167 Comments Add your own

• 1. greywulf  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 2:25 pm

  That’s a great list! I think you’ve covered most of the bases there. I can only think of a few more:

  - Each user can have a completely different way of working on the same computer. One man’s Mac-a-like can be another gal’s hi-tech ultra-glossy interface, all off the one computer
  - Live CD! Show it, try it, use it, without touching the hard drive at all.
  - Run from a pendrive to carry your entire computer system in your pocket.
  - iPod without the iTunes. Play music from your iPod through the computer, first time, every time.
  - A LAMP server on your desk (or lap) means web development using exactly the same tools and applications you’re running online.
  - 40 years of UNIX development can’t be wrong You can help make the next 40 years even better.

• 2. Neskie Manuel  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm

  That’s a great list. My one addition is. You can get the software localized into your own language if you’re willing to do the work.
  For the indigenous and endangered languages need the most and MS and Apple are the unwilling to do it because there isn’t a market for it.

• 3. dougfractal  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 3:50 pm

  great list

  I just love X11Forwarding
  ssh -X -C1 mydesktopIP -l username
  means I can run any app on my new EeePC that’s installed on my desktop and it will open/save on my desktop.
  Don’t even type a password if you use "ssh-keygen -t rsa". So if I lose my laptop I wont lose any important data.

  Also great documentation with the man command.

• 4. manfred  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 4:07 pm

  The article is lame, that’s all I can say.

• 5. matthew  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 4:12 pm

  manfred, it’s hysterical that you decided to post that. I’m truly amused. You always were a joker!

• 6. dominiko  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 5:39 pm

  Good list. I would add:

  - a powerful command line
  - a desktop and application translated in my favorite language: Esperanto

• 7. s565rj32  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 6:44 pm

  "9. Run without using a virus scanner, adware/spyware protection, and not reboot my computer for months, even when I do keep up with all of the latest security updates"

  It was recently revealed that a large portion of the Storm botnet is running on rooted Ubuntu boxes. Good luck…

• 8. Dwindle  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 6:54 pm

  Windows runs for months on end without reboots, and I have not found an adware, virus, or other malware in over 5 years. All of my programs, even expensive corporate editions, are updated automatically all by themselves the instant an update is available. I could, of course, download a free program to do it like Linux, but that’s slow and illogical. Multiple desktops, multiple simultaneous users, easy as pie. Run live from pendrive? Yep. Delete software without a trace left behind? Of course. There is a free Windows program to do everything you have ever done on linux - Plus 500,000 programs you can never have. Basically, your list comes down only to the fact that Linux is free. If it was as stable, useful, and enjoyable to use as Windows, you’d have a good point. Does Linux automatically move particular files from any location to the location of your choosing? How about move files to another partition is it gets crowded? Can you buy any piece of hardware, electronics, or software in the free world and use it right out of the box with no help from anyone? If Linux os so wonderful, why is it that (a) most people who try it (like me) can’t find a reason to keep it, (b) in 15 years of constant use, it’s still nearly unused by the public and business, and (c) you have to keep making these pages to promote it?

• 9. JF  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 6:55 pm

  I’m sure Linux is a fantastic OS deserving much praise, but from your list… at least these, and probably others, are also possible on a Mac: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, 18, 21

• 10. hendoc  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 7:01 pm

  Don’t forget cron. It is just the greatest. Oh by the way Dwindle. You are talking to people who have run Windows for years, and I am insulted that you think I could believe that drivel.

• 11. Alan Pope  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 7:12 pm

  Nice list.

  I often get asked why I use Ubuntu/Linux and I find it difficult to articulate it quickly. Maybe we should get that list up to 52 and get a deck of cards made with these on the back. Then when people ask we can just give out one of the cards

  Hmmm, this comment has been fuelled by red wine. My apologies if it’s full of crack

• 12. Red Icculus  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 7:14 pm

  I showed this to my girlfriend, who is new to Linux, and she understood every argument. This article is excellent and well written.

• 13. t5  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 7:36 pm

  unfortunately, until that list says "play all the latest games" it’s pretty much useless to me.

• 14. Catprog  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm

  @t5

  Windows doesn’t play all the latest games either:

  Halo 3
  Super Mario Galaxy
  GTA4

• 15. Robert Binz  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 8:16 pm

  Dwindle
  Many of your points are true, There is a huge base of software and devices that run on windows. This is a result of the dominance Windows has had in the market place. But I think you have to admit that Linux and BSD have come a long way without the money machine Microsoft and the tactics used to make it the dominate OS.

  I will argue the point with you that software never deletes from Windows cleanly and if you are the type of user who likes to try and delete you are doomed to restoring the OS in a short period of time.

  Over the years many of the things that Linux thought was once in just their domain has moved into the windows domain and I think that is from the driving force of Linux and the OpenSource movement.

  In my opinion and only in my opinion I feel there is more freeware Opesource programs for Linux than for windows. The quality is a tad better on linux as well. But your point the boat load of COTS is in the windows ring.

  As you point out, FREE is the key. While linux is "free" to use and share and do what you want, many people know that we often "pay" for a version of Linux so we can get some support, like RedHat, Suse and Mandriva. I pay for mine and I think the cost of $60.00 is a lot better then the cost of Windows.

  Your comment of "it’s still nearly unused by the public and business" is dead wrong. You can find that every enterprise ready application runs on linux and you can not find a single fortune 1000 company not running linux to some degree. I work for a large software company (5B revenue) with 17K employees and I can assure you we are moving all windows and Unix applications to Linux where it can. Sure we are not going to replace our AD with Linux (yet) but 90% of our datacenter applications can run on Linux as the vendor supports them there and that is where we are headed. The money we spend to the Linux Distro we use is pennies on the dollar to the cost of Windows servers. Support contracts are cheaper as well and the amount of knowledge found in the pubic domain really helps drive the support issues to the point where we can not ignore that linux has moved into the Datacenter and it will also slowly drive to be a place on the desktop. But I do admit that the desktop is a much harder area to get a foothold and will be a challenge.

  But I believe if you look at Linux over the past 5-10 years you will have to admit it sure has come a long way and is growing up FAST. windows is already an old dog that Bill is try to teach new tricks to. Oh sure, it will be here for a long time, but do not poo-poo linux to the side lines.

  Robert

• 16. Matthew  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 8:29 pm

  Thank you for the post!

• 17. Rohan  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 8:29 pm

  Dwindle: "I have not found an adware, virus, or other malware in over 5 years." - Bullshit. Unless you paid VAST sums for expensive anti-virus etc, In Linux you just don’t think about such things…

  Multiple desktops - Since when? Vista? Enough said…

  "Delete software without a trace left behind? Of course." - Bullshit again. Some may not leave any trace but plenty do.

  "Basically, your list comes down only to the fact that Linux is free." - So what if it does? That means I can afford to own a computer…

  "If it was as stable, useful, and enjoyable to use as Windows, you’d have a good point." - It is in fact MORE stable, useful and enjoyable than windows…

  "Does Linux automatically move particular files from any location to the location of your choosing? How about move files to another partition is it gets crowded?" - If that’s what you want, yes… Personally I don’t want that so mine doesn’t do that, but if I wanted it would…

  "Can you buy any piece of hardware, electronics, or software in the free world and use it right out of the box with no help from anyone?" - No. But neither can you with windows - I’ve had more trouble getting stuff to work in windows than I have in Linux.

  "If Linux os so wonderful, why is it that (a) most people who try it (like me) can’t find a reason to keep it, [EVERY single person I have convinced to TRY Linux has stuck with it, but then they can all use computers to start with...]
  (b) in 15 years of constant use, it’s still nearly unused by the public and business, [A simple matter of most people not knowing what it is, once I explain it to most people and let hem play with my Linux they're pretty much converted...]
  and (c) you have to keep making these pages to promote it? [See b)]

  Well that’s dwindle dealt with… Next?!
  P.S. Dwindle, how did you miss the one shortfall of Linux?! Tip for next time: There’s not as many games

• 18. xxx  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 8:31 pm

  great post!

• 19. Zach  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 8:40 pm

  *yawn*

• 20. Erm  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 8:43 pm

  Thanks for writing this article.

  I’ve been running linux for 4-5 years, and wouldn’t switch back.

  I’m sure a lot of the things I can do with linux can be done with windows, but when it comes to installing hardware/updates I have to reboot XP every time.

  I have a backup drive that uses rsync to hard link files, and every day it backs up every major portion of my drive in less than an hour, shoot usually 15 min.

  I know you can use rsync on windows, I know you can run apache, mysql, bind, and every other program I run on a .com -from home-

  It’s nice to know that you get all that power under the hood for free.

  It’s nice to know that when you get a 3 ghz machine you’re going to use 3ghz for whatever you’re doing, and not 1 ghz for whatever you’re doing because the other 2 ghz are busy scanning for viruses.

  A friend of mine once said, M$ may have the money, but they don’t have the talent - as far as coders.

  I feel in the end people doing the code for these open source projects are doing it because they love it. It’s a lot like eating a home cooked meal made out of love vs something from a restaurant. Both accomplish the same thing in the end, but the meal made with love is a little better if you ask me.

