Not a very well thought out response. Point 2 may be true but there are less hardware drivers available for Linux than MS operating systems. Point 3 is wrong. You are not forced to run an MS operating system at all. The fact that MS does run other apps is in many cases how they can get content makers onboard.ORIGINAL: Jim_H
Yes, there would be flaws and problems with Linux, I agree. However, the difference is:
1. Linux costs you nothing other than the download and blank disc.
2. You can run it on almost any hardware, regardless of age.
3. You aren't forced to run software you don't want or need.
4. It's far more secure than Windows.
5. No viruses!
6. Honesty, openness and integrity from the devs.
7. Choice - literally hundreds of variations on a theme.
8. No licensing minefield compared to Windows.
11. Open source!
12. Wine.
13. Crossover Office.
14. Virtualisation.
15. Compiz.
16. Live distributions.
17. USB stick installation!
18. No bloatware!
19. Regular updates & bug fixes.
20. No file fragmentation.
And so on...There are probably lists just as long with problems on them! [;)]
Linux is no more difficult to use than Windows. It's just different. I don't agree with your take on an average Linux user either. Historically, that may be true, but with the advent of Ubuntu, I think it's a misconception now. I disagree with your point 1 too. Hackers do target Linux yes, but they just don't get anywhere unless you are dumb enough to log in as root. No user in Linux has admin rights, which is why hacking is harder and why viruses simply don't work or are pointless to write. It's got nothing to do with popularity.
Your point 5 doesn't make sense to me. How do you know less software is installed? If anything, my Linux box has more on it because it's all free and I can afford to install lots of software.
I don't think Linux is perfect, far from it. I do think it's a good OS and a definite viable alternative to Windows, even now. Linux may have more problems, I don't know. But, generally, you don't have to wait months for serious bugs to be sorted.
Sabre, MacOS isn't free or open source. It's a commercial product, so how can you compare with Linux in that way? The number of Linux distros is great. Want a dedicated firewall? Easy, download one. Want an OS specifically targetted at musicians or kids? No problem. You can even install your fave distro, change everything to your hearts content and then remaster the disc(s)! You then have your own OS. Try that with Windows. How can regular releases be problematic? Linux devs release often to fix bugs and introduce new/more features and software. Windows has a monthly cycle of bug and security patch releases too. So why is it a problem for Linux, but not Windows?
Regards,
Jim
4 and 5 are not facts. There are viruses for linux and if it ever gained a large enough market there would be more.
I believe that some open source apps are starting to get criticized for bloat ware and some linux distributions as well.
When I was looking at linux most GUI’s seemed to be trying to be like Windows so there must be something good in Windows.
