A Continued Look at Linux vs Windows 249
Rogier van Vlissingen writes to tell us Paul Murphy has an interesting writeup on his blog about the continued Linux versus Windows debate with regards to some of the recent insights provided by various groups. From the article: "Disinformation comes in three major forms: innocent mistakes, intentional disinformation (aka FUD), and (self) delusion. Delusions are easily the most dangerous of these. In the IT context the most common delusion is simply that what we know is right in general or applicable to some specific issue when, in reality, it isn't. We know, and we act accordingly - with frequently catastrophic results."
news?....blogs? (Score:3, Insightful)
Stuff that matters, was Re:news?....blogs? (Score:5, Insightful)
When I read the SI study, I was *horrified.* The paper was uninformative, the methodology was flawed, and the analysis was unsupported.
My favorite quote though from the article is this:
This is absolutely correct. Treat Linux as if it were Windows, or vice versa, and you are asking for real pain.
That's why all "studies" are flawed. (Score:3, Interesting)
Which is why the only decent way to do any "study" is to set the objectives, the budget and let each team take its own approach.
Examples:
1) Build/maintain a web server that can handle 10,000 static pages a minute on a budget of $5,000.
2) Build/maintain a web server that can handle 10,000 dynamic pages a minute on a budget of $10,000.
3) Build/maintain a database server that can handle 10,000 trans
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:4, Funny)
"linuxuser6929 posted in slashdot that 'windows sucks! l@m3r!!!'. What do you htink about this?"
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:2)
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:4, Insightful)
Beat the dead horse (Score:2)
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:5, Informative)
The Sony rootkit story came from a blog...
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:3, Informative)
Blogs are a great source of news (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes blogs are more biased. But they wear their bias openly on their sleeve. I greatly prefer that to a writer that pretends (even to him/herself) that they have no bias and writes what they think is "Objective" but always has a slant. I can read a right-wing blog and know where they are comign from. I can read a left-wing blog and knw where thety are coming from. If you range widley you can get a pretty good picture of what is going on, and a lot of interesting stories that the real media just pass right by or else make light notice of.
Furthermore blogs are often more accurate because they are (if the blog has a decent reader-base) correctly quickly. I've been involved with a few stories that have gone in the paper over the years and EVERY one of them had major facts wrong. Those are the ones I know about, how am I supposed to think that newspapers or other media get the other facts right as well?
Re:Blogs are a great source of news (Score:2)
I also have seen some news being created, and I never saw a reporter getting the facts right. Worse yet, I never saw a reporter who seems to care to get it right, they just want to get something.
I, for one, welcome our new blogger overloads!
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:5, Informative)
the source of the information is not a blog. the blog is just a discussion of it. linked from the blog, the source of the information is here [microsoft.com].
the author is herbert h. thompson, of securit innovation,
About Dr. Herbert Thompson, Chief Security Strategist Dr. Thompson is a world-renown expert in application security and is an adjunct professor at Florida Institute of Technology. He has co-authored or edited 12 books including, "How to Break Software Security: Effective Techniques for Security Testing" (2004, Addison Wellesley) and most recently, "The Software Vulnerability Guide." (2005, Charles River Media)
At Security Innovation, Dr. Thompson is responsible for the overall security and research efforts, along with training developers and security testers at some of the world's largest software companies including Microsoft, VISA, HP, IBM, Cisco, Symantec, ING and SAP
ya okay so now you are going to call his credentials into question. okay, go ahead. the point is, he does have credentials, and the source of this story is not some nobody with a blog and an opinion.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:news?....blogs? (Score:3, Insightful)
If I want an opinion on windows or linux I will damn well use them both and figure out which one I prefer.
And then please, post the results on your blog.
I too do not give a rats ass what this guy thinks about Linux or Windows. But I also know that there are some here who do, and I have the option to ignore this article.
Look, this whole unbiased reporting thing is a load of crap. Newspapers started and functioned for years as weekly open political statements all packaged up for constituents
ok (Score:4, Insightful)
Not just that (Score:5, Insightful)
Gah.
