[plug] Linux V Windows

[Rick (VK6EP)]

The advantages and disadvantages of Linux versus Windows, according to
those who have used both. 

These are some snippets I have lifted from various news groups. I have
tried to fix some of the spelling and grammatical errors, but probably not
all. I've added the comments in square brackets and have deliberately left
out the addresses of the originators.

--------------------------

Advantages:

Multi-user:
If you've only used Windows, this wont mean a lot yet, think of files only
YOU can use or read or *delete*, at the same time as someone else is using
your PC, (say a friend on the internet).

Remote use, see above also:
Plus you could, If I created a user "account" run programs on MY PC, here
and NOW, from your PC where ever you are. My PC would take input from
yours, and send you the screen, while running the program *here*, and using
my comps resources.

Learning:
Linux is a learning experience, and you *will* learn more than you ever
could with MSwindows. TONS of docs and howtos,.

Free: you only pay for the media, so if your poor, you have access to 10's
of thousands of dollars, (equiv. MSWin) of software. Such as compilers,
cad, document processing, networking, file utilities, its simply too much
to keep up with now, and has been for years.


Disadvantages:
All the above, if you don't like learning, or wont. [Or don't have the time]


----------------------

What software are you running on Win98? If you have MS-Office, then you're
going to be hard pushed to find a better package for the types of things it
does (arguably, but it is a great package).

If you're running games, then you're not going to get much enjoyment out of
Linux.

Linux really comes into it's own in networking (web servers, mail servers,
shared file systems) and programming (C++, C, Perl, Tcl/Tk, etc). For these
things, particularly servers and programming, you have to fork out MONEY
for software on Win98 that is usually worse than what you get on Linux, and
offers less user support.

Of course, Linux has many uses, as does Win98, but for some of them (e.g.
games, netsurfing); you're better off sticking with Win98 because of the
much broader support and availability of features.

------------------------------

Advantages:

It makes better use of your hardware. It is much more stable. It comes with
piles of networking tools out-of-the-box. It includes a vast array of
development tools. You will never need to defragment your Linux partition.
It runs fine on hardware which '98 wouldn't even look at. It is multi-user
and multitasks very smoothly. I am forever astonished at how *bad* '95 or
even '98 are on grunty machines with 128 MB of ram. Linux flies on such
machines (and doesn't thrash when running a screen-saver). There is plenty
of good open source and zero-cost software out there for Linux.

Also, it is legally free :-) 

Disadvantages:

If you are used to '98, it is very *very* different. You will need to do a
lot of work learning the system. Installation and configuration is a bit
more complex to the uninitiated. Hardware support is less comprehensive
than '98 (e.g. the current stable kernel doesn't support USB - though the
unstable development kernel does). There are fewer games and flashy
commercial programs available, but in general there are good free
replacements for most of the things you will need.

The disadvantages are modest - you can overcome most of them if you buy a
good Linux book and read the documentation *before* touching the CD.

You can keep both 98 and Linux on the machine, so you get the best of both
worlds. 

--------------------------

[WARNING- before installing Linux, make sure it will support your hardware.
Linux does not support a lot of the latest hardware, 'out of the box'.
Patches are usually available soon enough, but you will need to learn where
to find them and how to install them.]

[To every view you/I have, there will be at least one alternate view.]




Cheers
Rick

E=Mail    - rickd at iinet.net.au
Home Page - http://opera.iinet.net.au/~rickd/index.html