• 21. Bloke  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 9:27 pm

  One thing is sure with Windows:

  Failure is not an option, It’s built into the operating system.

  Long Live Linux.

• 22. Frank  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 9:31 pm

  @ s565rj32

  That vulnerability was in no way Linux, or even Ubuntu specific. You need to check your sources.

• 23. Neosapience  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 9:33 pm

  Sorry, Linux just doesn’t offer the compatibility I need for the software I enjoy.

  If it did, Windows wouldn’t be around, period.

• 24. jas  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 9:45 pm

  Windows prevails because it’s not a steaming pile like Linux is.

  Sure, linux is good for some things, but time has told that it’s not the best operating system for the masses.

  Bottom line, if linux was as good as these douche fan-boys say it is, windows would have been out of commision YEARS ago… IT ISN’T.

  1million linux guys who hate windows and their shitty websites cant change that.

• 25. TwilightSerenade  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm

  @Neosapience:
  If Linux was superior in every way to Windows, Windows would still be here.

  Its Marketing, shitty products exist because their marketed better, more people hear about Windows and Macs and the few who do hear of Linux are bombarded with the stereotypes associated with it (Ever hear the joke about Linux users rate of getting laid?).

  If Windows is marketed to people as the best choice out there people are going to buy it.
  I myself think Macs are worse than Windows (I’m not arguing my point, its personal experience through Mac interface that make me despise it including other experiences.) but you try arguing with the people who buy into the Mac Marketing Campaign, its also like the Ipods, sure the Ipods are decent pieces of technology but their overpriced and not nearly the best out in that market, yet for Years now MP3 has meant Ipod to the general public, I’ve had people ask if my Creative Zen is one of those ‘Cheap Ipod MP3 knock-offs’.

  Also, great Article

• 26. TwilightSerenade  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 9:57 pm

  In This Discussion: Windows Fanboys who don’t understand how the real world works.

  Its like saying Mp3 players are superior to radios so why do radios exist still.

• 27. be4truth  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 10:20 pm

  I can look at the source code ….

• 28. http://www.floors4u.net/  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 10:23 pm

  I’ve got to learn commands?
  Where do I find drivers for my hardware peripherals?

  http://www.floors4u.net/

• 29. Pat  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 10:40 pm

  Linux is for people who miss dos.. why would i wanna use a command prompt when I can click a damn icon to do something

• 30. jfw  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 10:45 pm

  I tend to agree with dwindle on the point he raised about viruses. I have not had any adware, virus, or other malware since I changed to Firefox and Thunderbird over 18 months ago. I also do not execute programs that I am not completely sure are safe. I do not use any paid for anti-virus programs and regularly sweep with any number of free substitutes (although they never find anything). The main issue with viruses under windows is that the vast majority of the user base is not computer literate (for both valid and invalid reasons) and I am quite sure that if the Linux user base had the same demographics then the virus, malware problem under Linux would be significantly greater. Furthermore a lot of the advantages that are expoused require a considerable degree of knowledge ("dpkg –get-selections > pkg.list" and "ssh -X -C1 mydesktopIP -l username" are hardly intuitive).

  I buy windows because that is what I program and it has made me a lot of money over the years. How many real world programs have you written TwilightSerenade?

• 31. d4ve  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 10:51 pm

  Can’t we all love each other and each other’s OS ?

• 32. jfw  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 11:00 pm

  There you go d4ve, fanning the flames again.

• 33. Garrowolf  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 11:05 pm

  I love Linux. I would never go back to just Windows. I can do nearly everything that I could do before better in windows in Linux. Linux is a more powerful system.

  The reason Linux has not replaced Windows yet is not because it wasn’t as good before. In many ways it wasn’t designed with everyday users in mind until the last few years. The reason that there is so much buzz about it now is because of some of the more user friendly distributions like Ubuntu have opened up the market to the average user. Until recently it was more a OS for programmers then for normal users.

  What is astonishing to me is that Linux has taken so much of the market share so quickly. It has had years of technical background but once it was installable and as easy to use for grandmothers as windows then it took off.

  I know that there are plenty of people out there that are afraid to try anything that isn’t the mainstream most common thing. Some people don’t want the choices and power of linux. That is why there is a Mac.

  There is nothing that Windows does that Linux doesn’t do better. HOWEVER not everything is ported over to Linux yet. The high end games companies haven’t created patches or version for Linux for all of those games yet. This will change in the next few years. This doesn’t mean that Windows is doing anything better or more correctly. It is just the default at this point. It is the Game Companies that are the focus of the game portability issues NOT Windows.

  That is like saying if a bunch of famous people lived in Siberia then Siberia would be the best place to live. The games are just living on Windows for the moment.

  Give it a little time and don’t be afraid of something new and different.

• 34. Aatch  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 11:25 pm

  Ok,

  Windows is made by Microsoft, a multi-billion dollar international corporation with thousands of /paid/ programmers.

  GNU/Linux, made by volunteers all over the world, with the exception of a handful of paid programmers spread over the entire communtity.

  Linux /is/ better. If the same amount of effort that has gone into Windows, went into Linux, Linux would be perfect for anybody.

  But all of Linux’s problems are due to business, not technology.
  Games is a big issue that is raised quite often, well Unreal Tournament 2004 onwards is compatible with Linux. The market for gaming is the largest OS, therefore, until Linux can grab a bigger share, games wont take off for Linux.

  And from a server view, the only reason that there are /any/ Windows servers left is ASP. A rapidly declining language that is being push out of the market by… Linux.

  Yes, Microsoft’s web-child is being killed off by the open source movement. Including a semi-bloated open-source language (PHP). Any decent server is run by Linux. Go to Surf Speedy, one of the largest hosting companies in the world and see what servers they offer. Most will be Linux.

  I am happy using Linux for what I do. And is having the regular user being able to use a computer a /bad/ thing? I can use the terminal with ease. But to be honest, for what the rest of my family do (web, email, simple office stuff) everything is 1) installed 2) have a GUI. If you want to install more software, use the "Add/Remove" entry or synaptic package manager.

  People saying that drivers are an issue obviously have never used Linux. I installed Windows XP on my machine, had to install graphics drivers, network drivers, sound drivers. I installed Gutsy Gibbon, I get a warning about proprietary drivers, I enable the driver and reboot. There all drivers done.

• 35. sarcastabtch  |  February 2nd, 2008 at 11:41 pm

  I am a mac girl. I have watched my boy friend mess with linux over and over again {ubuntu}. Personally, I have seen him have more problems than I ever want to deal with. Firefox crashing all the time, MAJOR issues with flash and java, as well as the simple fact that there is a lot of software that is not released for Linux.

• 36. Rob  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 am

  I use Ubuntu exclusively. Great post, I do disagree with the hardware bit on point 21; that said, I buy hardware that I know is Linux compatible so its a non-issue.
  To those who claim they "know someone" who has trouble with Linux, yeah okay whatever, to those who think that a happy community that promotes this free and liberated OS some how diminishes its usefulness… no worries mates, go ahead and give MS all your money, I’ll spend mine on twin Nvidia 7950gt cards (hehe I did, and yes, it rocks).
  Anyway, great blog man.

• 37. MrGrogg  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 12:12 am

  Anybody who thinks they’ve run a Windows machine regularly for a year or more and hasn’t ever gotten any malware is simply dead wrong - they haven’t looked for it. I challenge anybody with a Windows machine that been running a year or more malware-free to go to http://www.safer-networking.org/ and download, install, and run Spybot Search & Destroy. I absolutely guarantee that if you’ve been using that box regularly for internet access, you’ll find a whole slew of junk installed on it that you had no idea was there.

• 38. craptaculus  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 12:27 am

  Oooh! A windows/linux flame fest! Me too!

  Whether or not "linux is better" really depends on what it is you are trying to do.

  A few inaccuracies in the list:
  2) "the operating system" does NOT run faster in the latest release if you include more than just the kernel. I really doubt that a default Gnome 2.x runs faster than a default Gnome 1.x on the same machine.

  3) Easily? Easily? Really? Configuring X is easy? (I know you meant Gnome/KDE/etc, but surely you see my point.)

  5) Only the ones it knows about.

  No, you don’t know this. (Unless you run Gentoo and do a full code review before each emerge).

  9) I end up rebooting my linux box much more than my wife reboots her vista.

  9) Only true because you know what you’re doing: stupid users on linux are still stupid. None of my windows machines run regular virus/adware checks; when I do, nothing is ever found.

  11) Again, only true because you know what you’re doing. I’ve had numerous linux programs litter my /etc and .* files with crap that does not get removed on "uninstall". Luckily I know how to remove them, and leftover windows junk.

  15) ? I’ve not noticed a difference on similar hardware for similar programs.

  16) Only if you only use debian packages. Any third party programs will not be found.

  21) Really? I usually have to do much detective work to get my various cameras working, sometimes patching the kernel even.

  *) Nearly everything on the list is far beyond regular users’ capabilities. So, they are not really advantages over windows for mere mortals.

  Note: I only use linux at home, and on nearly all machines at work. I do like linux better, but I understand that its "advantages" aren’t "advantages" for most people who just want to do some work. I can’t image some people I know EVER understanding why X won’t start (or what it is), or why twenty programs need to be installed (one of which fails because a file in /etc needs can’t be merged) when the only need 1 word processor (which doesn’t have all the features they need).

