For all the Linux users out there...why do you prefer Linux over Windows? Cheaper and better, or just cheaper? I've never used Linux before (altho that may change one day), and I'd like to know the pros & cons of using Linux over a Microsoft product...
The big deal with Linux....
- Thread starter TechHead87
- Start date
<flame bate>I use it because it makes me feel cool to call Microsoft M$.</flame bait>
I use linux because I didn't have enough Windows licenses for all of my computers. I have enough now, but I still use linux on most all of my computers.
I grew up with a CLI and feel at home with linux.
I can manage a Windows based server in a Windows based environment but am teaching myself how to manage a *nix based server in a mixed Windows/*nix domain.
Linux is free.
Software for linux is (mostly) free.
I can learn from my own coding mistakes by looking at other people's source code.
And finally, I use linux because I can't find a good acronym to put it down like I can MS.
I use linux because I didn't have enough Windows licenses for all of my computers. I have enough now, but I still use linux on most all of my computers.
I grew up with a CLI and feel at home with linux.
I can manage a Windows based server in a Windows based environment but am teaching myself how to manage a *nix based server in a mixed Windows/*nix domain.
Linux is free.
Software for linux is (mostly) free.
I can learn from my own coding mistakes by looking at other people's source code.
And finally, I use linux because I can't find a good acronym to put it down like I can MS.
Free is certainly nice.
Security is also a good thing. Sure, both Linux and Windows take some fairly serious effort to secure as serious servers; but Linux will, right out of the box, resist pretty much all spyware, adware, worms, and viruses while Windows won't.
Freedom of configuration is also a nice feature. There are a lot of tweaks and things for Windows; but they are pretty much just hacks. You can build a Linux system from the ground up to suit yourself if you want to.
Support for unusual/old/headless hardware is better as well. Linux will run on practically anything, its modular design allows you to run only what you need, for better efficiency on old gear, and a CLI based system is much nicer to administer remotely(though RDP has somewhat eased the pain on the GUI side).
Security is also a good thing. Sure, both Linux and Windows take some fairly serious effort to secure as serious servers; but Linux will, right out of the box, resist pretty much all spyware, adware, worms, and viruses while Windows won't.
Freedom of configuration is also a nice feature. There are a lot of tweaks and things for Windows; but they are pretty much just hacks. You can build a Linux system from the ground up to suit yourself if you want to.
Support for unusual/old/headless hardware is better as well. Linux will run on practically anything, its modular design allows you to run only what you need, for better efficiency on old gear, and a CLI based system is much nicer to administer remotely(though RDP has somewhat eased the pain on the GUI side).
For me Linux is the better choice for a server OS (Web, E-Mail, File, Print, DHCP, Proxy). It's completely free, depending on what distro you use (Im running SuSE 9.3) it can be much easier to configure than a windows 2003 server.
IMO MS is still the better desktop OS just because its the industry standard. Linux is very capable, and has an answer to most of the popular MS programs, but if you want compatibility with the rest of the world then at some point you'll be forced to use Windows.
However I don't feel like paying $150 for each of my machines, so I use linux on my desktops at home as well. Ubuntu fo life.
IMO MS is still the better desktop OS just because its the industry standard. Linux is very capable, and has an answer to most of the popular MS programs, but if you want compatibility with the rest of the world then at some point you'll be forced to use Windows.
However I don't feel like paying $150 for each of my machines, so I use linux on my desktops at home as well. Ubuntu fo life.
sourceninja
Diamond Member
- Mar 8, 2005
- 8,805
- 65
- 91
I use linux because I am a software developer and develop for linux a lot easier then windows. If I find a bug in wxwidgets or gtk I can attempt to work around the problem, patch the problem, submit a bug report, or post on a forum with much better results then a bug in windows. I also use linux because I find gnome more customizable and much more usable then windows. I use linux because shell scripts to automate tasks are easier for me to write in linux. I use linux because my work mostly uses sun servers with solaris or linux on them.
Linux does some things better then windows (secuirty model, speed of bug fixes, file systems, server functions) Windows does some things better then linux (game support, commercial application support, device drivers for weird hardware and wireless support). I find that linux development is growing rapidly, and windows development is stagnating (doing just enough to keep up with linux and macOS). I use linux because I feel pushed by windows into changes that I dont feel are worth the cost. In linux I can choose to install exactly what I want (For example, I can install gnome (and get tons of stuff installed) or I can install gnome-lite and add just the packages I want)
I dont use linux because of licensing costs. I work at a college so windows is about 10.00 for me. I'm also not partial. If windows added must have features then I would switch. I did this in the past. I went from windows 98 to linux, to windows xp (Because it fixed most of my complaints with 98) But I have quickly hit the wall in XP and found I needed more room to grow. I installed ubuntu and quickly hit the wall there as well. I am now using gentoo and find I have a good degree more control (at the cost of a good degree more work) of my OS. I value control over anything else.
I always suggest people who want to try linux to just try a live CD. Most find the learning curve for just using linux is simple. Then if you feel that linux makes some things easier, find the things it makes harder and see if you can work around it. For example, if you are like me, you dont play games as soon as they come out. Thus tux games and cedega are good enough for your gaming needs. If you are a bleeding edge gamer, you will find linux will be too hard for you to work around the lack of linux support in most games. So see what you gain, and see what you loose, and see if the gains outway the loss's and if the work arounds are acceptable. Remember to do this in windows as well. What do you gain by staying with windows. What problems does windows have that linux can solve. Are the workaround in windows more work then they are worth. For example, mounting an ISO file in linux is simple. you would open a shell and type
mount /*path to iso* /mnt/iso or what ever folder you want to mount it too.
