“Have the latest version of the operating system run faster than the previous version on the same hardware.” Taking into interpretation that later version meaning later releases of Windows, and not including service packs which do improve performance with the updates they provide, such as Windows Vista and Windows 7. With the upgrade from Windows Vista to Windows 7 I found that my computer uses less system resources sense upgrading from Windows Vista.

So just keeping in the speculation that it’s considering a completely new operating system and not an update or service pack we have managed to improve system performance by updating/upgrading the software without enhancing the hardware its self.

“Easily install and run different graphical interfaces if I don’t like the default setup.” Assuming that one can find a place to download graphical add-ons either on the web or through the package manager built into Linux, yes this can be easily done, on the other hand it can also be easily done for windows as well. With windows graphical user interface being popular by default not everyone would like to change from the familiar look, but there are many options on the web that can be as easily as downloading the installer clicking through the setup and enjoying the new graphical interface that was downloaded.

For instance, Alienware and Stardock released a free graphical user interface application with 3 free skins to choose from, Rocketdock is a Graphical User Interface add-on that allows shortcuts to be organized and look good. Some of these applications are free for use from websites such as http://www.guimods.com but some are purchased through websites such as http://www.Stardock.com.

“Run without using a virus scanner, adware/spyware protection, and not reboot my computer for months, even when I do keep up with all the latest security updates” The market is flooded with Windows; it is the most widely used operating system in the world. With viruses, unlike their biological counterpart, are made by man. Normally viruses are made with a specific purpose in mind, to either collect information, wreck havoc on a computer or other reasons.

Can Linux get viruses, yes, does that mean they have to use or install an anti-virus, no. Windows can get viruses, does that mean that they have to uses or install an anti-virus, no it doesn’t. Someone that practices safe surfing and knows better than to download files and click on Ad’s can have a computer and stay virus free, but it’s a chance.

If Linux distributions became to where they were the world’s leading operating system, then more viruses would be made to attack those specific operating systems. Seeing how that there are viruses out there for both operating systems, I believe to be totally safe that both should have an anti-virus installed on their system.

“I have 4+ word processor windows open working on papers, listen to music, play with flash desktop effects, have contact with a largely happy community and have firefox, instant messaging, and email clients all open at the same time, without ever having to had to beg someone for a code to make my os work, and without the system running so slow it is useless.”
This lengthy mess of words is trying to describe multi tasking, and making claims that Ubuntu is able to multi-task better than windows. Linux distributions usually do use less ram for the operating system, but these claims that this performance is just due to the operating system itself that it will be able to out multi-task windows.

What makes a computer is a series of hardware and the software to operate the hardware and what can make a large impact on how well the computer functions depends on some key parts, Processor, RAM, HDD data transfer rate, and even your internet speed. To prove my point I decided the best way to do so would be to test it out myself.
I opened the following applications;

Adobe Photoshop CS4,
Adobe Dreamweaver CS4,
Google Chrome,
Microsoft One Note,
Windows media player-playing Final Fantasy VII sound track,
opened up a couple of folders in Windows Explorer,
several windows of Microsoft Word,
Xfire instant messenger,
VLC media player-playing a movie,
iTunes-syncing items to my iPod,
AOL instant Messenger,
Yahoo Messenger,
Skype,
Teamspeak-3,
Internet Explorer,
Mozilla Firefox,
Dropbox,
VMware-not running a VM,
Microsoft Outlook,
Avast Anti-virus,
and Steam.

With all these applications I found my ram just wasn’t filling up enough and that my processor wasn’t passing 20%, so I decided to do something that Linux can’t do natively, I opened up a video game and started playing ,Guild Wars. While the game added a lot more to my RAM and processor I found it just wasn’t enough, so I decided I would run two games at once along with all the previously mentioned applications.

Launching Unreal Tournament 2004 I began playing that a bit and I noticed that my ram was just now hitting around the 75%% mark and my processor around 65%, I decided this would be more than enough proof that not only could I multitask better than if I were on Ubuntu, I was doing so without slowing down my computer or affecting any of my other applications. My computer specifications can be found on my Xfire profile at the bottom of the page, http://www.xfire.com/profile/theimmortalmoo , and the screenshot can be found on my photobucket, http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a150/theimmortalmoo/see.png
. And all this was done without having to “beg someone for a code to make my os work”.

“Use almost any hardware and have a driver for it included with the operating system, eliminating the need to scour the internet to find the hardware manufacturer’s website to locate one.”

While put very dramatically, one does not need to “scour” the internet for most hardware to work when using windows ever sense windows XP there has been countless drivers built into the operating system and most of which if the hardware’s drivers can be installed just from the firmware or what’s built into the system. With Windows 7 if you are unable to install the drivers for the software it has the ability to download the drivers for you, now with previous experience with Ubuntu I was unable to get my sound card or graphics card working correctly without having to go through some tutorials only to find that this was a outdated workaround to get the drivers installed and working correctly, and the drivers were not made for Linux from the distributors website.

In closing I have found that this heretic of grammar and biased article was easy to find five issues that were able to be proven wrong, or find alternative solutions without having to have someone who wasn’t familiar with the operating system to go out of their way for solve.

But, if an OS can’t play good games that would require a decent graphics card then its useless to me.
Not to mention the Graphical Editor : GIMP is well gimpy compared to Photoshop, which can be run with ease on Windows or MAC

Linux is great because it runs on low hardware requisites, very stable and secure, and ridiculously customizable. A great server OS!

Windows is great because of it’s ease of use, and more programs support it (like games–yes I know you can run most games designed for Windows under Linux, but not all flawlessly)

Like I said, both have pro’s and con’s. You idiot “fan boys” should keep your “opinions” to yourself. Great list but somewhat ignorant and opinionated. But you did a couple of good points.

Kev
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