That's so many orders of removal away from meaningful content that it's amazing.
Plus, the argument is about the technical merits of Linux versus Windows. You know, I like Linux. I think that it's a pretty nifty system. But, I have to be honest. I think that the technical merits of Linux comprise a pretty small chunk of the real-world benefits it has over Windows.
I think that the biggest reason that I'd rather have a Linux box running something is just that the cluefulness factor of Linux folk tends to be significantly higher. Thus, the chance that the guy writing the software and adminning the machine actually knows what he's doing is significantly better. I know a couple of Windows hackers that I'd call competent, and one that's really good, but of all the Linux hackers I know, I can't think of even one that really doesn't know what he's doing, and most of them are extremely good. It's not that the Penguin is the end-all be-all, it's that his adherents are damn knowledgeable.
Re:Not just that (Score:2)
Re:Not just that (Score:2)
So, it's the author's credentials that give meaning to content? Content can't have meaning unless the author has a journalism degree and works for a corporation? Neither a reader nor a /. editor can decide that a piece of content has meaning, and might be interesting to others?
I don't know why I'm responding to your comment, which is just a: comment...about a...Slashdot article...about a blog...which is criticizing a report
MOD PARENT UP (Score:2)
I can't decide if Slashdot sucks more than it used to, or if I always sucked and I'm just forgetful about how much.
Re:MOD PARENT UP (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:ok (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, you could read it and realize that it was a very well reasoned article heavy on original thought and not just the usual link-fest. Or you could actually do some research, and find that he is...
Do you just blindly look at a source and assume it's valid? Tons of crap journalism gets published in NYT, WP, WSJ, etc. This article was far better than most of those. Use your own brain and don't assume credibility based on the masthead and byline.
Typical (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
Re:Paul Murphy (Score:4, Funny)
LMAO! (Score:2)
You can't have been reading many articles lately!
Respectable news sites are just as likely to display an article from a clueless, FUD-spreading desperado, just as much as a respectable writer.
I would suggest reading some from Rob Enderle or Laura DiDio, and make note of where their articles are published, then maybe you'll realize that there's little difference between articles and blog entries.
Besides, to suggest
Over simplified (Score:4, Insightful)
How do you compare Linux to Windows when there are hundreds of different linux distros that do things differently as well. It seems that the authors of these comparisons don't truly understand that this question can't be answered. Yet we will continiously see articles pop up that says one is better then the other and of course it will sway one way or the other depending on which OS the person who did the study is partial towards.
Re:Over simplified (Score:4, Interesting)
From the user point of view, Windows is a Desktop Environment. Just like Gnome, KDE and Aqua. So, if we're comparing desktops, we should be talking about these.
And even among Gnome and KDE, each distribuition implements them in a different way. So we can have bad, good and fantastic implementations depending on what distro you're talking about.
Personaly I prefer Gnome as my desktop environment, and Ubuntu/Debian as a distro. I fell that they provide a better "desktop experience" over Windows most of the time. Most of the hardware is detected instantly, and just work, and there are nice interfaces to customize and configure the OS.
But there are a few rought edges too. For one, there is no integration between my MP3 player and the various jukebox programs that exist on linux, I have to manually copy them to the player. And the "Add Printer" interface could use some advanced options, like its KDE counterpart.
I'm telling this because I think that most of the work is finished for both the GUI and the underling OS, be it Linux or BSD. The problem now is how interconnect them, how integrate the GUI and the OS, to make them act as one. There has been lots of improvements on this, but Gnome and KDE need more handlers to hardware events, and more graphical configuration interfaces.
We're almost equal to Windows in terms of features, and ease-of-use. It's time to take a better standart, it's time to look at MacOSX and make something as-good-as it, or simply better!
Stop talking about Windows!!
Re:Over simplified (Score:2)
Amarok will, or at least should, handle it fine, it has a tab for media players where you can just browse its contents.
