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Many of you who are reading this article are using Windows as most of the other
internet users do. There is a huge difference between the number of users of
LINUX and Windows. Some say Windows is much better than LINUX because it gives
you an easy handling of the hardware and software. Some say LINUX is much better
because it started as Open Source software and that’s why it is much more
flexible than Windows. Then why there is a huge market difference between these
operating systems?
The answer to this question is quite easy. Since 1985, computer users and programmers
became so accustomed to using Windows, even for the changing capabilities and
the appearances of the graphical interface of the versions, therefore it always
stayed as the product of Microsoft. On the other hand, LINUX has so many different
versions from a variety of companies some of which are namely Lycoris, Red Hat,
SuSE, Mandrake, Knoppix, Slackware, Lindows. These companies release their own
versions of the operating systems with slight changes, and yet always with the
same kernel. This variety and the fact that none of these companies are even
close to competing with Windows, mostly causes the difference in the market.
Nevertheless, this reality might drastically change after Novell’s purchase
of SuSE.
Linux and Windows differ in many aspects. First of all, the Linux GUI is optional
while the Windows GUI is an integral component of the OS; speed, efficiency
and reliability are all increased by running a server instance of Linux without
a GUI, something that server versions of Windows can not do. The detached nature
of the Linux GUI makes remote control and remote administration of a Linux computer
simpler and more natural than a Windows computer.
Secondly the command prompts of these operating systems are quite different.
In general, the command interpreters in the Windows 9x series are very similar
to each other and the NT class versions of Windows (NT, 2000, XP) also have
similar command interpreters. There are, however differences between a Windows
9x command interpreter and one in an NT class flavor of Windows. Linux, like
all versions of UNIX, supports multiple command interpreters, but it usually
uses one called BASH (Bourne Again Shell). Others are the Korn shell, the Bourne
shell, ash and the C shell (pun, no doubt, intended).
The costs are amazingly different. While you have to pay some hundred dollars
for a new version of Windows, you can simply go and download Linux. As it comes
from the nature of Linux, there are no manuals or simple installers for the
free version, however. You really have to know what you are doing while using
this free package. There are also some easy automated packages of Linux for
low prices, as well.
The security issues with Windows, as most of you already know, are the biggest
cons of Microsoft. Most of the malicious files, spyware, adware programs deal
with Windows. You generally do not deal with these kinds of unwanted circumstances
unless you are working with Windows. The user-id and password protection for
Windows can also be easily bypassed, whereas Linux offers a strong protection.
The only area that Windows beats Linux in this “competition” is the
software availability. As it was mentioned above, most of the software releases
are configured for Windows. If you are using Linux, you have to emulate Windows
with a special software and then you can use your windows based programs. Another
option can be to install Windows as a subsystem to Linux which takes all administrative
abilities of Windows and gives them to Linux.
After mentioning some of the different aspects of these operating systems,
it can be said that all Linux needs to compete with Windows is some user friendly
interface and a strong company support which can provide the users with technical
information and user manuals.
About the Author:
This article provided courtesy of http://crucial-tech.net |
