proving my sister wrong, why Linux can be better

[df_dukkar]

@seethru

thanks...just one more Q.. does it take care of the dependencies as well.. ?

@msg43

if windows users took to reading something like a windows users guide, then they wouldnt be windows users. it takes time and patience to search/read/execute correctly what is given in the guide.

as in anything, to do it right, one has gotta know the right way to proceed.

so, ur point is valid...but with some flaws.

[markwolfe Veteran]

Synaptic is a GUI frontend for apt-get, which is present (AFAIK) in all Debian based distro's.

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It is also available for other distros. I have it on Fedora (RPM-based distro).

[seethru]

@seethru

thanks...just one more Q.. does it take care of the dependencies as well.. ?

@msg43

if windows users took to reading something like a windows users guide, then they wouldnt be windows users. it takes time and patience to search/read/execute correctly what is given in the guide.

as in anything, to do it right, one has gotta know the right way to proceed.

so, ur point is valid...but with some flaws.

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as long as all the dependencies needed are in the repo's you have listed in apt's sources.list, yes.

[karma_police]

With Fedora you have yum and yum extender if you prefer something with a GUI.

[seafirex]

Well for me people sirius in getting in the computers , should use both as per both types windows and linux are good even i should say very good.

The thing with linux is that no compagnie wants to develop for it as per it is free in a sense.

For windows well cost a lots. every one goes for it saying well if something happends well every one is using it so i will get help.

Now the other thing is who is better, well this is easy, linux but not for the same reason then windows, the reason is that with linux there is no limits of what you can do if you give yourself time to learn about it, yes there is a lot of comamnds but with one line of code your can , and this is true, do everything even sched some backups of your hard drives and format others and copy things and even save some files, imagine one line of code can do all that, but yes you need to know the commands for it.

for windows well user friendly never can do something like that that comes from original install only without any third party software

[Prosidius]

What are we talking about so I don't have to read 6 pages?

[Simon Veteran]

Just the difference between Linux and Windows pretty much.

[gnuman]

Linux for everyday use should be a must, MS should save themself some money and market Windows as Xbox360 :)

Malware is relatively unheard of in Linux, but you could still get DDosed or extremely rarely root hacked.

[Prosidius]

Ok then...

Windows has it's advantages and disadvantages over Linux. The same goes for Linux also.

Installing programs is about even. With Linux all you have to do is type in apt-get install x or emerge x or something to the effect. Once it's installed you can use it without any reboots or anything like that. Pretty simple. Windows you have to hunt down the program but once you find it you get a nice wizard. The downside is alot of the programs require a reboot. Constant rebooting is a pain.

Managing Linux is not as easy as Windows by no means. The user like point and click configuration. Linux has text files for the configuration. Sure you can install programs that add a GUI front end but they usually don't come by default and when they do, they are not as good as there Windows brothers. Text file editing however gives you more control than controling it from a GUI. This is why many love Linux's text file editing. Your not hidden from anything.

Using Linux is not that easy also. Upon first boot up of Linux the user asks... now what? They can't answer that question because the distro either boots to a shell or they don't know what to do next. I say to have a GDM for the login screen at all times. It's much better that way.

Installing Linux is about even with Windows. Infact Linux holds an edge in a way. You can perform unattended installs where as in Windows, it asks for your product key and other information in the middle of the install. This is changed in Vista but unattended installs are very common in Linux Distros.

Linux is all about a 4 letter word. Bash. You cannot avoid the shell in Linux no matter what. Sometimes there will be things that can only be done in a shell. Yes Windows users are afraid of it but who can blame them? There used to the fancy eye candy and everything and for them to be put in a command line is frightening for them. They have to learn though that Linux will not hold your hand for you. Linux will let go and let you go on your own like a big boy.

Linux has a great future ahead and we can only wait and see whats in store for the giant Window and Tux.

[Erftek]

Show her Ubuntu. That should do it. :yes:

[Barney T. Administrators]

Ahhhh... another Windows vs. Linux "mine is better than yours" thread :sleep: .

I see lots of myths and misconceptions about Linux being bantered around. It is clear to me that most of the criticism levied against Linux is by folks who either have never tried a current "up-to-date" Linux distro, or is echoing what they have heard from others.

Linux isn't for everyone's taste. But it is easy to use, stable as a rock, and easy to update. It does everything for me that Windows used to... and without the fear of malware, spyware, viruses, or security breaches. Fedora, Mandrake, Ubuntu, SuSE, as well as a host of others that I have tried are so easy to set-up, any of my teenage children could do it.

If you like Windows, then use it in good health. If you like Linux and it suits your computing needs, then go for the gusto.