Re:Over simplified (Score:5, Insightful)
Whether or not it is easy to compare Windows to "Linux" (whatever you might mean by that), this is nonetheless what decision makers are asked to do every day. Experienced managers understand the operation of time in making and implementing decisions. It's the old efficiency versus effectiveness problem. You may have a better mousetrap, but if Farmer Jones is worried that mice are going to eat his seed corn before he can plant next spring, he's going to buy a lot of the Leading Brand because even if it's a worse and more expensive mousetrap, he knows it will work well enough.
HOW NOT TO SELL A BETTER MOUSE TRAP.
Farmer Jone: So this Linux mousetrap will kill mice better?
You: Well, Linux isn't a mousetrap, it's a triggering mechanism, which is the most critical part of any kind of trap.
Farmer Jones: But it catches mice, right?
You: Not by itself. You can assemble it into a variety of traps that can catch anything from a mouse to a bear. There are some people who have configured Linux based traps to catch cockroaches or even ants on one hand, and IBM has demonstrated than an entire herd of elephants can be live trapped using Linux based traps.
Farmer Jones: But I have mice. I read a study in the Almanac about how Windows caught plenty of mice while the farmer using Linux just got his fingers broken.
You: Flawed, obviously. Remember Linux is just the triggering mechanism. They sabotaged the study by choosing an incorrect deck, spring, kill mechanism and bait platform. You have to choose the right ones for the thing you're trying to trap.
[A mouse runs over Farmer Jones boot toes; it looks like a rodent Sumo wrestler]
Farmer Jones: I've got to go the hardware store.
You: Wait! I didn't mean you personally! Vendors have already assembled traps just for mice! Wait!
1:1 (Score:2, Interesting)
1. apply security and recommended patches on a simulated monthly release basis;
Is there anything out there equivalent to windows update? Windows wins this one
2. upgrade the e-commerce application with new functionality at the end of each simulated quarter (i.e. change it to meet changing business requirements); and,
This shouldn't be discussed under 'linux vs windows', this is more the case of 'linux software vs windows software'
3. upgrade the core
Re:1:1 (Score:5, Informative)
Out of curiosity, have you ever used Up2date? Red Hat has, for quite a long time now, included a tool that works rather like Windows Update -- notifying you via a tray icon (or email, if you prefer) when there are new patches to apply.
The difference is that Up2date will upgrade a lot more components -- any applications you've installed, other than manual builds and unofficial RPMS -- compared to WU, which tends to be only useful for the core OS, IE, and WMP.
Debian-based distributions have Synaptic and the other APT front ends, which, honestly, outstrip Windows Update in practically every way -- even including graphical tools for managing configuration changes needed when updates are applied.
pup (Score:3, Informative)
Re:1:1 (Score:2)
Anything like Windows update? (Score:3, Informative)
Or YUM or YAST. Depending on your distro.
Let's also point out that most major Linux distros have faster patch cycles rather than a month (or two or three or more in Windows case)
Score another point for Linux. And at the buzzer it's Linux 3, Windows 0.
Re:1:1 (Score:3, Interesting)
I guess that all depends on what you mean by 'the equivilent [of]'. If you mean 'an ActiveX-based update engine via web browser', than I'd say no, nothing like it that I know of. If you mean an automated means of updating an OS on a regular basis, I'd say Linux is perfectly capable of such a thing.
Re:1:1 (Score:2)
Re:1:1 (Score:3, Insightful)
Just to clarify, this isn't merely theoretical for me as I run Linux full time on all of my systems and administrate many Li
Re:1:1 (Score:2)
I should? Really? And where does that information come from, because I have no idea what you're talking about?
Re:1:1 (Score:3, Informative)
Which distribution are you running ? If Slackware then look at swaret or apt-get.
Debian, Ubuntu, Mandrake, Suse and Redhat all have network update application built-in and far superior to Windows one - it is used to install and update all of the applications on the system and not just some OS dlls and web browser.
Re:1:1 (Score:2)
1. apply security and recommended patches on a simulated monthly release basis;
Is there anything out there equivalent to windows update? Windows wins this one
Up2date, apt-get, yum, yast. In fact, I'd say that up2date combined with the Redhat Network service you get with Redhat Enterprise Linux is actually significantly more functional.
