Linux vs Microsoft XP: Optimizations Make Linux the Killer Desktop

Consulting Times ^ | 23 May 2005 | Tom Adelstein

[Señor Zorro]

I'll have to download NVU tonite and compare it to Dreamweaver... I'll get back with you..

Emerging it (I'm running Gentoo) now...I'll get back to you as well

[stylin_geek]

Of course, as a network admin, I like to fire up Knoppix STD and run the network sniffer plus a few other fun little programs, just to see what is up on my network.

I've also installed Knoppix on a system (Dual boot Win2K and Knoppix STD) and it runs pretty well.

[akorahil]

You could just stick with console gaming. The X360/PS3 will be fantastic from all reports, and I can't wait for them to release.
Granted, if you are playing WoW/CoH style games, of course you will need the Windows box...

[Born Conservative]

I'm playing Desert Combat, a mod for BF 1942, so a game console is not an option. As an aside, my son just put a deposit down on a new Xbox 360 (due to be released in the fall).

[mattdono]

Well, Xandros Linux bought Corel Linux and they have probably the best "Windows replacement" version.

I have used Knoppix, RedHat, Lindows/Linspire, Fedora, and Xandros. Each distribution has it's strengths and Xandros' strength is definitely its GUI.

The arguments about "Word isn't that bad" or "Windows does what I (or Mom) needs" are pretty shallow, at best. Dismissing a Linux desktop because "Word works fine" hardly seems to address any issue (remotely) related to evaluating a desktop OS. If we are comparing applications, let's compare applications; if we are going to compare OS', then let's compare OS'.

The evaluation of a desktop OS has to be based on several different criteria, the first of which should be hardward support. The second of which should be security. The third of which should be application/software support. And, last, the GUI.

The hardware support for Linux has come along way and may have more to go, but that has more to do with the hardware makers only building Microsoft "stuff". It also has to do with the threats, errr, "partnerships" that Microsoft has made over these years.

The security is where Microsoft has the most problems. And, despite their best efforts, Linux still continues to be a safer OS to use. Because Microsoft has, literally, tied their code into the OS, nefarious code (basically, any Active X controls) runs without hesitation nor alert.

On a software level, games are about the only thing that Linux doesn't do very well. Course, that leads me to use about the only useful tool that Microsoft offers: XBox.

As far as the GUI, most of the Linux stuff out there is just as easy to use as Windows. In many cases, the flexibility of Linux provides the user with tools that aren't present in Windows.

And, there is so much more to this debate that trying to provide 1 reason for either OS being "the one to use" is rather pointless.

[cloud8]

> If it wasn't for games, I'd switch to Linux in a heartbeat.

Why don't you try Knoppix? It's a Linux distro that you burn onto a "live" CD and run the system from your CD drive.

Other people take the dual-system route.

[Col Freeper]

Many of us feel stuck today in various areas of our lives. We question many of the policies than govern us and wonder why we have to put up with them. I question how our government has allowed a bully to run amok controlling the computer market to the extent that it pervades what we can study in our educational systems. With enrollment in technical courses at a low peak perhaps it's because people don't see a future where Microsoft is the only option.

Just once, it would be refreshing to read a Linux post that did not have this type of "Microsoft is a bully and is the reason Linux isn't used by every Grandmother in America!" statement.

Linux vs Microsoft technical comparisons, usability, etc., --- great! Competition is the American way.

Microsoft is bad, Linux is good, the world is unfair, Americans are stoopid for not going to Linux, blah, blah, blah, --- boring!

Who knows, maybe sometime in the future, I will find a Linux article in which the author can stick to the technical facts of comparing the two, and skip the flaming rhetoric.

[browardchad]

As an owner of the deluxe-super-duper paid versions of the newest versions of both Xandros and Linspire, including a paid membership to both of their subscription services (it ain't over when you the buy the program, folks), I have either installed or attempted to install both programs, as well as various other free Linux "flavors" on four different PC's of varying age and capability, including a new laptop, with varying results. As a result of my experience as a non-Geek who has been working with MS Windows since its very first release, I have just one word to say about people who tout Linux for their grandmothers, or tell us about the fabulous "usability" or "compatibility" of Linux:

DELUSIONAL

P.S. If grandma's giving you a headache with all the wormy e-mail she keeps opening, or all the spyware she invites home, and the choice is between Linux and a Mac: splurge and buy her a Mac.

[melbell]

"before I turned it lose on other Linux distributions"

Seriously? Did he actually get paid to write that?

[Trampled by Lambs]

"You could just stick with console gaming. The X360/PS3 will be fantastic from all reports, and I can't wait for them to release."

Yes but for first person shooters which is what I play most (Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, Unreal Tournament etc.) I just can't aim worth beans using those clunky controllers. I've tried and tried on my son's xbox. I'm too used to using a mouse & keyboard to move & aim.

