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10 reasons why Linux is better than
Windows
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1. Security - Linux is Open Source Software, while Windows is
not. The simplest benefits of Open Source Code to demonstrate are increased
security, reliability and functionality; because users of Open Source are
readily able to identify and correct problems with the programs and to
submit their own enhancements for incorporation into the program. Closed
Source systems enjoy none of those benefits.
2. Scalability -
Systems implemented under Linux can be cloned limitless times without paying
additional software licensing fees - With Windows, you pay for each
installation/workstation/server/cpu.
3. Power - Linux is made with the Unix design philosophy, which
dictates that system tools are small and highly specialized. The result is
an incredibly powerful and reliable system, limited in capability only by
the user's imagination and ability to integrate the Unix utilities. The
Windows philosophy is to create unwieldy swiss army knives, limited in
capability by how many features the user purchased on their particular
knife. Diminished reliability is arguably a side effect of increased
complexity. Thus with Windows, the case is often that you have tools that
ALMOST do what you want them to, if they didn't crash.
4. Reliability - The architecture of Linux is superior to
Windows because critical operation system functions are implemented in such
a way that buggy programs can't cause the computer to become unstable and
crash. In fairness, though not quite as robust as Linux, Windows 2000 and
Windows XP are much improved over Windows 9x and Windows Millenium Edition.
5. Advanced Capabilities - In addition to the system utility tools
from the Unix world, Linux usually comes with the Apache Webserver, an email
server, router/firewall capabilities and SQL databases. These are extras
costing up to thousands of dollars on Windows. There IS free software to do
these jobs on Windows, but it has mostly been adapted from Linux and loses
some functionality when ported to Windows.
6. Compatibility - Linux is POSIX Compliant which means that
applications developed for Linux can be operated on other POSIX compliant
Unix derivatives with a minimum of reworking.
7. Support - For persons not familiar with the Open Source
Community, the quality of free technical support on the internet may come as
a shock. Sometimes knowing enough to ask the right questions can be a
problem, but overall the best and the brightest are there to assist you at
no charge when you run into problems that can't be solved by reading the
documentation included with Linux. With Windows or other commercial
software, your manufacturer support is only free for a limited time and is
often of little value anyways.
8. Not Single Source Software - Linux is distributed by
several companies, giving consumers to pick and choose the flavor that best
suits their needs. Windows is the product of a single company, Microsoft
Corporation. Windows users have no choice but to accept what Microsoft
offers.
9. Rate of Advancement - Linux has and will continue to advance at a
rate impossible for a close development project such as Microsoft Windows to
sustain. A few factors driving this rate of progress are (in no particular
order): the number of active developers; quantity and quality of feedback
from the field; short development cycle from development team to the end
user; absence of corporate "meddling" in the design process; independently
developed open source subsystems frequently incorporated into Linux, giving
it quantum advances in a short time.
10. Cost - That Linux is FREE deserves honorable mention and a bit of
explanation. You can package and sell Linux for money. The competing Linux
distributions all provide slightly different feature sets beyond the core
system, including canned e-commerce solutions, printed manuals and phone
support options. There is no rule that says you can't make money
distributing Linux. For those who choose to download and install free
distributions from the Internet, Linux is truely free. Some cynics have
proclaimed, "Sure Linux is free now, but the Linux People will start
charging for it once it catches on!". That statment is completely false. No
single person or organization controls Linux, so that will never happen. In
the unlikely case that Linus Torvalds (the author of Linux) adds some
proprietary code and proclaims that all future releases will be $99.99USD,
someone will simply take the latest "free" version and possibly rename it to
Spin-UX. Then all the volunteer developers and contributors will jump on
that bandwagon. Spin-UX will diverge from its Linux roots, over time
becoming better supported and more advanced, rendering its ancestor
obsolete, except possibly for purposes specifically addressed by that
hypothetical proprietary added code. Furthermore Linux is covered by the Gnu
Public License, stating that it and all derivative works must be distributed
with the source code. This makes it extremely unlikely that anyone will
wield monopolistic power in the Linux Sector.
To conclude this hopefully persuasive bit of Linux Advocacy, it must be
stated that an Operating System without suitable Applications is of little
use. There are free web browsers and email clients for Linux, as well as the
free Star Office product from Sun Microsystems. Star Office includes the
traditional productivity applications: Word Processing, Spreadsheet and
Database. Corel Office is also available for Linux at little or no charge.
As more small businesses adopt Linux, the number of Indepdendent Software
Vendors offering industry specific (Vertical Market) applications will
increase. As I learn of business applications designed for Linux, I will
document them on this site.
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