More like a shutout for Linux (Score:2)
Is there anything out there equivalent to windows update? Windows wins this one
You are totally mistaken. I run OpenSuSE and the equivalent to Windows Update is called YOU (YaST Online Updater). I have it configured to be fully automated--it installs all critical updates on a weekly basis without my intervention (YaST sets up the cron job for you through a very simple interface--it can be done daily weekly or monthly).
YOU is superior to Windows Update beca
Re:1:1 (Score:3, Informative)
No it doesn't.
I have a shell script that runs daily on my servers that does:
apt-get -y -qq update
apt-get -y -qq upgrade
This updates all applications installed on that box. Windows update just updates windows.
Windows loses this one.
Re:1:1 (Score:2)
For my business customers, I have them running yum checks against a server we maintain with our own copies of the updated RPMs that we've already tested on our in-house machines.
I don't want to sound rude, but did you even look for an answer?
Re:1:1 (Score:2)
Is there anything out there equivalent to windows update? Windows wins this one
Someone else ref'd Redhat's up2date. SuSE have Yast, and susewatcher - even better than windows update because it doesn't require you to be running as root/administrator in order to get updates - although it does require user to know system password.
Someone should run a Get The Facts campaign. Oh yeah, MS did... more FUD :-)
Re: (Score:2)
Mascots (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Mascots (Score:4, Funny)
We'd be living in dark boxes lit with artificial lighting.
Oh wait . .
Re:Mascots (Score:2)
Does your BIOS support USB Keyboards? And if so, is it turned on? In my AWARD Bios, it's called (astoundingly) "USB Keyboard Support" but I've heard of it being called "Legacy USB Support" or somesuch.
The MBR is far to small to contain any sort of USB keyboard drivers, so you're going to need BIOS support for any bootloader to work.
The blogger's attempt to eviscerate the study... (Score:3, Interesting)
Read, most amusingly, the blogger's attempt to repudiate the study based upon patching. LOL.
The basic problem with any study like this is that Linux and Windows admins approach things differently. *nix setups tend to spread the workload an application stack across multiple machines and Windows admins tend to load the entire stack on one or two machines. A study tends to try and mimic one or the other (Windows focused ones pick the 'all on one' stack approach, the *nix ones [depending upon what the scenario is] tend be less monolithic on the hardware level [oooh, flexibility
all there is to really know is.... (Score:4, Insightful)
When you understanding this, you understand MS. To understand MS you know that what was once something ignored by MS, then laughed at by MS and then lied about by MS.... there is something of history in teh direction of open source software.
To compare Windows to Linux is like comparing carrots to meat and potatos....
Re:all there is to really know is.... (Score:2, Insightful)
Microsoft IS primarily a marketing company, using its position to sell inferior products.
The "windows way": problem w/ study, or realistic? (Score:4, Interesting)
If the vast majority of (low wage) administrators are trained and have experience in, and solely in, the "Windows way," I'm not sure that allowing the Linux admins to use the "Unix way" would have been realistic. Yes, they could do it, and do a better job using the "Unix way," but that might make the study less useful and less accurately predictive given the shortage of people adequately trained in the "Unix way."
Also (and this is an honest question, I have no idea what the answer is), is the truly the "Unix way" to "duplicate your production environment on the sysadmin's workstation and debug any processes to be applied to production there before proceeding?" Is that even possible?
Re:The "windows way": problem w/ study, or realist (Score:2, Informative)
Yes it is possible under many circumstances.... Your desktop has to fit close to the hard drive, memory, and processor requirements. If your database takes up a gig of ram, dont expect it to work good on a desktop with 256MB.
I copy t
Re:The "windows way": problem w/ study, or realist (Score:4, Insightful)
We even restore a copy of our production database before each major release to the QA box.
Interestingly enough, we do the same thing for our few Windows servers (Navision for instance. Just did an upgrade over the weekend).
