Windows vs Linux...

[Kaos]

http://www.pyrofersprojects.com/win%20v%20lin.php


Windows Users vs Linux Users

A few weeks ago I decided to enter the exciting world of Linux for the first time. My enthusiasm was sparked by MythTV, a great open source Digital TV/PVR package that I thought could save me from buying an expensive digital receiver and HDD recorder.


As MythTV is a Linux only program, I had to download Linux in order to run it. As a long time computer enthusiast I had heard a lot about Linux, so decided that a ready made .iso image should make things simple. How wrong I was!


When I first encountered trouble I wasn't worried, as I'd heard all about the wonderful free support you can get for open source software. You've all heard about this right? You can just ask those wonderful, friendly Linux people for their help, and they will provide it because thats the nature of open source.


This article represents the results of my experience in trying to get Linux and MythTV working. I never did get it fully functioning, despite spending several weeks, and spending a lot of money on new hardware to match the "known good config". However what is most interesting is not the difference between commercial and open source software, but in the differences between the users, and in their attitudes when you attempt to obtain help.
So, here is my guide to "Windows Users vs Linux Users". Each statement is based on true events from my own experience and illustrate what I had to endure in venturing along the path towards Linux enlightenment.

1) Windows Users: Use their PC in order to do something.

Linux Users: Do something in order to use their PC.

Example - I asked two people what they did with their PC last night. The Windows user said, "I logged on via wireless to check train times on my laptop: it took about 15 minutes." The Linux user said, "In order to use wireless I recompiled my kernal to include the latest 2.6 patches to allow 802.1x security to work with the latest drivers for my wireless card. It was gone 2am when I finished so I didnt actualy connect or do anything online afterwards though."
2) Windows Users: Provide a .exe file to run.

Linux Users: Provide a multiply compressed .tar.gz file that needs a particular compresion program to open, containing .patch files to source code that you need to download from somewhere else and use somebody else's script to apply the patch before ./configuring the make command in order to compile the source (hours of waiting) before you can install the program.
3) Windows Users: Tell you the full path to C:/windows/system/system32/file.dll

Linux Users: Will hint at the name of the file and expect you to have memorised the entire directory structure and know every single file in every folder and be clever enough to guess at the location the file name they hinted at should be installed to while completing the exact name.
4) Windows Users: Work with a GUI that makes it easy: simple and obvious to do all their common tasks. Sometimes more advanced users/problems require a command prompt. Linux Users: Work almost entirely in a command prompt with non-intuitive structure and arbitrary commands to perform abstract tasks that relate mainly to coaxing the OS into being able to perform any task whatsoever - normally involving recompiling something.

5) Windows Users: Use their GUI and avoid the command line.

Linux Users: Show off their l33t skillz with the command line and only use the GUI when they need to prove that Linux can do something that they just saw a Windows user do (but only after 2 hours of compiling source code first).
6) Windows Users: Spend 85% of their time working,10% of it rebooting/recovering and 5% maintaining the OS.

Linux Users: Spend 5% of their time working, 10% rebooting/recovering, 85% maintaining the OS and compiling source.

BTW, of that "working" time, they spend 90% of it posting in forums, stating how sad Windows (l)users are, or arguing about which obscure build of Linux is the greatest, and how sad the (l)users using any other version of Linux are.
7) Windows Users: Will tell you the answer if they know it, or say "I don't know" if they don't.

Linux Users: Will say "RTFM" if they know the answer, or "Google it you idiot!" if they don't.
8) Linux Users: Think their OS is superior because they get the source code to the OS and compile their own kernal, can patch their own problems and write their own drivers, while Windows users just have to use what is provided and never get to compile anything.

Windows Users: Think their OS is superior for the exact same reasons.

Copyright 2006, Pyrofer


Don't get me wrong, I have much respect for Linux. But this guys take on it is entirely true. Linux is not ready for mainstream home PC use.

