I made a post on another forum as to why I used Linux over Windows. While I'm possible wrong with some of the things I've said, I'll post it here anyways.
To start things off, let me explain a couple things.
1.
Linux is open-sourced, Windows is not.
What does this mean? Open-sources means that the code that makes the program is publicly available to anyone who wants it. What that means is that if I had downloaded a cool program, but I noticed a bug, or a missing feature...I could add it and recompile the source and re-distribute. The beauty of this, is that if enough people work on t he same projects, not only will they get done faster, but they'll be better aswell. And they will keepgetting better. Did I also mention Linux software is free? Yeah, that's right. No more paying $700 for Photoshop, I'll just download Gimp. No more paying hundreds for the Microsoft Office suite, I'll just download Open Office. Linux has ported much of its free software to Windows, which means you can also get it there for free. You should be grateful.
Windows, on the other hand, is not open-sources. What this means is, when you install a program, you agree to never modify or sell the program. That means if there's a problem, you're
not legally allowed to fix it. This hinders the development of software, making it take much longer to be finished.
Think of it like this: with Linux, it's like building a pyramid with 10,000 people to help you. With Windows, you've got 10. Which would you choose?
2.
Spyware free. Linux distributions are 100% spyware free, to date. I'm not saying they're completely in-vulnerable, but there hasn't been a spyware/adware spread on Linux. I don't have an Anti-Virus program running to eat all my ressources. I don't have to run Ad-Aware or Spybot Search & Destroy every week to make sure I'm clean. All I need is my hardware firewall (router) and I'm safe. Easy.
Security is a huge issue with Linux. Being open-sourced and free means that it's constantly updated whever a security hole is found. Windows, on the other hand, waits months to release an update. In Linux, all I have to do to get my latest security fixes is open up the update manager which displays itself every night with new fixed. Then I click "install" and it installs everything for me.
3.
Linux is easy to use. Yeah, I said it. For years people have been saying that they don't use Linux because it's hard to get used to. Well, that's not true anymore. The distribution I use is called Ubuntu. Ubuntu looks a lot like Windows when you first boot up. The usability is there. You've got your start menu (application launcher), control panel (system/administration) and everything else Windows has. They're just named differently. I jumped right into Linux and I knew how to get things done.
Another cool thing about Linux is that you can update
all of your installed software with one single command.
sudo apt-get update. With that command, it'll check your repositories for any software updates (which are published often). If there's a new component to the software, it'll ask your permission to install it. You can bypass this with something like --assume-yes so it installs everything without asking.
Here are some of the Windows <-> Linux equivalents:
Internet Explorer <----------> No equivalent. It's a piece of crap and you're not required to have it, thank God.
Mozilla Firefox <----------> Mozilla Firefox/Swiftfox. Yep, we got it too.
Microsoft Office <----------> Open Office/Abiword(?)
Trillian (MSN, AIM, etc) <----------> Gaim
Outlook (Express) <----------> Mozilla Thunderbird / Evolution
Winamp <----------> XMMS
Windows Media Player <----------> MPlayer Movie Player
...the list goes on.
4.
But Linux is unstable!
No it isn't. If you're using a
stable release, you'll have no problems. One extremely awesome thing I can say first-hand about my experience with Linux, is I've
yet to have it crash. Not a single time! No more blue screen of death or other video errors. Nothing.
However, there are two sides to the coin. Being open-sourced means that you have access to a lot of critical files. If you were to make the wrong modification to one of these critical files, you could seriously damage your install.
The solution? Backups.
Say I was editing my fstab file, the file that controls which hard drives, floppy drives and cdrom drives are mounted. I would simply make my backup with:
Code:
sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab_backup
This copies the ftab file and names it "
fstab_backup". Then, I can proceed to edit my file:
Then I make my modifications, and save it. This file isn't critical, but let's pretend it is. Now, I try to restart my computer and nothing will load. "What the ******? Now I gotta reinstall everything, God damn it."
Wrong. One thing that Ubuntu comes with is a recovery console. No CD's needed. I just simply reboot, choose the recovery console, and then I'm presented with something that looks similar to MS-DOS (which was based off UNIX, by the way). So I see something on the screen like:
loke@x04d:~$
The ****** do I do with that? Easy. Just restore your file.
Code:
sudo cp /etc/fstab_backup /etc/fstab
This takes the back-up I made earlier and overwrites the file that I modified, putting everything back to normal.
Well, that's about all I can think of for those issues. I'll come up with more later. Editing with screenshots in a minute, and even a video clip.
Oh, another thing to add: No more messing with product keys or keygens/cracks. All open-sourced software is free, so you don't need to register and get a key to use it. You can even have a friend send it to you (even though it would be faster to just use apt-get).
[line]
Screenshots
These are just some of my recent desktops. The image hasn't changed in some time, so a lot of them will be similar. I'm just posting what's on my server. Also note: lots of them aren't safe for work.
Screenshot #1
In this screenshot, you can see that I have my taskbars themed close to a Macintosh. Themes are easy to install and many are available. All free, no additional software required. The windows you see infront of the cat is my terminal. That's where I can issue commands to install or update software, run programs, edit text and web documents, movie files, browse the internet (yes, it's an internet browser too) and everything else you can do on your computer.
It's also transparent, which means I can put my terminal ontop of instructions and read and type at the same time, no alt+tabbing if I don't want to. Also, you can see some huge icons. Ubuntu has a built in feature that lets you stretch icons. I like it.
Screenshot #2
Basically the same thing, but a different theme. Boring, too. I've got XMMS running, which I can skin to make it look like Winamp.
Screenshot #3
Same thing, different skin for XMMS
Screenshot #4
I'm actually editing a text document IN my terminal. Beep Media Player on the right, looks like XMMS (same skins work on all the applications).
Screenshot #5
I like this one because it shows off Compiz. With Compiz, I can stretch and movie windows. In this screenshot, I grabbed the bottom corner and moved it to the top, letting me see my desktop! I'll explain Compiz and show you more examples (video) further down.
Screenshot #6
I'm performing a Google search using my terminal as a browser. Pretty cool if you ask me.
Screenshot #7
Another example of transparent terminal, showing my computer specs (not too good).
XGL/Compiz
What is XGL?
Xgl is an X server started by David Reveman architecture layered on top of OpenGL via glitz. As of February 2005, it is at an early stage in development and a number of important pieces are still missing. Xglx is the only server yet that uses this architecture. It requires an already existing X server with GLX to run on top of, and is only intended for testing and development. In the future, Xgl is not intended to be run on top of an existing X server.
Source
I've found a video that shows what XGL is capable of, and I can attest to the fact that all of these features are easy to use, and they're just amazing to play with. In addition to the eye candy, XGL offers a performance boost, because your video card is being used to make all this work, rather than your processor.
Video
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