But mounting a iso in linux requires a work around, you have to install daemon tools or some other program. I find this semi frustrating, especially when games refuse to run while these tools are installed.
So what i'm basically saying is you need to find an OS that suits your needs. My wife needs windows (her work has her run tools at home that require IE and she loves MS money). My grandma is a Mac OSX addict (she finds it simple and easy to use). I'm a linux junkie (I find I have "more power" in linux and as long as I have UT2004, jagged alliance 2, doom 3, nwn, and a few other games I'm happy). One persons perfect choice will be another persons worst nightmare. So when you switch OS's (which is my hope that more and more people do, because I love my OS), make sure you have a good reason. If you dont, you might not find what you are looking for. I say this because I want the people who do switch to stay. And switching to stick it to the man, or to be cool will usually leave you back in windows bitching about linux.
Linux does some things better then windows (secuirty model, speed of bug fixes, file systems, server functions) Windows does some things better then linux (game support, commercial application support, device drivers for weird hardware and wireless support). I find that linux development is growing rapidly, and windows development is stagnating (doing just enough to keep up with linux and macOS). I use linux because I feel pushed by windows into changes that I dont feel are worth the cost. In linux I can choose to install exactly what I want (For example, I can install gnome (and get tons of stuff installed) or I can install gnome-lite and add just the packages I want)
I dont use linux because of licensing costs. I work at a college so windows is about 10.00 for me. I'm also not partial. If windows added must have features then I would switch. I did this in the past. I went from windows 98 to linux, to windows xp (Because it fixed most of my complaints with 98) But I have quickly hit the wall in XP and found I needed more room to grow. I installed ubuntu and quickly hit the wall there as well. I am now using gentoo and find I have a good degree more control (at the cost of a good degree more work) of my OS. I value control over anything else.
I always suggest people who want to try linux to just try a live CD. Most find the learning curve for just using linux is simple. Then if you feel that linux makes some things easier, find the things it makes harder and see if you can work around it. For example, if you are like me, you dont play games as soon as they come out. Thus tux games and cedega are good enough for your gaming needs. If you are a bleeding edge gamer, you will find linux will be too hard for you to work around the lack of linux support in most games. So see what you gain, and see what you loose, and see if the gains outway the loss's and if the work arounds are acceptable. Remember to do this in windows as well. What do you gain by staying with windows. What problems does windows have that linux can solve. Are the workaround in windows more work then they are worth. For example, mounting an ISO file in linux is simple. you would open a shell and type
mount /*path to iso* /mnt/iso or what ever folder you want to mount it too.
But mounting a iso in linux requires a work around, you have to install daemon tools or some other program. I find this semi frustrating, especially when games refuse to run while these tools are installed.
So what i'm basically saying is you need to find an OS that suits your needs. My wife needs windows (her work has her run tools at home that require IE and she loves MS money). My grandma is a Mac OSX addict (she finds it simple and easy to use). I'm a linux junkie (I find I have "more power" in linux and as long as I have UT2004, jagged alliance 2, doom 3, nwn, and a few other games I'm happy). One persons perfect choice will be another persons worst nightmare. So when you switch OS's (which is my hope that more and more people do, because I love my OS), make sure you have a good reason. If you dont, you might not find what you are looking for. I say this because I want the people who do switch to stay. And switching to stick it to the man, or to be cool will usually leave you back in windows bitching about linux.
Nothinman
Elite Member
- Sep 14, 2001
- 30,672
- 0
- 0
I started using it because I hated Windows, now I use it because I love Linux.
http://www.debian.org/intro/free
http://www.debian.org/intro/free
kamper
Diamond Member
- Mar 18, 2003
- 5,513
- 0
- 0
With linux you're never forced to do something a particular way, unless there is a good technical reason for it. On windows, if you don't like something either with the os or with the software (which is likely not open source) there's nothing you can do about it besides potentially paying license fees. With linux the developers want you to use their software with no limitations. Even though most people really won't get the source code and modify anything in any serious way, distro creators and package repository maintainers do and this lets you choose from a wide variety of setups.
I like that there are no artificial reasons not to do anything you want. If there is something you can't do, it's only because the software hasn't been developed yet (but it might be in the future) whereas with another platform, the software might be there, but you're not allowed to do what you want with it because of money or something else. That's just annoying.
I like that there are no artificial reasons not to do anything you want. If there is something you can't do, it's only because the software hasn't been developed yet (but it might be in the future) whereas with another platform, the software might be there, but you're not allowed to do what you want with it because of money or something else. That's just annoying.
Windows: Detected my 56k modem
Linux: Did not.
Thats the only thing that holded me back, while were waiting for the wireless internet guy to come and fix our high speed internet, i tried to see if Ubuntu would detect my 56k modem, it dint, so i had to use Windows......
Linux: Did not.
Thats the only thing that holded me back, while were waiting for the wireless internet guy to come and fix our high speed internet, i tried to see if Ubuntu would detect my 56k modem, it dint, so i had to use Windows......
#1 reason: I can make an IMAP mailserver + WAP gateway for my cellphone for free, that works better than $6,000.00 worth of equiv. software for Windows.
GeekDrew
Diamond Member
- Jun 7, 2000
- 9,099
- 19
- 81
There are several documents out there with step-by-step directions on how to download (presumably on another machine) and compile the drivers needed to use the 536EP... I think that they're on one of the Ubuntu wiki's, too. PM me if you need any help, or want me to look up the links I found stuff at.
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