• 39. craptaculus  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 12:38 am

  MrGrogg: The malware detectors only ever find cookies on my work laptop (Windows XP). Malware comes from installing stupidly, period. I’ve also never had a virus because I update my software and don’t run every file that implores me to.

  (Note: longtime Linux user here, currently Kubuntu, previously Gentoo, previously etc, etc, etc).

• 40. jfw  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 12:56 am

  Well MrGrogg I just did a scan using Spybot (downloaded setupxv.exe and ran it). It said it picked up 188 viruses. Damn, looks you might be right!!! Fortunately closer inspection reveals 4 registry entries for GameSpyArcade (installed as part of a freeware game demo available for windows only ) and 184 tracking cookies (which aren’t really and anyway I am not fussed about).

  This computer has been almost continually used to access the internet and is hardly ever switched off. I also have installed numerous prorams all of which probably have ports open to internet(includes MySQL, SQLServer and Apache).

  Do you really believe that you are the chosen one and that ALL windows users are incapable of accessing the internet without their machines becoming virus sodden book-ends? I wish I was that sure of myself.

  Discussion becoming boring.

  I think I might go and have a game of Oblivion.

  Bye.

• 41. redbeard  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 1:33 am

  ummmm guys? are we forgetting that there are application layers that allow you to run Windows programs on Linux? so there goes another point for Linux. The fact that most business oriented servers, routers, and switches run Linux? I work at a restaraunt and know for a fact that their workstations use a version of linux. (to reitterate a couple business points up there) I’m currently learning the ins and outs of Linux and yes it is a bit stressful to have to learn a whole new OS but in the end it’s free, there’s A LOT of support (IRC is my favorite so far), If anything is worthwile it’s worth learning about. No we’re not bad-mouthing WIndows users (most if not all of us were one at one point or another, we’re just happier with Linux which is why we decide to share our opinion in the hopes that others would join us and learn that Windows and MAC are not the only choices for OSes out there. BTW Mac OSX was built off of a fork of Linux just so you know. It’s in wikipedia somewhere.
  (as a newbie user of Linux that’s just my 2 cents)

• 42. anon  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 2:19 am

  games, too much of typing confusing terminal commands that i have no idea what they mean, and the fact that most people dont even know what a linux is, are the only reasons i duel boot my ubuntu with my windows XP. But the only thing i use my windows for now is games and photoshop. thats it.

• 43. anon  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 2:22 am

  p.s. you people fight too much about this, but then again its amusing to see all the trolling that goes on XD lmfao at some of this stuff. its a computer, not a religious experience people

• 44. Destro  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 3:21 am

  Hey look! We have open source too!

  http://www.apple.com/opensource/

  It even includes the kernel!

  developer.apple.com/opens…

• 45. Outsider  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 4:38 am

  Interesting post. I think people should concentrate less on the back-and-forth "fan-boy" nonsense and more on the basic idea of what the open-source movement is really about. I use Windows (XP pro & Server 2003), various Linux distros, as well as Mac OS’s (Tiger & Leopard). In all honesty, were it not for the MS monopoly, I would have little use for Windows personally–but as it stands, they maintain dominance in the market, which results in widespread use….keeping me gainfully employed maintaining system functionality and security for multiple departments. I run virtual Windows systems on Ubuntu for testing purposes, but I also got MS Streets & Trips for my b-day last year, which I used frequently, so I keep it around for that too. The power of marketing and "user friendly" interfaces have been MS strong points for a long time. The downside is they release an OS as what is essentially a "beta"….but it’s supposed to be the "stable" release….so we pay the big bucks for this "great new software", only to run into the inevitable bugs that result from pushing out a system with inadequate research and development. We as end users are forced to assume that role, forwarding our complaints to MS. They slowly apply patches and bug fixes over the years, and eventually you get the stable system you should have had years ago. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate Windows–every OS has its strengths and weaknesses, and I’m a geek who plays with as many as I have time for. I just think in terms of giving and taking, that MS has done a better job taking customer dollars (and taking advantage of their market share by placing the burden of product development on its customers) than giving us what we paid for up front. Garrowolf made some good points. Open-source operating systems like Ubuntu are released as alpha & beta versions, revised, and when the stable versions come out, they are labeled as such. The point is, if you want to contribute, you download alpha & beta….if you just want the end product, you download the stable release, for free. While some here have indicated that Linux requires a vast knowledge of commands, or that it lacks a GUI, users of Linux systems know different….because they actually use it! The increasing demand for Linux and Unix admins isn’t because businesses "don’t use Linux" either, I assure you. I admit that although distributions like Ubuntu have made great strides in bridging the gap as far as ease of use is concerned, there is still work to be done–and they are hard at work (Hardy Heron alpha release)–but honestly, the average user has difficulty doing what many computer literate users deem trivial, so it’s no surprise that a great deal of ignorance and fear of Linux exists. If there was less OS bashing and more OS sharing, more people would be aware of what Linux is becoming; if more people began using Linux, SW manufacturers would target that market as well–then there’s no reason to argue about anything. Give a live cd to a friend this week, contribute when you can.

• 46. Egon  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 4:52 am

  @Dwindle:

  Why aren’t people using hydrogen-fueled cars, while they were already available in the seventies? The answer to this question is exactly the same: because of monopoly force of some companies (oil companies, Microsoft). Most people just can’t switch because they need one application that is only suited for Windows.

  Also; Linux IS already in business. Perhaps not on the places you are looking for, but Linux is used a lot on web servers; also look at companies like Adobe, they have some of their applications (Flash plugin and Adobe Reader) for Linux, and if you went to see the Shrek movies; well, they are entirely made on Linux (if you won’t believe me, take look at the extras on the dvd).

  I’m currently using 95% Linux since 1 year, the other 5% is Windows to get some high-end applications to work. So I know Linux first-hand. I also think little of this list: it mainly goes about how free it is, what the legal side of it is; but frankly: most people don’t care. Most people have used Windows and other programs from pirated copies. For propaganda, it’s even better to include some pictures; Windows/Mac side by side with KDE/Gnome. Most people don’t care to read such a long list; especially if it contains such a lot of non-interesting information (to most people).

  The choice for Linux is one that every individual has to make for himself.

• 47. wyliecoyoteuk  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 am

  @dwindle:

  "Windows runs for months on end without reboots",

  If that is true, why do my Windows servers insist on a reboot every month on patch Tuesday?

  "and I have not found an adware, virus, or other malware in over 5 years"
  Sorry, I find that hard to believe, unless you have no internet connection (maybe that is why windows never asks you to reboot?)
  We run an enterprise level AV and AS, which finds and destroys everything so far, unlike one of the better known (and more expensive) ones we used to use, which let us down quite badly about 4 years ago.

  "All of my programs, even expensive corporate editions, are updated automatically all by themselves the instant an update is available"
  and of course, they never ask you to reboot….
  And another missing entry on the list "update software WHILE IT IS RUNNING"

  Most companies websites, Amazon, Virgin, Google, etc,etc.run on Linux. 85% of the world’s supercomputers run Linux. Even the Toshiba photocopier in my office runs Linux!

  As for Linux not being a pleasure to use, I support a mixed Windows/Linux/Mac network, but at home, I, my wife and my 9 year old grandson all use Linux only and enjoy doing so, it is a breath of fresh air after troubleshooting windows problems all day
  (note:It is the windows part of the mix above that has the most problems)

• 48. Dale  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 6:29 am

  Hello all. I came to this page via "stumble". You know what you are talking about, I know what you’re talking about. Just about everyone else doesn’t. They don’t care either. They just want their computer to play games or run their office. They go into the shop, they tell the "man" what they want, they get windows, their game or whatever with their computer and thats the end of it. Blah Blah, yep fair enough, but the bottom line is that people just done care, they’re going to get the computer that does more stuff.

• 49. Tommy  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 am

  While I agree with most items, I also have the feeling most people just do not care. They use a computer as a tool, to get something done, and they are not the least interested in how it works. To reach these people, you need a short list, and you need to start with a strong argument.

  In fact, number 15, 14 and 11 pretty much cover it for these folks. Plus the point about viruses, but that is something you want your computer not to have, so it is a bit of a difficult argument.

• 50. Vexorian  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 10:49 am

  #17 is possible on windows XP.

  I think the real winner is that you can actually get involved with its progress, windows and mac are stuff from companies to consumers, instead Linux and GNU, gnome, KDE are projects from the community for the community, it is our project, remember.

• 51. craptaculus  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 11:34 am

  redbeard: "BTW Mac OSX was built off of a fork of Linux just so you know. It’s in wikipedia somewhere."

  Nope. It is a fork of BSD, which is an entirely different code line, different FOSS model and license. The both share the gnu suite though, and there is some pull from BSD into linux (ie ssh).

  Also, Wine is very cool, yes. I have gotten some pretty difficult programs and games to run. But very very few of them run "out of the box" or run identically. Usually there are an incomprehensible set of options of which dlls to choose and settings to tweak and fake drives and fake registry entries etc. NOT something most users are going to know how to do.

