Overview Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics and eEnterprise are Dexterity-written applications. Also small business line: Microsoft Small Business Manager or Small Business Financials is written in Dexterity and uses the same code base as Great Plains. Microsoft CRM Development Microsoft CRM is CRM answer from Microsoft Business Solutions.The whole conception behind CRM seems to be different. Free PDF Publishing Software In a previous article, I wrote about OpenOffice which an excellent suite of Free Office software which is in the Public Domain.What I did not know is that the Writer (word processing) program creates PDF files too. Basic Steps To Optimize Your Internet Security After seeing many people complain about their weak Internet security I decided to write down some things that will help you for your Internet security.First, here are some tips to make windows safer :For basic security and update patches install Service Pack 2 for Windows XP or Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000. Removing Incoming Email in MS Exchange, C# Example The purpose of one of our projects was MS Exchange handler for processing incoming email.The basic source of knowledge was this article "Developing Managed Event Sinks/Hooks for Exchange Server Store using C#" by Logu Krishnan, published to the address http://www.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