I can't understand who would apply patches to a live system without a qa run first. The other thing that bugs me is that they didn't use the same application stack across the board. A better test would have been something like WebSphere or tomcat talking to a DB2 or Oracle database. Those products would have been better tests.
The other thing that bugs me is that they did a major OS upgrade for some vendor binary. Would the same vendor binary have required a 200 to 2003 upgrade?
How many admins didnt do it... (Score:5, Informative)
I've mangaged to live update a server with Fedora core 1 all the way through each core release till 4 and kept it live and running.
security updates? 'yum check-update' 'yum upgrade $X'
If you run Linux like Windows, expect Linux to have the problems of Windows too.
agreed (Score:2)
If you need to have (close to) 100% uptime, you need failover capability anyway, and in that case, you update one system while the other one keeps running.
However, in most cases, shutting down a system briefly for updates is OK--just about everybody does it. Just make sure to test your updates thoroughly before you install them.
Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:5, Insightful)
Goofus would rather turn on his computer and be a corporate tool for Microsoft without giving a second thought to how much richer the world would be, intellectually speaking, if everyone spent a little more time actually learning how computers worked instead of learning MS specific pointy clickety stuff.
Gallant spends time learning about how to utilize the resources in his PC as efficiently as possible, sharing his knowledge with anyone who will listen and helping people to help themselved by using Linux as the primary operating system and open source applications for true productivity.
Goofus doesn't care how much bandwidth he uses while downloading internet pr0n with his insecure P2P client that has trojaned his system and turned his system into a spam bot while at the same time complaining about how slow his system is because it's over six months old.
Gallant is a polite internet citizen. "Wow. This ISO download of Fedora Core 5 is going to take me good long time to download. I've got 25 meg down available right now, but my neighbors on the cable system might need to download some things too. So I'll lower my downstream during daytime hours to half a meg and only go up to 2 megs between 2:00AM and 4:00AM".
Goofus thinks that pirating software is cool because it saves him money that he can use to fill the tank on his gas hog SUV. "Haw haw!! Adobe thinks that we're all suckers who will pay them what they ask for their crap program! I'll show them! I'm gonna fire up Kazaa and get it for free! I'm a revolutionary who's stickin' it to the man"!
Gallant respects software licensing: "No Jim Bob. You see, even though I no longer use Windows, I am well aware of Microsoft's licensing requirements and you can't just take that copy of Windows and install it again on your cousin's PC because it's a license violation. If your cousin wants Windows XP Pro, he's going to have to buy the legitimate upgrade copy from a valid retailer".
Goofus doesn't care about other people's property or privacy: "Hey... looks like that hot neighbor Jolene's PC is accessible in Network Neighborhood. Well, well, well... Let's have a looksee at what's ono her hard drive. Oooohhh... C:\Private\JPEGs\XXX\Me, Branden and Rand Partying. That looks like a keeper"!
Gallant warns his neighbors that their machines might be insecure: "Sorry to bother you Jenna, but I noticed that your computer is readily accesible to anyone else in the apartment complex. If you want I can show you how to make it secure". Jenna: "Why thanks Gallant! I'd like that. By the way, if you'd like I could make us something for dinner when you come over. It's the least I could do". Gallant scores.
Re:Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:3, Insightful)
Gallant is a simper-wimp and a fool.
If I'm paying for the service, I'll use as much bandwidth as I please at the time of my choosing. If it interfe
Re:Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:3, Insightful)
i hate to tell you this, but 99.9% of computer users want pointy clicky stuff in some form. they do not want to undestand how computers work, and they never will. and why should they learn any of this crap
Re:Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:2)
There was a time when people were expected to fix their own cars and change the oil. Now, most have better things to do.
Re:Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:2)
I hate to tell you this, but no, they don't !!
They have a job to do, which means data to deal with. Except for people doing games all day long, I don't see how they would want or use pointy clicky stuff all day.
There's a reason you can't be as productive without keyboard as without mouse.