• 52. Ali  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 1:06 pm

  I was just about to translate this post to Arabic when I remembered that trolls will always try to find exceptions and special cases to erect and argue about, I stopped

• 53. NASRULLAH  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 1:42 pm

  yes i do agree with you LInux Ubuntu make us more secured and free in this world.Bravo my friend of your share.

• 54. valkyria  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 2:28 pm

  good list.

  I agree with you and i’d add a few more things, such as nice linux programs i got used to that don’t have a win or mac version ( quanta plus, amarok, kmail, etc).

  Still i have to disagree on something:
  "12. Make a major mistake that requires a complete reinstallation and be able to do it in less than an hour, because I put all of my data on a separate partition from the operating system and program files"
  And you CAN’T do that on a windows or mac? Weird, because that’s what I do with any OS i have… the main data goes on one partition, my data is stored on others… Windows takes a very short while to reinstall. The fact that it screws up my bootloader (which ubuntu also does, but other linux-es don’t)… well that’s another story…

• 55. roo-man  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm

  cool

• 56. Rick  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 2:56 pm

  I’m not a Microsoft hater, but I like to see innovation and software that makes sense. Ubuntu makes a lot of sense for at least 80% of all computer users. Good job on illustrating some important features and differences in Ubuntu vs. Apple vs. Windows.

• 57. Eudoxus  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 4:08 pm

  I am really tired from all this crap about how well linux runs and how you should fix windows all the day. I do not know, may be this is true in another universe, but here where I live it is a bit different. I used linux for a year and I love it. However, I used windoes too - both XP and Vista on different machines. And I must tell that to this very day I have never had any problems with those mythological viruses, spyware and what not. Most apps work on both systems and there is no need to fix the OS all the day. And about the same goes for linux. Though at some points one needs to dig in to get some feature to work and as a consequence to spend more time on tweaking. Windows is still more simple in many ways.
  It is a myth that you do not need to defragment harddisk on linux as it fragments anyway. Not that much as on Windows, but it does, and OS becomes slower.
  And I do not see what the advantage of not rebooting a system is for a desktop. It makes sense for server, but not for desktop. As a matter of fact, I had to reboot my linux all the tiem due to kernel updates anyway. And may be more frequently than my XP box.
  And it is a myth tha linux is created just by community. The truth is that most part of the linux kernel is writen by the help of the big companies such as IBM, Novell and so on and it is all about really big money.
  Linux is good in many ways, but the fact is that still there are too many things that an average user can do on a windows or a mac. That’s why I still use Windows and have a respect for Linux.
  But the list is a fanboy crap and nothing more.

• 58. fish  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 6:16 pm

  @Eudoxus

  "And it is a myth tha linux is created just by community. The truth is that most part of the linux kernel is writen by the help of the big companies such as IBM, Novell and so on and it is all about really big money."

  But isn’t IBM, Novell part of the community, moreover _can_ IBM and Novell "contribute" to the development of the Windows kernel

  However I do agree with you that most people don’t care as long as they can read email, create documents, surf the web view photos.

• 59. Jaakko Manninen  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 6:48 pm

  Linux is the best OS for a basic non-gamer who surfs, mails, chats, wordprocesses and occasionally edits photos etc. You can easily survive without messing with the command line. I use Mac for heavy-weight music creation and image editing. I have noticed that OSX just beats other platforms in professional creative work. Until Linux has most of the major commercial software available, it will not succeed very well. Games are the most important factor, just check how the game industry has developed over the last 10 years. And then check their favorite platform. If you could 100% use all of the mass-entertaining and creative software on a Linux, it would definitely be the no. 1 OS. Until then…

• 60. nske  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 7:23 pm

  Unix-like operating systems offer more flexibility without the nonsense restrictions (baptized as features) that exist on Windows. I’m not sure whether most users will care to make use of this flexibility or be directly bothered by those restrictions, but those that are honestly attracted to the related technologies, most definitely will.

  I understand that most users prefer that their computer takes as many decisions for them as possible and bothers them with technicalities as little as possible, even at the cost of freedom, machine-time efficiency and flexibility. In other words, computers and IT are not in their hobby-list but merely a tool for a very specific job. Computers are on my hobby-list, so I can’t speak for those people -even though I can understand them using simple analogies.

  The list contains some nice examples of the flexibility provided by Unix-like systems. It also contains some subjective arguments that can be doubted. What can not be doubted is that Unix-like operating systems are more straightforward and allow their users to do more advanced things with less obstructions than windows.

  Basically, what Windows luck and GNU/Linux does not -besides freedom/openess-, is a serious non-programming interfaces that will allow their applications to interact, each being able to extend the functionality of the other. In *nix this interface is the shell and about every important application can utilize and be utilized by it. Windows severely luck both such an interface AND, most importantly, the CLI applications that would make use of it.

  So, quite obviously, there is a never-ending list of things that can be done easily in Unix-like OS, using freely available software and documentation, but can be done very difficultly or not at all in Windows. Of course, people that don’t really care about computers will not bother to implement them anyway, but, for those that DO care, they are there.

  PS. Notice that I’m not referring specifically to GNU/Linux, there’s a whole lot of other free operating systems that can do as much as GNU/Linux, in some cases and ways better. The flexibility and no-nonsense approach is common to all of them. Also, there is a great difference between Windows and MacOS. MacOS, being based on BSD, has a great amount of the flexibility that is present on Unix-like OS.

• 61. nske  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 7:28 pm

  > Basically, what Windows luck
  Of course I meant "lack" instead of luck.

• 62. an_ordinary_linux_user  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 8:06 pm

  I’m an ‘ordinary’ Linux user (RedHat EL4). Can the author of this interesting article reply with some more details (only a sentence or two, and if possible the relevant URLs) on…

  4 (is it /bin/rpm?), 8, 10, 13, 18, 20 ?

  Many thanks in advance and regards…
  A Linux fan.

• 63. Gabriel Ramírez P.  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 8:32 pm

  Friends, in the real world we have more than a a single OS, but we also have different kind of users. We all can coexist together. Windows is for the dumb user, who has exhausted his intellectual capacity and is only able to continue doing the same exact task he has performed for years. Mac is oriented to users with a serious lack of self esteem, those guys are always in a hurry to show how different they are (no mater that now uses PCs hardware and a BSD ‘UNIX’ based operating system) -Maybe the only difference they have left it’s it’s stripe less apple-. But for a small group, those who enter a plane not to travel has simple bags of watter but takes control of it and guided safely to its destination is available Linux. Yes everything in Linux needs more effort the first time but when you have done it It rewards you with control and power.

  Recently my neighbor came to me with a brand new laptop and asked me if I can help him with an issue. I notice that we was running Windows Vista. I have to told him that I never used Vista and have no intention to do, so I can’t help. Few day latter he came again and tell me what he have to do to continue receiving my help, he have to change to and OS that I know. I recommend him using Debian Lenny with some Sid packages. He agrees and now runs on Debian. I realize, those windows lovers depend on us (the geeks) just don’t support them and let windows die. In a matter of fact, as advisor of server of the largest organizations in my country I have to say that in the past year (2007) I convinced 2 of the largest to change to Linux, with more that 25K PCs in those organizations now running Ubuntu or Debian, and at least 100 Servers running each and every service over SUSE or Debian Etch.

  And last but not less important is: Linux is everywhere.
  In every computer in the F22 Raptor.
  In the Global Aviation Traffic Management
  In the International Space Station
  In all BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz, Nissan recent models.
  In many other automobile brands, including several from USA.
  In almost ever screening technology used by TSA, has ETDs EDS etc.
  In many of the most powerful MRI and CT scanners in hospitals.
  And the list goes on even to some mobile phones.

  Windows is death, but haven’t realized of it yet.

• 64. Planet Malaysia  |  February 3rd, 2008 at 10:51 pm

  Great list! Just SAID NO to Micro$oft!

• 65. matthew  |  February 5th, 2008 at 5:35 am

  Because this post was linked on Digg.com, the site went down for a while. I put up a static html page for about 24 hours to get my server back up and running…sorry if you wanted to comment during that time and were unable to do so. In less than 48 hours, this page had over 145,000 hits!

  Now that this is off of the Digg front page, feel free to give it a digg if you are so inclined. digg.com/linux_unix/Doing…

  I was particularly amused that the post got labeled as "potentially inaccurate." Thanks for brightening my day! I had a smile over that for hours.

  I will address one comment…I know that all of these do not apply equally to the Mac and Windows platform. That is why I used the word "or" in the title. These are things that can be done using Linux that cannot be done by one or the other. Sorry that I didn’t express that as clearly as I could have done.

• 66. Kay Trance  |  February 5th, 2008 at 6:09 am

  Author! Please learn more about the situations in win and mac worlds - you will notice, that 98% of your pros will vanish, because you are incorrect.

• 67. 4thwall  |  February 5th, 2008 at 6:23 am

  I dual boot Windows and Linux. If 1 fails, I can use the other so all my files are safe. Usage wise, I use my windows for video games, Linux for everything else (tho I have some games there). I do play console games too. I’m not a Mac fan, it seems like a shittier more expensive annoying of linux with a very annoying gui. There gui pisses me off.