Threads like this usually never bear great fruit. Both sides go away mad.... and with no appreciation for each other's viewpoints. So just use the OS of your choice and keep on computing!

Barney

[Simon Veteran]

barneyt and adamb10, I completely agree with you guys, now if we could only get everyone else to have the same point of view.

But I have come to the point where I have accepted that not everyone will like Linux, and in some cases, not everyone will like windows. Its the way the world works.

And Erftek: on the topic of ubuntu, how does that do as a server? This question is not diverted directly at you nessecairily, just wondering. I'm downloading a live cd now.

[markwolfe Veteran]

Linux for everyday use should be a must, MS should save themself some money and market Windows as Xbox360 :)

Malware is relatively unheard of in Linux, but you could still get DDosed or extremely rarely root hacked.

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I think that most of us Linux users would disagree with you.

Linux isn't the answer to every question, nor it is invunerable nor perfect.

But for me, it does make a damn good OS. :yes:

[j79zlr]

I think its funny, all of the reason given for linux being behind windows I find are its advantages. I don't want to boot into a GUI if I am on a server, hell I don't even want the GUI taking up needed resourses. I want to drop into a shell login for administrative tasks. I don't need the "Networking Wizard" I have ifconfig and /etc/rc.conf. I don't want the bloat and useless applications, I don't want a pretty GUI to hide the true configuration options, swat for example. I think all the noob-centric wave of linux distros and configuration tools are making linux just as horrid as windows. Personally I cringe when I see things like: I don't want to learn the CLI, or I double-click it, that is NOT what linux is about. If you do not want to learn your OS, then stick to Windows, it is simple, it was not meant for you, it really is not meant for the general user, and that is fine with me, it is this rapid movement on trying to simplify it that will destroy it, the true base of linux users are the computer geeks per se. I learned linux and bsd on my own using three simple things. Google, man pages, and patience, the latter of which seems to be the lost item with most new users. I learned linux in my spare time, over a couple of years of tinkering, if you don't want to do that, then I don't really think you should use it.

[Simon Veteran]

I think its funny, all of the reason given for linux being behind windows I find are its advantages.  I don't want to boot into a GUI if I am on a server, hell I don't even want the GUI taking up needed resourses.  I want to drop into a shell login for administrative tasks.  I don't need the "Networking Wizard" I have ifconfig and /etc/rc.conf.  I don't want the bloat and useless applications, I don't want a pretty GUI to hide the true configuration options, swat for example.  I think all the noob-centric wave of linux distros and configuration tools are making linux just as horrid as windows. Personally I cringe when I see things like: I don't want to learn the CLI, or I double-click it, that is NOT what linux is about.  If you do not want to learn your OS, then stick to Windows, it is simple, it was not meant for you, it really is not meant for the general user, and that is fine with me, it is this rapid movement on trying to simplify it that will destroy it, the true base of linux users are the computer geeks per se.    I learned linux and bsd on my own using three simple things.  Google, man pages, and patience, the latter of which seems to be the lost item with most new users.  I learned linux in my spare time, over a couple of years of tinkering, if you don't want to do that, then I don't really think you should use it.

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Don't worry, there will always be a shell based Linux OS out there, in fact most of them can be. But the business for more users is to have a GUI. If we stick to the shell, new users will be scared away, all the other Linux users will die out, Linux will become "obsolete", and everyone will be using Windows.

EDIT: Or Mac Oss X!!!

[j79zlr]

I really was just venting but anyways, Windows used to be based around DOS.....and it seems that everyday something else it getting a GUI added, eventuallly the true users die out, and that is all that is left. A "shell" of the original ;). I have tons of eye candy and love it, but when it comes down to it, I will break out nano or vim and edit my xorg.conf file, I guess my real point is that everytime that they veer away from the CLI, the closer it gets to being its nemesis. I guess I'll always have BSD.

[markwolfe Veteran]

...

A "shell" of the original ;)

...

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* warning issued for bad pun * :rofl:

[Gone]

I have used Windows for my whole life. My 1st computer had Windows 95, and I thought it was the best. Then I saw Macs and thought that those were cool until I used one. Didn't like it. So I stayed on Windows, besides the fact I can't afford a Mac. Then about 2 years ago I found a Redhat Linux 2.5 CD, don't know what version of the kernel it was.

I tried installing it, screwed up my computer, thought that Redhat was the ONLY version of Linux. I waited for a year and found many different distro's. All of the ones I used had a graphical installer, did everything for me, but had an ugly GUI for my opinion. Then I found what I consider one of the most easy to use versions of Linux.