Each time I see this nonsense written, I shake my head in disbelief.
they do not want to undestand how computers work, and they never
Re:Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:2)
Re:Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:2)
Re:Linux vs. WIndows? It's Time for... (Score:2)
But nice try. Thanks for playing, please engage your brain before the next round. It makes things go that much smoother for everyone.
Please stop (Score:2, Insightful)
Not new (Score:5, Funny)
Most people use windows, and are ignorant.
Linux used to be rough, but is growing fast.
Linux is better than Windows in 4 of 5 ways (take your pick).
People should use Linux.
It is now Linux's time to shine, in fact, 112% of computer users will switch to Linuxin the next 4 hour.
Saved you 15 minutes.
Go ahead, mark me a flamebait, but even I (I use OSS software and OS all the time) get tired of these repetitive and incredibly biased compairisons.
Windows is getting better too (Score:3, Insightful)
I now do some Windows development again, and have an XP Laptop and I have to admit i'm very impressed. It's stable, fast, easy to use and with a few GPL tools installed I'm pretty happy. Visual Studio.NET is a pretty decent tool and is catching up to eclipse and netbeans.
OTOH I can't stand windows servers. SQL Server is a nightmare, they aren't easy to administer remotely and scri
Re:Not new (Score:2)
Rights lets see what google has to say (Score:2, Interesting)
Google Search [google.com.au]
Doesnt look like a very non-bias opinion if you ask me ..
The most insightful point in the article (Score:5, Insightful)
I see the same problem when dealing with students who come from a Solaris or Linux background -- usually they get tripped up in IP address configuration, which is very different on Mac OS X than it is on a standard Unix system. The Mac OS X way is much more dynamic and self-configuring, but this means that essentially ifconfig(8) is only useful in a read-only mode and cannot be used to write changes.
My respect for Paul Murphy is only increasing.
--Paul
Re:The most insightful point in the article (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The most insightful point in the article (Score:4, Informative)
--Paul
The Arstechnica coverage is better (Score:3, Insightful)
Addition comments on the original report (Score:2, Informative)
waste of time and bytes (Score:2, Informative)
People --including well-educated techies-- have misconceptions based upon things that happened in the past and keep those in mind for ever. For instance: about the Mac people still say "it's got weird connectors and you cannot exchange files with Windows". About Linux the same thing, people still say "you have to compile and tweak everything yourself before it works" and "no software available" for both.
Now... articles such as TFA
One LInux Success - A non-Supported system?? HA! (Score:2, Informative)
Re:One LInux Success - A non-Supported system?? HA (Score:2, Informative)
I recently had to fix a Windows machine {beancounters run some legacy app for compatibility with group HO, we've not hacked its protocols yet} that had been hit by a virus. Post-disinfection, the network hardware was undetected. I knew {from past experience with mucking up Linux boxes in various interesting ways -- let's just say, don't ever run out of space on
What debate? (Score:2)
And the motivation is simple: by free market principles, Windows is way too expensive: it's mature technology (in the sense of having been around a long time, not in the sense of working well), there ought to be competitors, and the profit on it should be nearly zero. Instead, Microsoft has managed to keep raking in large pr
apple and orange (Score:2, Informative)
Please people, get real, Linux doesn't exist. (Score:2, Insightful)
It is impossible to compare Linux to Windows because they are not the same thing!
Windows is a Windows distribution, and the only one, except if you argue that XP Home, XP Pro and 2k(3) are different enough to be considered different distributions but I don't.
Linux is a general term used to described thousands of distributions.
In a sense you could compare Windows XP Pro (just to be clear) to RedHa
Re:Please people, get real, Linux doesn't exist. (Score:2)
Applying updates directly on production ?! (Score:3, Informative)
From an IT admin's perspective.. (Score:5, Interesting)
I was the person in my IT department who suggested the team move to Linux, because I was sick of having to 'read' Microsoft manuals of their software when they 'launched' something new. It is true, Microsoft basicaly assumes that its 'end-user' even if its a Software engineer by training, is basicaly stupid. Explaining to the person who said 'Windows any one can run, linux is for specialists'. It does not end there.