• 68. Wonder of GNU  |  February 5th, 2008 at 7:57 am

  Except point 1, the same for Mac OS X (if you want the cocoa interface… XNU is open source and you can run only X window on the top if you want) and AIX, HP-UX, SunOS, IRIX…

  With the point 1, the same for FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD, DragonFly BSD, PCBSD, Haiku…

  GNU is out there, and Linux is just another Open Source kernel…

• 69. Tom  |  February 5th, 2008 at 8:44 am

  I’m a developer, and develop primarily for the Mac, but also do a lot of coding on Windows and Linux, and from what I have encountered in my experience is that the 3 systems fundamentally are the same, just focusing on different things. Apple seens focused more on the design and ease-of-use (I will say security and stability, but these come more from its BSD and Unix origins). Microsoft seems more focused on reaching as many people as possible and (apparently) keeping up with both Apple and the Linux distros. Linux seems to vary with each distro. I’ve used SuSE, Ubuntu, Knopix and RedHat, all seem to focus on different aspects of end product.

  ALL the systems have their pros and cons. ALL the systems have their weaknesses and strengths. People will use what best suits their needs at that time.

  In my experience developing software; most people simply do not care for all the latest technologies. My mum does a lot of photography and illustration. If I was to tell her that she could switch to Linux and use GIMP with 64-Bit, or could hack Photoshop CS3 to run at 64-Bit on her MacBook Pro she wouldn’t have a clue as to what I was talking about nor really care. You can apply the same logic to most things, I use my car a lot to get around, but do I know how it works? Hell no. Do I want to? Nope.

  Anyway, this is just my experience. Thats not to say its what everyone else has experienced.

  But for me, if you want a truly comprehensive setup, you’ll be using all 3 side by side taking advantage of what each does best, and not go around claiming your personal favorite is the best at everything.

• 70. marjan jeffry  |  February 5th, 2008 at 10:56 am

  Linux is not for everybody. Linux is only for cool people. Do you think most people are cool?

• 71. The man  |  February 5th, 2008 at 12:27 pm

  LINUX *rude comment removed*!

• 72. suprie  |  February 5th, 2008 at 11:55 pm

  i use Linux , and i pleased with it. i use windows in the office, and i’m displeased with it. So it just a matter of taste..

• 73. knifemonkey  |  February 6th, 2008 at 5:06 am

  thing you can do on linux that you cannot do on windows:
  work and play with your computer while experiencing true software freedom. (as in free speech and beer)

  so suck on that!
  windows loving sheep… baa baaaa.

  another thing u can do, insult windoze lovers with blogs before going off to play Savage! <actually i feel like some quakewars>. i guess you can do that from windows as well but you see the thing is, I dont support jo’

• 74. Sarah  |  February 6th, 2008 at 2:04 pm

  The coolest thing about linux is ubuntu. There are basically no problems. You dont get virus’ and non-geeks (like me…im only a geek in training) can use it easier than with windows. Oh and unlike windows, you can set-up a dual-boot so you can have unlike with windows, where they restrict what you can do with your computer. I am actually going to remove my windows partition and go completely to ubuntu.

• 75. amfony  |  February 7th, 2008 at 7:24 am

  wow, my DISHONEST BLOG POST meter just went off the scale…

  …with another futile "my OS is better than yours" wankfest.

  yes, there are innumerable ways that Linux is better, and lets ignore the reality of Windows’ almost decades-long momentum & marketing muscle & brand recognition, but if you’re gonna compare, AT LEAST DO IT HONESTLY. _many_ of the features you make out as being unique to Linux are imminently available, albeit often for a cost, for Windows.

  Linux zealots have been clinging to this hoary old "when the revolution comes" chestnut for years, but it’s far from taking the domestic or business-client-PC world by storm, for obvious (to most other than Linux zealots) reasons, but most of all because you all live in denial of the fact that - like it or not - capitalism rules most of the world.

• 76. Sony  |  February 7th, 2008 at 12:54 pm

  i got to agree with one guy who posted above or maybe more, i’ve tried to see whats the thing about linux, so i’ve tried like 3 distros already and still cant find a reason to use them, ive tried ubuntu, suse and mandriva and yeah they pretty and easy to use but idk… didnt found a good reason to keep them, btw had to search for like 3 hours how to get my gfx card to work + that fx thing i dont remember the name.. i had to install all those repositories(i think thats the name) thing i would never be able to figure out by myself.. but i guess thats why the linux community is there for… but yeah maybe when a newer version comes out ill give it a try again.. Excuse me for my bad english

• 77. linuxfanboy  |  February 7th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

  I have been a Windows user from the start. I am very comfortable with it. Over the years I have done a lot of reading about the progress of (GNU)/Linux with interest but never had the opportunity to try it out. A few years ago I did try it, but being a newbie I had problems understanding it and many of the cryptic program names and all of their switches.

  Last year I finally bought a Gateway duel core laptop and decided to give it another try after reading how much Ubuntu had gained in popularity. Everything worked great "out of the box" except for my wireless card. I switched over to Mint Linux. Same problem. I could see the card, I could see the wireless network, I just could not connect. Since I left Windows XP Media edition on the laptop (after all, I paid for it with the laptop) if I needed to connect someplace wirelessly, I would switch over to XP.

  THen I goofed up my Mint Linux partition and had to reinstall the OS. I gave Ubuntu 7.10 another chance and to my amazement the wireless card that had not worked properly before, now began to connect like it should.

  Now I have a partition that does almost everything I need it to do (there is still one web site I have to access which is spcifically written to be used only with MS IE. For that site I have installed IE4Linux but the sight still does not display everything properly. For that one site I do not mind using my XP partition.

  For everything else I do, I can use Ubuntu. I have the 3D desktop that can whirl the cube, paint fire on the screen (still can not figure out how that is useful except that it is just cool to do), I watch DVD’s, I burn CD/DVD’s I watch video’s on the internet, I have email, I do my spreadsheets that I can save in MS compatible format to communicate with others that have not expanded their horizon of options (I usually am cheeky and send the first file in .ods format, "Oh, your MS Excel can not read that international format standard? OK, I will send it to you in a format you can read with EXCEL. He, he, he!)

  I also give free tech support to all of my personal friends (it will cost you a meal at your house). For every one of them that I have moved over to Linux, I have no more problems with tech support. I set up the computer, I show them the menu, set up a few bookmarks in Firefox, set up their IM on MSN using Pigeon or GAIM, make sure they can play movies and MP#’s and they are as happy as pie. No more calls because they did not update their virus definitions or anti spyware programs and their computer is working weird or not at all, no more problems at all.

  I find that many computer users (mostly Windows users because there are just more of them) do not know how to copy a file or install a program on their computer unless there is a pop up window that asks" Do you want to install this program? Yes/No?"

  They are no more competent using Linux than with Windows. Computers are just their tool to communicate with their friends/family using email or typing a letter. They may have a DVD burner in their computer but can not understand how to use it other than as a CD/DVD player.

  Why do so many people then buy a PC with Windows? That is mostly because that is all that is available in the stores. This is changing. Walmart could not keep the Linux PC’s they were selling before Christmas in stock. They sold out twice in record time. Sears is now getting into the Linux/PC market. Dell is now offering computers preloaded with Linux.

  What is happening in the world? The US military just announced that they are going to move completely away from Microsoft and go exclusively with Linux. NASA uses it, the CIA uses it, the French Police force is using it. More and more, governments and government agencies are dumping Windows and going with Linux. More and more companies are offering computers preloaded with Linux. More and more devices are going with Linux as their OS of choice. More and more and more…….

  Will Microsoft be dislodged from their "King on the Mountain" position overnight? I think not. It will be interesting to see the balance of power in 10 years from now though.

  The Linux march goes on, steady as she goes……

• 78. Jack Militech  |  February 7th, 2008 at 4:31 pm

  I can do all that and more in tijuana

• 79. Sony  |  February 7th, 2008 at 4:32 pm

  Can you define "Personal Friend" for me plz… lol

• 80. thepumpboy  |  February 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

  People, people, people! Does it really matter? You buy a PC, you decide Vista is not for you, you install XP or Linux. You buy a mac, you decide Mac OSX is not for you, you install Vista, XP and Linux because you can’t decide. At the end of the day, we all have a choice of what OS we use, we are not stuck on one vs the other. I use MAc OS X becuase I like it. I could install XP, Vista or Linux on my iMac, buy why? I like using Mac OSX at home, XP at work. Does that mean I prefer one or the other? At work, I am required to use XP but I choose Mac OSX at home.

  And remember Mac OSX and Linux are based on the same UNIX kernel - They are (in theory) from the same blood family

• 81. Erdem  |  February 7th, 2008 at 5:53 pm

  The coolest thing you can do using Linux that you can’t do with Windows is to make your Linux screensaver show random parts of the Linux kernel source code. Really cool

• 82. Jerome  |  February 7th, 2008 at 8:50 pm

  That’s really great list. It shows many added value we can get by using Linux. I never used Linux before. But this list can be my consideration to start using Linux. Thans for the info.

• 83. vi  |  February 8th, 2008 at 12:31 am

  @Pat - roflmao!!!! dos?!?! really!?!? For everyone else….vi or emacs!!!!!!