I downloaded ubuntu, It was almost like installing Windows. It was easy, and I am used to Windows. It set up all of my drivers, including my wireless card!! The desktop in this is close to Mac OS and Windows combined (The way I have Gnome set up). I keep on switching back on forth from Linux and Windows for a year. In my opinion Linux is better to do server related things, etc. but the only trouble I have is switching from Adobe Photoshop to Gimp. Otherwise I could use Linux everyday. It is set up easily to use for me after I changed a few themes and got some programs installed.

The only downfall for Linux though is compatablity for hardware, and a few slow software issues. Windows seems to have more security issues because it is used far more than Linux, thus making it a huge target to crash and attack. But now that Linux is becoming more popular the hackers or script kiddies will find a way to break it. The good thing is that they can't do much with no Root permissions.

[msg43]

Dunno about you but I dualt boot use linux mainly but xp when I need to.

[Mouldy Punk]

maybe back when you tried linux, but now it takes me less steps to install a program on linux than it did in Windows.

Linux

1. Open Synaptic

2. Click Search

3. Type in the Program Name

4. Mark For Installation

5. Click Apply

Yes you can get package managers etc - but you don't get every program made for linux in any of the package managers out there and quite often you won't get the latest versions of software. Like I said "various software that requires you to compile from source" - because a lot of linux software doesn't come with any packages that you can install and you have to compile from source (or make your own package)

With windows you just double click an executable file - for most apps, there probably are the odd handful that are different.

That is why linux will never be as popular as windows.

So you can predict the future or something? You can't say that linux will never be as popular as windows - because you simply don't know. Someone out there might be working on a completely "n00b-freindly" distro of linux. Linspire is pretty "n00b-friendly" - maybe some day they'll even make it possible to double click on something to compile a program from source. Unless you're like some mystic alien or something - you can't predict the future. So never say never ;)

Dunno about you but I dualt boot use linux mainly but xp when I need to.

Exactly. As great as Linux is - it doesn't do everything that Windows can. As "rubbish" as people say windows is - it can still do more than linux can - and make it as easy for the user as possible.

The only downfall for Linux though is compatablity for hardware, and a few slow software issues. Windows seems to have more security issues because it is used far more than Linux, thus making it a huge target to crash and attack. But now that Linux is becoming more popular the hackers or script kiddies will find a way to break it. The good thing is that they can't do much with no Root permissions.

To a certain extent that is true about the security. But it's not only because Windows is so popular that it is so insecure. Linux is simply built more securely than windows. The way the user system works is more secure. The only user account that can do everything is root - which users should only use when they absolutley need to. In windows - you're always an admin who can do everything (ok so you only get to be a "true" admin in safe mode) - but you can do pretty much anything on a standard windows account.

[z3r0 c0d3r]

I thought i saw another linux vs windows thread, i did, i did see a another linux vs windows thread.

Sorry abt the first line, i still watch cartoons with my 6 year old sister!

I think windows and linux are equally good after you spend some time customising, patching, installing and making the OS like you want it to. Linux is much better as a server because it doesn't sacrifice its resources on things like eye candy and other things we don't need on servers.

Why I think windows has more users:

Windows I think has more users because its been pirated so much, so it's extremly cheap. Here in Sri Lanka, where i live u can get a copy of Windows XP SP2 for Rs. 90 which is abt 90 cents in US$. But they don't sell linux because no one pirates it because its free most of the time. and because theres isn't much broadband users in sri lanka so people go for the cheapest solution, which here is Windows. This is the same in thailand and hong kong so i think microsoft has gained more users because of its high prices as well as putting people off.

[ichi]

Yes you can get package managers etc - but you don't get every program made for linux in any of the package managers out there and quite often you won't get the latest versions of software. Like I said "various software that requires you to compile from source" - because a lot of linux software doesn't come with any packages that you can install and you have to compile from source (or make your own package)

"Lattest versions" usually means alpha or beta RC version, which most times are unavailable on Windows for any program. Most programs have their stable version available for every package manager.

[Simon Veteran]

I think a more appropriate name for this thread would be Windows vs. Linux: A Users Perspective.

Could someone please rename it?

[Fred Derf Veteran]

Yes you can get package managers etc - but you don't get every program made for linux in any of the package managers out there and quite often you won't get the latest versions of software. Like I said "various software that requires you to compile from source" - because a lot of linux software doesn't come with any packages that you can install and you have to compile from source (or make your own package)

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Debian has 17,000+ packages so there is no need to compile or manually install anything. As long as one person can compile it then binaries can be made available for download from experimental repositories.

Just because SOME linux users like to compile things themselves does not mean that it is in any way necessary. To imply otherwise is incorrect.