Why Linux?
Sunday, 18 February 2007, michuk
Pic.1 Tux — the Linux logo
Microsoft has reached an enormous success with its Windows product during the last decade and practically monopolized the market for home computer operating systems. But, does it mean Windows is still the best OS around, especially for power users?
No, it’s not. At least not always. And on this page you are going to see why.
Summary
If we draw a comparison between the two operating systems considering licensing, selling, and upgrading models, and if we add the supreme configurability (resulting from the system’s philosophy), and a low pricing then it will appear the GNU/Linux is decidedly more user friendly in terms of software then any other system existing on the market at present (perhaps apart from niche systems like GNU/Hurd and Haiku). Microsoft Windows systems are still dug in on the other pole with their restricted licensing allowing users to — at the most — conditionally run the systems (not even in every case) and their applications.
By friendliness we mean something more general that the ease-of-use and availability of applications! It is about not constraining the users but granting them full freedom to exert their rights to use software in their own way. It is about a freedom of choice — the possibility to use any window manager, any file system, and any package system the user wants to choose, about the possibility to work in a console or GUI environment, locally or remotely. It’s all about the security schema, well designed and overt, instead of “security by obscurity” model which has been compromised over and over. Do the users need such freedom? Certainly 90% PC users will do well without it. For the remaining 10%, including me, the GNU/Linux systems have appeared to be the only solution.
Read 10 reasons to choose Linux
- Security — why are the default security settings of Windows XP so bad?
- Desktop usability — what is wrong with Windows’ usability and how it is corrected in GNU/Linux desktops?
- Installing software — ok, you thought it can’t be easier than double-clicking the
setup.exefile? Think again! - Upgrading — ever thought that upgrading your system and all its appliactions could be as executing one single command? No? Well, GNU/Linux is exactly this way.
- System crashes — every desktop crashes, but how to get over it?
- Performance — is Linux really that much faster than Windows? Well… it is.
- The power of console — learn how to improve your productivity by using the terminal
- Remote access in GNU/Linux — how to connect remotely to your Linux box
- Philosophy and licencing of Linux — how does it differ from the proprietary software?
- Cost and TCO of Linux — what is cheaper — Linux or Windows?
If this does not convince you, please visit the website Get GNU/Linux for further reading about the Windows licencing, monopoly and the cool features of GNU/Linux operating system. They do it even better than us 
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9 Comments
- A hyperlink: <a href="polishlinux.org">GNU/Linux for everyone!</a>,
- Strong text: <strong>Strong text</strong>,
- Italic text: <em>italic text</em>,
- Strike: <strike>
strike</strike>, - Code: <code>
printf("hello world");</code>, - Block quote: <blockquote>Block quote</blockquote>
Very good, but why it isn’t like polish version?
@barteqx: because the Polish version (http://jakilinux.org/dlaczego-linux/) is a direct translation of the great GetGNULinux.org website (linked from here). It would make no sense to copy the content of this website here. So instead, we provide 10 reasons to use GNU/Linux (each reason make its own article).
You should also list that additional software is usually in one place (a repository). So, you do not have to search for it on the internet, then pay for it.
Also, you can get Linux for no cost.
It’s a major part of the article three: Installing software in Linux.
This will be in article 10
Sorry, i forgot about it is original text and the polish version is a translation.
Choose Linux because it has the best performance for the price. M$ is overpriced by large factors and on top of paying the high price to obtain the software it is very costly to maintain and subject to severe sensitivity to malware. Many billions of dollars are spent each year fighting malware. More money is spent fighting malware than paying the M$ tax.
Also, choose Linux because it does no harm. M$ has been found in court to illegally harm competitors due to its monopoly and the way it excersizes that monopoly.
see http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/ms_findings.htm
Billions of dollars are flowing from all over the world to the US to support the M$ monopoly. Many countries like China and Brazil are actively supporting Linux because that money can be put to better use in the local economy. In Germany, for instance, Munich hired local businesses to migrate thousands of desktop systems to Linux.
I didn’t say this…but I’ve never paid for windows either
My reluctance to start using Linux was not so much with Linux itself. Rather it was with software.
When I encourage people to consider using Linux their first real question (after “Is it compatible with Windows?”) is: “Will I be able to run my software?”
Beginners can easily be directed to Linux, especially with a user-friendly distribution. Seasoned Windows gurus are intrigued by Linux, finding the latest Windows release quite disappointing. Dual-booting becomes a guru favorite.
We have to focus on the defining and understanding of various PC user profiles. Example: gamers, office users, art and graphic design, music and sound editing (low-latency kernel required), video editors, children’s games (some PCs have dozens of the these) and so on. Once they turn on their machines their computer runs… what… two? three programs? Then it’s Starts > Shutdown. End of story.
Apple’s ad campaign is doing a lot to put it into people’s heads — before they upgrade — that they’re in for a rough ride with Vista. It becomes increasingly difficult to point a Windows user to Linux after successive investments in upgrades, time (re-learning the interfaces) and updates.
I needed a lot of convincing before I believed it was worth losing the software I purchased. I bought XP. I bought games. I bought music software. (Not all gurus are pirates.) The transition began when friends pointed to OpenSource versions of the software with which I was familiar. Firefox for Internet Explorer, Thunderbird for Outlook Express, Inkscape for CorelDRAW, Asaph for SongBase, OpenOffice for Microsoft Office, Pidgin for MSN Messenger, etc. Once I made the transition the rest fit fairly easily into place: K3B for Nero, KTorrent for Bittorrent, KolourPaint for MS Paint, Leafpad for Notepad, etc.
I’m not here to make a list comparing as much Linux software to Windows software. I find Windows users often retreat to Windows when just thrown into Linux. They need to know that something familiar resides there. So before pushing Linux weaning them from proprietary software should be job 1 — unless they’re raring to go. Once the software has been replaced with OpenSource equivalents then switching the underlying structure of the O/S isn’t as huge a shock.
I support Linux 100% but I feel that people should make an objective decision for themselves after reading The Truth about Linux.