• 84. miguel  |  February 8th, 2008 at 2:19 am

  Congratulations!!

  Me parece genial, imagino que no te importa si hago una traducción/adaptación al castellano en mi web.

• 85. matthew  |  February 8th, 2008 at 2:45 am

  miguel: yo no tengo una traduccion en castellano, pero si lo quieres traduccir, esta bien.

• 86. ed  |  February 8th, 2008 at 7:40 am

  There’s something I really like about the linux install process that windows just gets wrong and that’s that you can install and be up to date in just one boot.

  Last time I checked, it took about 5 boots with windows before the install would be up to date with the current service packs.

  It’s nice how all that happens in just one boot with windows.

• 87. johnnyzazza  |  February 8th, 2008 at 9:40 am

  so lame that i felt compelled to say so.

• 88. sanju  |  February 8th, 2008 at 11:58 am

  Question for those who boasts of never finding a virus on their windows machine:

  Can you plug in your friend’s USB stick into your computer
  without any second thought!?

• 89. jfw  |  February 8th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

  sanju: We are not BOASTING that we have never found a visus on our Windows XP boxes. We are merely stating the situation as we see it. Furthermore, it is only said in response to some of the more ridiculous rants that have been posted here. How can you with a straight face accuse us of boasting of that fact after:

  the arrogant (and silly) MCGROGG: I absolutely guarantee that if you’ve been using that box regularly for internet access, you’ll find a whole slew of junk installed on it that you had no idea was there

  the superficial SARAH: Ubuntu doesn’t get virus’ and non-geeks can use it easier than with windows.

  just plain wrong ROHAN: In Linux you just don’t (get viruses); Rohan, see the post re the storm botnet

  This whole blog is just one big (at times irrational) *nix BOAST

  PS. Sanju: In 99.99% of cases the only way you can get a virus on your computer is if you, the user, runs an executable of some sort (yeh, I know Word macros, script files etc). If USB’s present a danger, turn off autorun.

• 90. lance freedom  |  February 9th, 2008 at 10:13 am

  valkyria: I think he means that when you have your home folder on another partition you also have all you applications data. So when you reinstall you don’t have to configure IM, Mail, background picture etc. It just looks and works the same as it did before you reinstalled, without any configuration.

• 91. Red Icculus  |  February 9th, 2008 at 4:19 pm

  How about being able to play mp3’s, do modern word processing and internet on a 200 mhz computer?

• 92. ayenack  |  February 10th, 2008 at 8:27 am

  In GNU/Linux.
  1, Setting up as many client PC’s to my server as I want.
  2, Turning a very old PC into a state of the art firewall.
  3, Not having to use propriety CODECS.
  4, Not having to pay licensing fees.
  5, Using O.D.F. on an open-source platform.
  6, Not having to constantly update the OS with service packs that are over 100MB (This is more like upgrading the OS.)
  7, Being able to run an old dual PII 350MHz PC as a Video/Music media server.
  8, E.T.C.

• 93. ayenack  |  February 10th, 2008 at 8:42 am

  Oh and buy an ASUS Eee Sub-Notebook that’s a little bigger than a DVD case with Linux on it for £299.00 or less if you hunt around.

  It has WIFI, Ethernet, Open Office and loads more.

• 94. pock  |  February 11th, 2008 at 7:20 am

  This reason are not valid for me.

  I don’t use computer for install program, defrag, still free of virus, animated flash, GUI, not be monitored, still in law, and other, ALL OF this list is useless. (write an computer engineer) I don’t know a person that have a car for work in maintence in this, and know thousands and thousands of buy a car for use to travel.

  I use my computer for work, I use my computer for comunicate, I use for entertainment, I don’t use my computer for configurate and loss time. Linux by what good reason is better than windows and other OS??? or other OS free or open code?

  Linux not make me my work, Linux not make me comunicate with persons, and don’t make fun, linux is the better way to loss time in configurate, still working in OS, …

• 95. ayenack  |  February 11th, 2008 at 8:11 am

  I don’t think anyone is saying GNU/Linux is better than Microsoft Windows OS’s. It’s horses for courses. GNU/Linux is superior in many ways over Microsoft Windows IMO but in many others it’s not. You pay your money you take your choice…. Or not LOL

• 96. miguel  |  February 11th, 2008 at 8:36 am

  matthew, hice la traducción aproximada:

  http://www.inforactiva.net/index...

  saludos

  P.S.: ¡¡Me sorprendió que sepas español!!

• 97. pock  |  February 11th, 2008 at 10:12 am

  Ayenack is good that you wrote.
  But the post is "what is the coolest thing you can do using Linux…"

  And in this scenario, all of this list is so bored, nothing is COOL, or your point of view of cool is still in front of computer doing nothing usefull or fun, all of this list is for person that work mantienence computer, nothing for that person that use the computer.

  Cool is defrag or not defrag, cool is still in law or not still in law, cool is have a computer old o new, cool is upgrade OS??? what know of "cool"?

• 98. ayenack  |  February 11th, 2008 at 2:57 pm

  Well I don’t work as an Computer Engineer. It’s just semantics to pick the word "cool" the word could have been best, most fun or whatever. And yes I do enjoy computers and technology in general but, I also enjoy a world of other things.

  It’s perfectly possible to do constructive and fun things in front of a computer also like, using Skype to talk to members of my family or keep in contact with a friend in India or Australia or my brother who works and lives in Thailand, I can pay bills contact utilities without having to waste time on the phone and of course post here. I think all of these things are pretty cool.

  And of course all these things can be done on Ubuntu as well as Microsoft Windows.

• 99. Tony Fink  |  February 12th, 2008 at 5:32 pm

  Well, yes, Windows is the place for gamers. But guess what? Some of us use our computers for USEFUL things, and data integrity and longevity of the system is important to us. For those who ask why Linux isn’t popular in business, I ask this: why do ALL the major websites use Apache LAMP? Because it’s Linux and it just works. For the serious computer user, there is no other choice.

  If Windows is so "bad ass," why is it that 90% of all viruses and spyware will only work on Windows machines running Internet Explorer?

  In short, for anyone who really cares about computing, Linux is the way. Period. If all you want to do is screw around and play games, fine. Use a "regular" OS. If you want to do any real work with a computer you need to leave the crowds and use Linux.

  Oh yeah, one last thing. If Linux sicks so much, why is it that the mew Mac OS is based off Unix? What does that say about it’s security and stability?

• 100. Mark William Darbyshire  |  February 12th, 2008 at 6:51 pm

  Dindle said:
  "Basically, your list comes down only to the fact that Linux is free."

  And, funnily enough, he’s right. We can argue about features for all eternity and will never get anywhere because every popular operating system has "cool features". The important thing is the underlying ethics of _free_ (as in freedom; call it open source if you really want to) software.

  Free software means we are not at the mercy of a monopolistic corporation, and we are not locked into malicious features.

  Modern proprietary operating systems are wolves in sheep’s clothing; they may appear to have "cool" features, but the underlying technologies and use of proprietary formats are against the interests of the consumer.

  Forget the features, because that argument won’t go anywhere. Consider the ethics of proprietary versus free software, and think about the impact your choice of software today has on society in the future.

  If you haven’t heard of free as in freedom before, check out http://www.gnu.org

• 101. Ahmad Tarek  |  February 13th, 2008 at 2:17 am

  I like the idea of surfing the internet while installing the system - please mention that this is special for ubuntu .. Good post

• 102. matthew  |  February 13th, 2008 at 2:45 pm

  Thanks again, everyone, for the continuing comments! I am especially honored by miguel’s Spanish translation. Wow.

• 103. Robert de Bock  |  February 14th, 2008 at 5:41 am

  Don’t agree with 2: Have the latest version of the operating system run faster than the previous version on the same hardware

  A mac runs faster every time I upgrade… There are some valid points though…

• 104. osbox68  |  February 14th, 2008 at 9:08 am

  Dwindle, me podrias decir que version de windows usas porque la mia se cae 1 veces al dia miimo. gracias. lo otro seria que me dijereras si eres de este mundo capaz eres un alien con un windows de otro mundo.
  so no mas.

• 105. boobsbr  |  February 15th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

  to all trolls: well played sirs, you managed to irritate me every single time.

  yes, windows plays games.

  gnu-linux can do almost all the same things as windows, except play all games and run all proprietary software out of the box without glitches, but it is free as in speech and as in beer.

  just use your imagination for the possibilities.

• 106. Lucas  |  February 15th, 2008 at 1:47 pm

  How about How South Korea uses Linux for Just about everything and is getting North Korea to do the same. I’d say that Linux is Helping to unit two different Ideas pf government and uniting a country. Way to go Linux!

  Lucas

• 107. Mattyb  |  February 17th, 2008 at 3:31 pm

  Ran Linux from 1998 - Red Hat, switched to OS X in Feb 2007.

  I don’t miss anything from my Linux days. In fact if you found 10 different apps to do something in Linux, there’s probably about 50 for OS X.

  I spend my time DOING things, instead of spending my time configuring my PC to do things.

• 108. Andrew Z  |  February 18th, 2008 at 2:51 pm

  One thing I appreciate is there are no distinctions like Windows Pro, Home, and Server. I can use any installation like a home machine, network server, network desktop, or software development platform by changing the software packages.