[Dropper]

I have used linux since 1996. I still find windows a more "mainstream" OS, but linux has come a long way...

As for this guy's arguments...

1: Most distributions now come with built in support for most wireless cards. Ubuntu can do just about anything you want it to do.

2:I have used Ubuntu linux for about 2 years and I have never had to compile anything that I wanted to run. I have compiled a couple things, but they weren't all that necessary. Most distributions have pre-compiled binaries now. Redhat/Fedora has RPMs, Ubuntu an Debian linux based distributions have DEB files... In fact installing something in Ubuntu or Debian is far more simple that installing something in windows. All you do is open Synaptic and download what you want. It automatically downloads dependencies and installs everything automatically. Far easier and better functioning than Windows Update.

3:It's simple if it's a binary it's probably in a "/bin" directory, if it's a library file it's probably in a "/lib" directory. This is just laziness on the part of the author... You do have to take the time to figure out a filesystem of an OS when you attempt to use it...

4:This is completely wrong. This is the way things were 10 years ago. Heck, it's the way things were with windows just 12 years or so ago... Ubuntu, Debian, Redhat, Mandrake, etc. all boot straight into a GUI. You log in, much the way you long in to XP, and off you go.

5:Again, this is just bias against linux. If this guy truly downloaded a modern version of the OS, he isn't competent enough to get it up and running or else he's lying...

6:Not true. You don't have to compile all that many things under modern linux. In fact you install the thing, get it the way you want it and let it set. That's right, you don't have to reboot all the time like with windows...

7:This is largely true on both sides of the aisle. But there are many users out there who are willing to help you.

All that being said. I like Linux, I like windows, I love OSX (which is very, very similar to linux).

Right now, I am stuck on Windows for many reasons, but I still boot into linux from time to time. It has its purpose. Windows has its purpose also.

Anyway it will all be moot one day when OSX takes over the world. :) That's probably the most beautiful, elegant OS that has ever been ran on a PC. It's near perfect.

[Kaos]

I am thinking of dual booting into Ubunto. I haven't really worked with linux since the 90's, but it would be cool to see what is going on with it. By and far, the people I know who use linux are tinkerers. Non-tinkerers use Windows or OSX.

[radiokill]

I haven't even considered using since this disaster in '98 when I was fifteen: I bought a copy of Redhat 5 or 6 for like 20 bucks and was attempting to dual boot w/ 98 (could've been the mistake, but I was not thinking and just wanted to learn linux). I got installed on an ample sized partition, but I couldn't see anything but a blurry mess when it booted up. I looked in the manual about video cards and compatibility and couldn't find anything. None of the advice in there helped (or I wasn't knowledgable enough of linux to follow it since I had just purchased it on whim). So, I decided to boot back to windows and do some research....but I couldn't. So I tried to remove everything and reformat and reinstall 98, but neither delpart nor fdisk would delete the partition. I call customer support and asked about the video drivers or how to delete the partion and some woman who could barely speak english told me I couldn't be helped until registered my product online. I told her that I couldn't register the product because it had my computer out of order, can I register over the phone? No, it has to be online. I explained to her that I had no other way of accessing the net, how do I register, she told me online. I got pissed, yelled, hung up, and saved up my coke money for a new hard drive. :)

[chal]

I use OpenBSD on my server, Fedora in work and Ubuntu on my laptop. Ubuntu is far and away the nicest desktop linux, and does negate a lot of your criticisms (which, up until fairly recently, were major points again linux).

I also have a windows machine i use for games since that OS still has the most games - when most OSs are free, i think it's nice to be able to pick and choose what suits your needs.

In terms of command line usage, i think it's simply a case where familiarity breeds speed. I've been using *nix since 1995 so i know chunks of it pretty well. Even so, i'm not prepared to spend any major amount of time fighting the OS to get what i want done which is why i've only recently (roughly 12-15 months) moved to ubuntu on the desktop.