Let's say (like in my case) I have a particular e-commerce solution to handle and I want my application and (OS) to be tailored to that solution. Let's also assume Windows DOES provide such a solution and it works great. Patches are seemless, updates are a breeze, I could deploy it with my eyes closed. Everything great so far. Let's say now though, my company starts dealing with another company that has a different e-commerce application working for them. Or my companies demands change. It wont be then a simple matter of 'upgrade' or 'download a patch to fix'. It would be a matter of making the program work for me, without having to pay thousands of dollars and relicensing new software?. Microsoft is basicaly a strictly 'product based business' NOT a solutions provider. There are alot of people who claim 'Microsoft has developed several seemless integration options' Such as the
If you are going to have a 'technical' debate on Windows vs. Linux, i'd pose this question: When you have a dual processor Xeon system for your main file servers, and you want to use all that processor power and high pipeline bandwidth 'only' to ensure data security and smooth retrieval. If there is any one who has worked on powerful machines and used both Linux and Windows would understand when I say that 'a trimmed linux distribution' can deal alot better with raw hardware pottential than Windows OS can.
Bottom line is, I switched to linux to 'free' my company from the Microsoft bond.
It is TRUE, given the 'right' set of solutions, Microsoft OS and Linux distributions BOTH perform well. In some situations Microsoft has a clear victory, in others Linux rules the day. There never can be ONE study of ONE solution to proove LINUX is better or WINDOWS is better. There can be common sense that says on the long run, I'd rather know what i'm doing so that I can build upon it. Rather than having to call teacher Bill Gates for help.
It's a matter of choice really (Score:4, Interesting)
"How do we keep people from making a choice to use something else"
This is the thought process behind your Exchange server, Active Directory, Roaming Profiles, Office documents, OS patches, and Tech support. All wrapped up in a really sexy desktop.
Linux is about choice. Linux is about standards. Linux is about YOU deciding what's best for YOU and then having the freedom to do it and contribute back to the whole process. That is what Linux is about.
You make the choice.
forget Linux vs Windows (Score:2)
But, Paul Murphy is retarded (Score:2)
I have no problem with articles bases on blog entries, or windows v linux debate; as long as it's something new and insightful.
But Paul Murphy?
cant get it (Score:2)
Re:Yay. (Score:2, Offtopic)
Re:Yay. (Score:4, Insightful)
But lets face it:
Windows vs Linux is like my butt! Its divided, and no mater how shity one side thinks the other is, it's not getting rid of it.
Re:First person to sign up here. . . . (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Microsoft funds the FUD (Score:2)
would you care to post the IP's of these RH9 boxen that have not had any security patches applied?
Re:Microsoft funds the FUD (Score:5, Insightful)
I wonder, is this an example of delusion that the author referred to? Do you really know enough about low-level kernel resource management and subsystems to judge that the unix architecture is superior? Or is this just something you "know" to be true?
Maybe I'm way off base and you have very specific reasons for believing that the unix architecture is fundamentally better. But almost everyone I talk to who complains about the "architecture" is really complaining about tools, like shells and programs (e.g., PHP, Perl, etc.), and is relatively clueless about the OS architecture (disclosure, I think the modern NT kernel is pretty well-designed, even if the default tools are sub-par.)
Re:Microsoft funds the FUD (Score:2)
Re:Microsoft funds the FUD (Score:3, Insightful)
>the unix architecture is superior?
The unix architecture, doesn't point to the kernel. There are many completely different kernels in the unix world. It's propably the system architecture that the gp is talking about, and yes, the tools are relevant. You see, the same tools are available for windows as well, but they are not nearly as usefull.
PHP and perl have nothing to do with those tools either, althou
Re:Microsoft funds the FUD (Score:3, Informative)
I'll try a stab. As others pointed out, the "Unix architecture" is still a debated term, despite various books on the subject. Fundamentally, Unix is the POSIX-like C API (fopen(), brk(), fork(), e
Re:It's the econo.....err, API, stupid. (Score:2)
Re:freedom is always better (Score:2)
Re:OMG (Score:2)