• 109. Rob  |  February 18th, 2008 at 11:01 pm

  A lot of these comments are so mislead it isn’t funny. People who get viruses aren’t getting them because they are computer illiterate. Literally seconds after plugging into the internet, you have the potential to be "hacked" in some way shape or form. You don’t have to run a program or open any files, visit any websites or do anything other than just connect to the internet to be attacked. Yes computer literacy isn’t what it should be, and does make up a lot of why people get viruses, but not all of it.

  Another thing people need to remember is that Microsoft charges an arm and a leg for their software. Linux developers and distributors charge nothing. How can you truly compare the product of a huge company such as Microsoft to the product of people who are working essentially for free? Do you think that all of the resources that are available to Microsoft are available to all Linux developers? Absolutely not. To think that Linux is an operating system that is as stable as it is, and as mature as it is has come to be an operating system that is starting to make a stand for itself not only among technologically savvy users, but the general public as well (with numbers growing by the minute), is quite amazing. People underestimate the power of a linux system, which anyone with the knowhow can make do literally anything they want because of the nature of the system. Can you make windows do literally anything you want? No. Why? Because you don’t have the source code to be able to do anything with. Linux? Absolutely, because you can get the source code easily and for most all the software, freely, and be able to work it to your likings.

  In my opinion, Linux i s on the rise, and is going top continue to rise. It is an operating system that is quite literally made by the people, for the people. And who better to know what the people want in an operating system than the people themselves? Not Microsoft, thats for sure.

  P.S. All you Microsoft fanboys: Have you seen the people’s reaction to vista? Not looking very good for MS now is it?

• 110. techdudes.blogspot  |  February 19th, 2008 at 1:47 am

  very nice article!after reading this, i am also thinking of using linux…
  i think fedora will be cool? what you suggest?

  keep it up dude. very cool.

  be open, live open,use open.

  Techdudes.

• 111. Mike  |  February 19th, 2008 at 5:20 am

  I think you are all losers.

  You all need to find a woman.

• 112. -F.  |  February 19th, 2008 at 9:40 am

  I use both Windows and Linux on the same computer. Sometimes I work at home, and my job requires some Windows-exclusive software. I like games, and Linux isn’t as good as that.

  For everything else, I use linux. It boots my computer in 35 secs, looks better, has a better interface and runs way more stable.

  Also, for people with less computer savvy I’d recommend OpenSuse or Linux Mint over Windows. It installs easily, auto-detects everything, runs fast, smooth, is easy for basic use and powerful enough for high-end stuff.

  Unless they like gaming, then I’d just go for dual-boot.

• 113. glenno344  |  February 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm

  As my opinion is just that! We all learn to think for ourselves, have different ideas of or perceive these thinkings, i just stumbled here and am going to put in my 2 cents! Linux is what we all hope the world should be, but sadly it is a M$ world cause we put $$$ ahead of everything. Try going a whole day with out spending a dime!! I use windows xp pro cause it came with Utorrent and it was free and it updates so hahahaha bill g. ok bored u enough good post was good to see nothing on tv so ty for the time killer

• 114. Solo_2450  |  February 21st, 2008 at 7:52 pm

  I love Linux!
  Now that I’ve said that…
  I also love to play games. I installed Linux on my old computer using Wubi dual booting with Windows XP which is great… But I hate switching between the 2…

  So I had to go back to using just windows when I got my new pc.
  If there is a way to run games such as hellgate london or BF2 on linux please tell me… (running 64-bit computer) … or linux is useless to me.

  solo2450@twcny.rr.com

• 115. Chiron  |  February 23rd, 2008 at 3:12 pm

  Manfred’s comment was useless. He says this article was "lame", but offers no actual reasons for it. Ignore him.

  I found this article quite interesting and useful. Sometimes I forget how cramped a Windows system is with all the restrictions, shortcomings, and legal hassles.

  One comment, though. #8 isn’t really true. In a paper written in 1984, Ken Thompson discussed a truly evil hack he created wherein he corrupted the compiler in such a way that 1) it automatically created a back door; and 2) it did this even when given source code for the compiler itself (in other words, the source code for the compiler wouldn’t show the back door). Here’s the link:

  http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~ganger/7...

  Very few of us actually bother to look at our source code, and most of us wouldn’t recognize a hack if we did look. Our security is more illusory than real.

  As Thompson pointed out, if the compiler has been corrupted, then it can produce arbitrary binaries not related to the source code.

  Having said all that, no system is immune to this. With Windows, it could happen, but you don’t even have the source code to examine. So I still greatly favor Linux over Windows.

• 116. matthew  |  February 23rd, 2008 at 5:43 pm

  Chiron, that article was fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing it! My world and my understanding have expanded.

• 117. Pat  |  February 25th, 2008 at 1:55 pm

  @Pat… you mentioned something along the lines of "who wants to use command line when you have icons?"…Guess what…my name is also Pat, I think your a dipstick, and I absolutely love command line. I’ve been running Gentoo on all of my boxes aside from the main game machine (curse you manufacturers for not making them compatible with Linux) for the last 2 years and I really don’t see myself ever using Windows as an operating system for my services machine.

  Here’s a few things I’ll throw into the mix:
  1) Remote resources are insanely easy to configure in Linux. I have a mass storage file server with OpenVPN, SSH, Tinyproxy, and Samba installed. This little sucker uses only 1.2GB for its OS (Including the near 400MB source folder for the kernel)! I’d absolutely LOVE to see any Windozer setup ever see this kind of operational size with the kind of functionality my system has.
  2) Drivers - Some of the people that have commented have said that you will never find the ease of installation or compatibility of drivers in Linux as you do in Windoze. Well…last I checked I needed to go to ASUS for my chipset and network drivers, NVIDIA to get my video card drivers, and CREATIVE to get my audio drivers. Also, last I checked, my kernel supported my chipset, network, sound card, and all other devices sans video card. And for that what did I have to do? Go to NVIDIA? No, I just typed emerge nvidia-drivers and it downloaded, installed, re-configured Xorg all for me. Kthxbai. There are thousands upon thousands of devices supported in the kernel that I will never use simply because the amount of hardware it supports is so f*****g vast.
  3) Program updates - I don’t give a crap who you are, program updates in the ‘dozer will NEVER be as sleek and streamlined as it is in Linux. In the ‘dozer I have to either go to each products home page, or open the program up and go to some sort of update menu in order to get my programs updated. In Linux all I need to do is emerge -uD world and I can just go to sleep, go to the movies, do homework WHILE updating, or whatever I please. It’s just that dang simple. Yeah the *buntu’ers have their apt-get and Arch’ers have pacman, but all in all it comes down to the fact that nearly every distribution has some form of an automated package handling/updating system. Oh yeah, did I mention that the program being updated can be in use and running WHILE it’s being updated? Last time I checked in Windows the program had to be shutdown (and any work saved) before you updated it. In Linux you can be using any app, including the GUI (Xorg), Firefox, or the kernel itself while it is being updated. The only (and yes it is the only one) package of the Linux OS that 100% requires a reboot is a kernel upgrade. Aside from the kernel upgrade there is NO reason to reboot. Most updates/changes work flawlessly without any user intervention and the remaining few only require the user to logout and log back in. No reboot is absolutely required sans the kernel.
  4) The superiority complex - "Windoze is bettar than Leenux!"
  Do you own a router to share your internet connection? Chances are it’s running Linux or a modified version of a *NIX/POSIX class operating system. What about all these blogs and sites such as the one we are posting on right now? Chances are that it’s using an open source DBMS such as MySQL! Chances are also just as likely that it’s being ran on Linux. Oh wait, this just in, it’s using Linux + Apache 1.3.37.

  uptime.netcraft.com/up/gr…

• 118. Don  |  March 4th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

  Hey, I love linux but some lines are wrong:
  "10. Run my computer without needing to defragment my hard drive, ever"…. you never have to defrag a Mac either.
  "13. Boot into a desktop with flash and effects as cool as Windows Vista on a three year old computer…in less than 40 seconds, including the time it takes me to type my username and password to login" … Mac has had the ‘eye candy’ longer than Linux or Windows.
  "18. Resize a hard disk partition without having to delete it and without losing the data on it" … I have done this in MacOS and in Windows.
  "21. 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"… right now I am looking for the ability to load the OS onto a FastTrak 100 Raid… I am having to jump through hoops to do it.

• 119. Joe Bonzo  |  March 6th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

  I’m an operating system agnostic - whatever most suits your purposes is what you should use. I don’t have call to use Mac, but use multiple *NIX varients and Windows varients. You should provide some data to back up your points, because most of them are quite poor. You’re seriously confusing OPEN SOURCE with Linux - Linux is the basic Kernel with a ****load of opensource programs installed. You can use exclusively open source programs on Windows. You can also accomplish most things that you imply that you can’t with a little bit of in depth knowledge of the OS….

  I’m normally open to articles like this, but you’re just babbling nonsense.

  I think you have some valid points. Linux is free, Windows isn’t. Good point. That’s it.

  Points 1, 6, 7 are all anti-paying-for-your OS. Yes, Linux is free. Get over it.

