Linux vs Windows?

Fearghal

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I'm debating whether to install Linux onto my laptop.

What do you think is better Linux or Windows, why?
 
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anirtak143

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both have pros and cons.. ^^ it really depends on the task ur doing... if i were a gaming person, i would stay on windows. commercial linux games are rare.. linux is good at being free(at least most of em).
 
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TheMan177

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As anirtak143 said, it depends. What do you plan on doing with the laptop, primarily?

Media and things like that are apparently good for Macs, if you're gaming you should really stick to Windows. If you use the laptop primarily for something like internet browsing or programming, in my experience, it might be the way to go.
 
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Smith6612

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Well, you can't really argue with free, however unless you're willing to hit some some speed bumps and deal with them along the way, you're probably better of staying with Windows. However, going witg Linux I hear does improve battery life and RAM usage, especially on the small distros, but it's your choice. Linux in the short term will be more secure as well when it comes down to Viruses as well since Linux can't run .exe files without emulation such as WINE.
 

xPlozion

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windows has a few things that keeps it from being uninstalled, the major one would be games. Although there are computer games for linux, the majority of commercial games today aren't directly available (have .sh or installers). Sure, you could use wine, cedega or crossover, but the later two cost money. Quake 4, UT and others are all available for linux from a first-party standpoint (for lack of better word).

Other than that, linux is what I primarily use, because of the free programs and the creativeness. I can do whatever I want to linux. So many choices, KDE 4, Gnome, Open/Flux/Blackbox, XFCE, and so many more WM/DE's available. You will learn a lot about your computer and linux by using distros, such as gentoo (but is annoying to install), slackware, arch linux, debian, etc... not ubuntu, fedora, opensuse and simplymepis. Also, being able to keep _all_ of your software, just not the operating system up-to-date with minimal effort (pacman -Syu in archlinux) is a big plus.

If you are concerned whether or not a windows program works in linux, and there's a lot that do, check out http://appdb.winehq.org . The list is amazing :)
 
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Fearghal

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I am a programmer, I do not use my precious computers for games. Go buy an xbox or PS3 if you want games in my opinion.

I guess I will go with linux :)

Just one more questions, would my built in fingerprint scanner be of any use on a linux OS? I was thinking maybe to run linux in maybe VMware but would like it as the main OS.

I will only be using it for word processing and programming. What do you guys think? Linux I suppose?
 
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byite

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Why not just dual boot Windows and Linux and decide which you think is best for you?
 

Zangetsu

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windows has to much poop i wish it has an option just like windows 98 where you can select a minimum, full,
 

Kayos

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I am a programmer, I do not use my precious computers for games. Go buy an xbox or PS3 if you want games in my opinion.

That's a very closed minded statement. If Linux was the best OS then it would have the best of both worlds. The fact is that Windows is one of the biggest gaming platforms. To me that's one of the greatest reasons why many people including my self do not want to switch.

That's obviously not the only reason but saying to someone "go buy a console if you want to play games" is just silly.
 

Fearghal

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That's a very closed minded statement. If Linux was the best OS then it would have the best of both worlds. The fact is that Windows is one of the biggest gaming platforms. To me that's one of the biggest reasons why many people do not want to switch.

I honestly do not see how people can play games on their PC. I really do not like it. My computer is strictly for computing important things, and games are not categorised as important in my book :)
 

Kayos

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I honestly do not see how people can play games on their PC. I really do not like it. My computer is strictly for computing important things, and games are not categorised as important in my book :)

The subject of importance is in the eye of the beholder. You obviously are closed minded and do not realize that millions of people use there PCs to play games every day.

Hell, millions of people buy PCs just for gaming.
 

Fearghal

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The subject of importance is in the eye of the beholder. You obviously are closed minded and do not realize that millions of people use there PCs to play games every day.

Hell, millions of people buy PCs just for gaming.

I am not closed minded, despite your "obvious" remark. I understand lots of people use their computer for games. PERSONALLY I do not. I do not like using my computer for games nor do I believe games to be important. I think they are a waste of time. I know people like them but I am entitled to my opinion.

I have nothing against games, I just do not like them myself.
 
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Kayos

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I am not closed minded, despite your "obvious" remark. I understand lots of people use their computer for games. PERSONALLY I do not. I do not like using my computer for games nor do I believe games to be important. I think they are a waste of time. I know people like them but I am entitled to my opinion.

I have nothing against games, I just do not like them myself.

You're entitled to your opinion but it doesn't change that it is full of prejudice.

You may not like it, but it's relevant to the discussion to Windows vs. Linux. It's a main point, it's the elephant in the room. You can't avoid it by saying "you should get a console to play games".

Obviously in your case, though, Linux is the better OS. So no disrespect.

Especially if you're used to it.

I just find that Windows has the best of both worlds.
 

Fearghal

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You're entitled to your opinion but it doesn't change that it is full of prejudice.

You may not like it, but it's relevant to the discussion to Windows vs. Linux. It's a main point, it's the elephant in the room. You can't avoid it by saying "you should get a console to play games".

Obviously in your case, though, Linux is the better OS. So no disrespect.

All I meant was games were not an issue with me so that did not need to factor into the equation when choosing an OS.

I used to play WoW on my PC, and I enjoyed that. However now I just think that a computer should be for computing and games consoles should be for games. If you like gaming on your PC then that's fine, I hope I didn't offend you. I was just trying to express what I thought.
 

Kayos

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All I meant was games were not an issue with me so that did not need to factor into the equation when choosing an OS.

I used to play WoW on my PC, and I enjoyed that. However now I just think that a computer should be for computing and games consoles should be for games. If you like gaming on your PC then that's fine, I hope I didn't offend you. I was just trying to express what I thought.

Oh, I'm not offended, I was surprised actually. I've never debated with someone who openly disregarded the PC as a true gaming platform.

But I understand where you are coming from and that to you games should not be a factor in the decision. But I find it wrong to generalize like you did, IMHO.

In the end it's a give and take issue. Windows has tons of support, but it lacks the functionality that Linux has.

Windows and Linux both have there good point and there bad points. It's just impossible to determine what OS is better as each point can be countered in many ways.
 

micky000

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IMHO I prefer using Windows, because, even if I'm a developer and I have a good understanding not even of the software functionalities, but also of the hardware logics, I dislike to do something using a long path or command line were using Windows I can do it in less time using my mouse, or with a reduced command line. IMHO, Linux is also bad for developers, because it lacks of serious debuggers. GDB isn't really the state of the art, as it ofter didn't realize where the segmentation faults are. Windows offers debugging services even if you don't have IDEs installed, make virtuall all the errors (sometimes even the Blue Screen of Death errors) undestandable and patchable. Also, sometimes with the debugger services, Windows can even realize in wich sourcecode line of the executable the error fired, even if you haven't the sourcecode. GDB cannot do this, and make me frustrating to wait for the (huge) kernel core dumps to write, then to think about witch process of my software crashed, and then try to understand what caused it using the internal command line of GDB. After this is your choice.
 

theharshone

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I am not sure if someone has said this or not, but I find Linux to be a much more productive environment where I have choices to choose what I want to choose. For example, I can choose my desktop environment between countless choices like E17, KDE3, KDE4, GNOME, and XFCE just to name a few. Also, I notice considerable speed differences between Vista and Ubuntu Ultimate. I also like having a 64 bit OS whereas the Vista on my computer is only 32 bit.
 
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JMM1993

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ehh. what type of programming is it? linux could be horrible for things like vb and stuff.
 
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