Friday, May 12, 2006

Linux vs Windows

And the winner is.........?

Well, no winners here. A good post comparing the two for the desktop. The author's opinion is at the very end of the post, rest all is pretty much without any malice or bias or hatred towards either of the two operating systems.

I have a dual boot, XP and Debian (upgraded the CD version with 2.6.16 Linux kernel and the latest KDE). I do not think that Linux is any bit faster especially if u run the GUI with all the fancy features. Even Windows XP gets faster if one runs it in the Windows Classic mode! The one thing I love about Linux is its great command line interface (shell). It makes life much easier most of the times. Also, Linux is much more configurable if you are willing to take a bit of pain. The greatest disadvantage with using Linux is that most applications, drivers, tools etcetera are made for Windows and it is not always easy to use a different set of tools or applications in a world where almost every other person uses Windows. Wonder why Linux tries more and more to look and feel like Windows?

A lot is said about the security aspects and how Linux is better. Well, I guess the sheer numbers of Windows' users makes it more vulnerable to attack and as far as I am concerned I have had no problems related to security all the while I have used Windows and I do stay connected and online for most part of the day!

Last but not the least, Windows allows me to concentrate more on my work than on how my OS works. Linux satisfies the geek in me!

Well, there is a winner, in fact there are millions of winners.... The users, you and me are the winners. The user can decide and choose and given the ease with which information is available it is not very difficult to decide what one wants!

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