Linux VS Windows

[mickey demaio]

Both Windows and Linux come in many flavors. All the flavors of Windows come from Microsoft, the various distributions of Linux come from different companies like Linspire, Red Hat, SuSE, Ubuntu, etc...

If we compare them in design:-
It is possible that email and browser-based viruses, Trojans and worms are the source of the myth that Windows is attacked more often than Linux. Clearly there are more desktop installations of Windows than Linux. It is certainly possible, if not probable, that Windows desktop software is attacked more often because Windows dominates the desktop.

Windows:-

Viruses, Trojans and other malware make it onto Windows desktops for a number of reasons familiar to Windows and foreign to Linux:

1. Windows has only recently evolved from a single-user design to a multi-user model
   
2. Windows is monolithic, not modular, by design
   
3. Windows depends too heavily on an RPC model
   
4. Windows focuses on its familiar graphical desktop interface

Linux:-

According to the Summer 2004 Evans Data Linux Developers Survey, 93% of Linux developers have experienced two or fewer incidents where a Linux machine was compromised. Eighty-seven percent had experienced only one such incident, and 78% have never had a cracker break into a Linux machine. In the few cases where intruders succeeded, the primary cause was inadequately configured security settings.

More relevant to this discussion, however, is the fact that 92% of those surveyed have never experienced a virus, Trojan, or other malware infection on Linux.

Viruses, Trojans and other malware rarely, if ever, manage to infect Linux systems, in part because:

1. Linux is based on a long history of well fleshed-out multi-user design
2. Linux is mostly modular by design
   
   
3. Linux does not depend upon RPC to function, and services are usually configured not to use RPC by default
   
4. Linux servers are ideal for headless non-local administration

[mickey demaio]

The truth, unfortunately, is far less dramatic. The real battles take place in smaller venues, where Windows wins sometimes and Linux pulls off its share of victories with little fanfare.
In one corner, hard-core Microsoft fans avow Windows Server 2003 as the comeback kid of the new century, rising above all previous problems with Windows servers. In the other, Linux boosters claim the open-source operating system is poised to power the enterprise from stem to stern, trash-talking Microsoft's bloated code and licensing gotchas along the way.

OpenOffice is a great product. I have used it, and in many ways I prefer its word processor to Microsoft Word. Unfortunately, it has not been publicized as a real alternative to Word in the same way that Linux has been promoted as a real alternative to Windows. Largely because of this, the product is no real threat to Microsoft.

As many of us know, WordPerfect was once a great product, but Novell ended up running it into the ground, and Corel could never get it back on track. I would say that the only way that there can be widespread adoption on the desktop without Office, is for some other company to take this product or a similar one and spend enough money on it to make it competitive with Office.

On the business side, the move to Linux is already happening. Linux is perfect for single application or workstation deployment, and even knowledge workers can take advantage of the flexibility and security of Linux.

Linux will have to become a lot more user-friendly before it sees any meaningful uptake on the desktop. In terms of user friendliness, Linux on the desktop is barely where Windows was a decade ago

[mickey demaio]

For desktop or home use, Linux is very cheap or free, Windows is expensive. For server use, Linux is very cheap compared to Windows. Microsoft allows a single copy of Windows to be used on only one computer. Starting with Windows XP, they use software to enforce this rule (Windows Product Activation at first, later Genuine Windows). In contrast, once you have purchased Linux, you can run it on any number of computers for no additional charge.

The irony here is that Windows rose to dominance, way back when, in large part by undercutting the competition (Macs) on cost. Now Linux may do the same thing to Windows.

You can buy a Linux book and get the operating system included with the book for free. You can also download Linux for free from each of the Linux vendors (assuming your Internet connection is fast enough for a 600 MB file and you have a CD burner) or from www.linuxiso.org. Both these options however, come without technical support. All versions of the Ubuntu distribution are free.