Now if they add a mouse/keyboard setup for the new xbox, I might just buy one.. The xbox we have now looks fantastic on our 46" HDTV.

[Bush2000]

I still remember what they pulled on the guys who did Stacker so I appreciate some of the grudge.

Apparently, you don't remember very much, because the trial court found that the Stacker didn't constitute willful infringement; ie. it wasn't intentional.

[FormerLib]

Actually, I was working as a computer tech at the time and I remember it better than someone who only read stories written about the trial.

[mnehring]

After about an hour of playing around, I have to say this is probably the best open source html editor I've used.. I wouldn't say it is anywhere Dreamweaver MX 04, but it is pretty close to Dreamweaver 3. As they expand their extensions this product should improve.. I wouldn't use it professionally, but for playing around, it isn't bad.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Xnux is a great OS.

XP is a great OS.

OSX is a great OS.

They all have their strengths.  They all have their weaknesses.

I wouldn't hire anyone who said any of those OS's, in their current forms, "sucks" because that person is probably narrow minded or inflexible or simply doesn't know enough about technology to be an asset to my organization.

 

[amigatec]

I'll have to download NVU tonite and compare it to Dreamweaver... I'll get back with you..

I downloaded it and so far I like it.

[zeugma]

Years ago when I was still stuck in the windows world, I used to really like Homesite, as I really like dealing with raw HTML so I can have a nice clean page. I've used Quanta in the past few years, because I liked the way you could completely control the hotkeys to exactly the way you wanted it to do. Unfortunately, I've had difficulties getting a decent build of it recently, so I'm looking around for a new HTML editor.

So far it looks o.k., as I can always go straight to the 'html source' tab. My wife will like it a lot I think. She's been asking for a good WYSIWYG editor for a while.

[since1868]

Thanks for the info

[Col Freeper]

I don't have any experience with Linux at all, as far as using it on any computers. I appreciate your input though.

I have been using Windows since I gave up my Commodore 64 quite a few years back.

I actually don't have an opinion about whether Linux is "good" or "bad". However I do like to see competition, so I encourage Linux (any any other software developers) to keep working, and to keep (honestly) touting their products.

I will initially open and start reading any Linux post. However, it the article author can't stay on the technical topic, I move on to read something else.

P.S. LOL, my granny is long gone, so no Macs for her. I was originally going to replace my Commodore 64 with a Mac. However, at that time Macs were simply not within the average Joe's price range (IMHO). And as I was a newbie to computers at the time, I was struggling with the same issue many others were, i.e., exactly what am I going to do with a computer, over the long run, in my home?

In fact, I had a discussion with a co-worker at the time, and he was planning on buying a Mac setup, because he said it would help his children with their homework, they would have the same setup used in schools, etc. He happened to ask my opinion, and I told him that while I personally would love to have a Mac, he might want to purchase something cheaper to start with, and if it all worked out as he envisioned, he could take the path down the high cost Mac road at a later date. And if it didn't work out, he at least only had a low cost lump of metal sitting on the corner end table, gathering dust. His choice was to buy the Mac setup, and unfortunately he ended up with a very expensive lump of metal sitting there instead (he admitted up front that computers didn't interest him at all). His heart was in the right place, but unfortunately, his decision wasn't the best one for him and his family budget.

P.P.S. I try as hard as I can not to be prejudiced, but I have to admit that many times over the years, the Mac commercials seemed to me to smack of elitism (perhaps that perception was just a self-justification for me never buying one -- who knows?).

P.P.P.S. As a Government Manager, working with limited $ resources (yea, I know, everybody thinks everyone in the Gov't has an unlimited budget), I have steered a number of organizations away from Macs, not because I thought they were "bad", but because when you added up the cost for the Mac solution, we could buy cheaper PC setups, and also invest some of our limited budget into training, and into the networks and eventually Internet related activities that we needed to be investing in to better serve our Government customers (operators and maintainers of critical Missile Defense Early Warning Systems).

Bottomline of my previous post: Tell me all the technical good/bad news about Linux or any other software, but spare me the silly comments about "Windoze" (and equivalent comments about Linux/Mac/Unix, etc.).

[Bush2000]

Actually, I was working as a computer tech at the time and I remember it better than someone who only read stories written about the trial.

Uh, no, you don't. Here's what you said:

"I still remember what they pulled on the guys who did Stacker so I appreciate some of the grudge.

If you actually read the court's decision, you'd know that the court found that the infringement wasn't willful. That means it wasn't intentional. So nobody "pulled anything" on the guys who did Stacker. Stacker merely got the patent before M$. That doesn't make M$ the bad guy. Just unfortunate.

[Bush2000]

I wouldn't hire anyone who said any of those OS's, in their current forms, "sucks" because that person is probably narrow minded or inflexible or simply doesn't know enough about technology to be an asset to my organization.

Too bad ... Swordmaker, N3WBI3, and HAL would be flipping burgers...