  3 - There are several free programs for windows that allow you to customize the shell, even replacing exporer.exe. WindowsBlinds is one, I’ve used several others.

  4 - Try a batch file, or suite of programs that have an update manager.

  5 - Microsoft programs will auto-update.

  8 - You’re just dead wrong here. There have been an very large number of security exploits in programs designed for Linux, and there are an extremely large number of rootkits available. Since I understand your point to be "some software that runs on Windows has backdoors", I fail to see how you’ve differentiated Windows/Linux. ??

  9 - Linux wins against M$ for adware/spyware, yes. The title of your article is "can’t do with Windows or on a Mac". Macs have as little virus problems of Linux. I don’t see how Linux wins here.

  11 - Any amateurish program can install configuration files or libraries in odd places that won’t be removed when you remove the directory.

  12 - This works for Windows if you do the same thing. You need to back up the relevant parts of the registry. Just because you haven’t learned to do so doesn’t mean that you can’t do it.

  13 - Again, replacements for explorer.exe will give you flashy effects on older hardware.

  14 - You’re speaking strictly of open source software. If you use only open source on a Windows platform, you’ll have the same benefits. Just because MOST windows users don’t use open source software doesn’t mean that you can’t. If you use proprietary software on Linux (yes, it DOES exist!) you won’t be able to do anything you listed here.

  15 - I’ve got two different IDEs open, IE, firefox, msn, trillian, outlook, clipx, foobar2000, and a few propreitary apps running. My IDEs do alot more processing than your word processors. And I’m on Windows. I just tried opening a video - no dropped frames, it works great despite all the other apps. So where do you come up with the idea that linux is special in this respect?

  16 - Add/remove programs gives you a list of programs.

  17 - I have an extension running that gives me 4 virtual desktops, and I’ve removed the limit on concurrent sessions so I can have two users RDP’ed in at the same time…

  18 - Again, third party programs. PartitionMagic. Etc.

  19 - If you do not upgrade between major windows releases, you can continue getting service pack updates for an existing release and never have to replace your hardware.

  20 - You got this one. I dont’ see it being a huge benefit, unless you’re reinstalling your OS all the time.

  21 - WTF? How do you figure? Linux driver support is much less complete that Windows driver support.

  22 - Again, you’re talking open source. Use open source programs in windows and you have the same benefit.

• 120. Clifford  |  March 8th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

  This sounds a lot like an UbuntuForums topic. I have read that thread. That particular thread predates your blog post. Are you sure you wrote all these yourself?

• 121. matthew  |  March 9th, 2008 at 8:40 am

  Hey, Clifford. This is from the first paragraph on this page: "There is also a forums thread on the same topic, that I remembered as I complied my thoughts, so I stole some of the ideas posted there."

  So, no. I obviously didn’t write all these, just as I said at the beginning.

• 122. ern  |  March 10th, 2008 at 8:54 am

  I completely agree with Dwindle and Joe Bonzo. I’ve been using Windows since 1992, and have never had any problems with it. Windows does a large number of the things listed, which the author of the list would know if he weren’t completely ignorant of Windows. The above list does boil down to Linux being free. And what’s this with "a powerful command line"? I mean, come on, it’s not 1985 anymore. It’s another one of those disconnects between linux boosters and average computer users.

• 123. Ray  |  March 12th, 2008 at 2:56 am

  I tried Ubuntu, Kubuntu, PCLinuxOS and I had problems with all, Ubuntu slow torrents (compared to Windows XP, forwarding ports, etc.), PCLinux cool 3D effects but unable to make it work with my 7 button mouse, Kubuntu unable to manage my ATI card as fast as Windows and a problem to configure it too.

  After testing the Linux World for a week, I didn’t like it, lot of hours to make things work as I want them.

  The only 1 thing that I found is that it is free, because even the so automatic updates had problems with Kubuntu and PCLinuxOS.

• 124. Wasfi  |  March 13th, 2008 at 6:42 am

  Great list ! But beleive it or not, all these great things are not worth one single one I can do on Windows: plug in the printer, press "print" and actually have the page come out of the printer!!! That is, without reading an unreadable documentation, becoming an expert of computer-printer communication techs, and even without hacking the kernel!
  Replace printer with all sorts of devices/basic tasks that shouldn’t require your brain to burn than few calories (such as accessing your disks!!! They are yours after all!!), and repeat.

• 125. matthew  |  March 13th, 2008 at 6:52 am

  Sorry your experience was like that. For me, all I did was open the System->Printing->Administration menu, clicked “add printer” and the one I had connected showed up in the list. The driver was there, and off I went. This was true for several printers.

• 126. Nix  |  March 13th, 2008 at 11:16 am

  Hehe I luv this article Well done

• 127. Mark Hinkle  |  March 15th, 2008 at 4:27 pm

  How about try it out via LiveCD and then install it?

• 128. John L  |  March 15th, 2008 at 10:13 pm

  I am a new Linux user, Ubuntu, but have been using Windows for many years. Some of the arguments here are nonsensical. I use Windows XP Home on one computer, XP Pro, cracked copy but I do hold a license, on another computer and Ubuntu 7.10 on the third. My cracked copy of XP Pro has no updates and is at the SP1 stage but I have never had a problem on it. So much for Windows updates. I normally have two computers on at a time and my main computer running XP Home is never turned off and only restarted when I need to install or uninstall software or the Windows updates. I use AVG Free anti virus, Zonealarm (Free) firewall, Spybot and Spyware blaster which are also free so that rules out the "expensive" software quote. I do get spyware and adware but these never create a problem and are sorted by the software. I have never had any virus infection in the last seven years. I use the Windows machines most as they do more of what I want and have the software on there to do it. Downloading programs and installing them is a doddle but if I change hardware then drivers can become an issue but I have never suffered that problem. Quick search on Google and there they are. No problem installing them either.
  My Ubuntu machine runs quite nicely and I do like it. I did find it necessary to give it 512mb of ram as it was freezing regularly on 256mb which was a surprise. This is the second time I have used Linux as I tried Suse about five years ago and it was atrocious. Didn’t like the soundcard, a soundblaster live card, didn’t like the graphics card, Nvidia TNT2, and there was no way it was going to work on the internet. Took it back and got my £65 back and bought a copy of XP Home for £55. So much for cheap operating systems.
  On this occasion I can say that I do like Ubuntu, it seems to have all the drivers, starts and stops real quick and was almost fully usable straight from the word go. I did have problems that it wouldn’t update, download, install or anything like that but a quick trip to the Ubuntu forum sorted that out. Just a couple of ticks in the correct boxes sorted it. So I would say the backup from users is fantastic and far better than I ever got with a windows forum. I will definately keep it. I find that if you want to use it as it comes then it is very useable. Mind you I never could get Evolution to work and a look in the forums says the same for lots of people so I think that should be junked and for Thunderbird to take its place which is far easier to use although I will look at other programs as it is not quite how I like it. Trying to download a program to desktop and installing it like windows is gagging for trouble as well. I think what puts most people off of Linux is all the command prompts, none appear to be logical, that are required quite regularly and also the naming of programs and the operating system lingo. Now Windows generally uses understandable language for installations etc and a lot of the programs are self explanetary as well. Linux seems to use the most confusing language, like the screen that says "reload" the program when the only button on show clearly states "Refresh". It appears to me that Linux is desperate to distance itself from Windows and uses a different language for everything. The names of the programs is also not very obvious what the hell they are either which just adds to the confusion. These are not complaints but observations based on the reasons why I have not touched Linux for a long time. I still don’t think it is as easy to use for a complete beginner as is XP (forget Vista, now there’s a pile of crap for you) but it is getting very close.
  There is definately room for both in my house and I would not get rid of either as they both have good and bad points but offer a change as well. I don’t include mac’s in this as I hate Apple more than I hate Microsoft. Never heard of a company that is so restrictive in the use of its products before. Then there is the mac users who seem to have this superiority complex that is lost on the rest of us. If macs were that good then they would outsell windows but they don’t get anywhere near it. The only person I know who bought a mac asked me to put windows on it after a week of use.

• 129. consoleart  |  March 18th, 2008 at 5:21 am

  there are some nice videos in youtube comparing what linux and vista can do…it clearly tells, vista is no match for linux, its amazing how you get these for free…there is no comparison between the two….and for the normal desktop users, our community will be giving out more user-friendly softwars/apps…for FREEE…

• 130. matthew  |  March 19th, 2008 at 4:12 am

  This post was recently translated into Chinese. I am honored!

  http://www.yeeyan.com/articles/v...

• 131. Rod_D1ckmaster  |  March 27th, 2008 at 9:57 pm

  Hey! Sorry, I read the first third of this, and kept seeing the same statements over and over again, so if the point I’m about to make has already been made…..well…..sorry.

  The one I want to comment on is the lack of games for Linux. It has nothing to do with marketing or even market share. It has to do with the sheer quantity of Linux builds that are available. That is the one strength that Windows has. It is ALWAYS the same distro! That means you can code your game once, release it, and you’re done! The customizable and constantly evolving nature of Linux precludes the commercial porting from the gaming gods.

  It’s a double edged sword. On the one hand, it would be nice to add gaming