Linux?

Explain please

[Skylo]

Hi everyone, this is my 1st time ever in this forum and i would like to ask what is a basic question. I would like to know what the fundemental difference is between Linux and microsoft. I just had my systems administrator shout at me cause I said I thought microsoft was the best. So could you tell me.

1. Why you chose Linux
2. Would you recommend it
3. What makes it better than Microsoft

Hope that makes sense. I really have no reference here. I am like a child that wonders into a room and.......
Happy Surfing:)
Skye

[Nick_W]

Just a had a quick trawl through this forums library as I seem to remember some good threads on this. I was going to list them for you but there really are LOADS ;) Link is at the top of the forum page.

For me, the main reasona are this:

• It works
  
• It doesn't stop working
  
• It can do much, much more than anything else
  
• It makes me feel all geeky and superior hehehehe ;)

Nick

[Skylo]

Thanks Nick_W. The reason why I do not check the library is that my boss sits about 2 metres away in an office with glass walls so he can see what I am doing and whats on my screen and we can't go on forums. But thanks for the reply.....I must go.

P.S. It has taught me to type alot quicker;-)

[Ankheg]

It's been covered to death before (search the forum), but...

I use *nix (Debian and OpenBSD, mainly) because:

It's cheap;
It requires far fewer resources (memory / HD space / processing power) than any version of Windows
It has far fewer security problems than Windows
The OS's and applications are much better supported.

And, purely subjectively, for internet applications, *nices are just more powerful and easier to use.

[moltar]

And I think the main difference between the two is that Linux is Open Source, meaning that you can get the source code and modify it to suit your needs if you wish... When MS hides there code.. (I am sure the reason they don't want to relese it, because it's ugly, with no comments... :)

[Skylo]

Hi guys thanks and sorry for repeating a subject. You know how it is though. I love this place but when circumstances don't allow I can only be here for literally minutes. It is good to hear that there is a nice alternative to microsoft.

"I am sure the reason they don't want to relese it, because it's ugly,"
LOL, but one must say that the whole .net thing they have going is pretty good. Anyway that is off topic.
No more questions, I am off to dig up dirt in the archives:)

[danny]

My brochure Windows versus GNU/Linux [danny.oz.au] explains it all...

[caine]

Interesting read Danny,

have to agree with your points there.

[brakthepoet]

Agreed, Caine. That's a great read, Danny. Thanks for posting it.

Skylo: This may be a bit late to the thread, but IBM has a great read on the basic concepts of Linux [www-106.ibm.com]. (Note that it does require registration.) They don't attempt to compare Linux to Windows, but they do give a good description of Linux & its power and usefulness.

[Nick_W]

Very cool Danny. Thanks for posting ;)

Nick

[Panaman]

Basically....

I use Linux/Unix OS's for servers

I use microsoft for playing videogames

Thats the difference.....

.... so if you want me to say it in english..

If your using linux/unix OS's you are probably doing work, If you are using a Microsoft OS you are probably playing a video game....... If you are in IT and you use linux/unix OS's at work.... You probably stole a Microsoft OS to play video games on at home.

[wkitty42]

moltar writes:

When MS hides there code.. (I am sure the reason they don't want to relese it, because it's ugly, with no comments...

hehehe, close, i'm sure... i've a friend who was a coder for m$... now he's a professional truck driver recruiter... that's after 5 years as a professional truck driver...

anyway, he told me that most everything is generated by code generators... you drag and drop this and that onto a "canvas" and let the generator do its thing...

very RAD (rapid application development) oriented... it also explains why there's so much codebloat and inherited bugs...

that saying abount monkeys and typewriters seems more and more true by the day...

[marcs]

Mostly like others have said.

Three Linux machines in my office to perform various tasks. One Win98 machine for software not available on Linux and to play games when time permits.

Linux makes us much more productive, that's just us. Others may well be better served with MS/Mac or something else still.

[kenta]

1. Why you chose Linux
I've been using RedHat Linux now for 3 years. Why did I choose it? I had a second machine laying around so I installed RH7.2 on it. My Windows machine was Windows 98 (at the time). Instead of Outlook I use Ximian Evolution (which rocks). When I started the RedHat box I also setup some basic web services and started to run my own site from home. I chose linux as a learning tool. Afterwards I found it does *almost* everything my Windows box did so I started using it less and less. Eventually it came to the point where I only turned it on to see websites that ONLY work with Internet Explorer which is plan WRONG. And.. work with digital video editing.

2. Would you recommend it?
I would definately recommend it assuming that the person doesn't have applications that they can't give up or can't find ported for linux.

3. What makes it better than Microsoft
Well it's usually FREE. Free OS & free software. More money stays in my pocket.
It's very stable. The only times I ever seem to have to power off the machine is due to extended power outages. One time because the fan on my video card died then friend something. Even when I replaced it RH detected the NEW card on boot and went right into Gnome as if nothing ever happened. Cool.