Unfortunately, most of this is propaganda unbacked by facts; the correctness of these statements depends on the particular conditions (what machine is being used, under what conditions, etc.) Plus, it omits a whole slew of problems unique to Linux, such as the fragmentation caused by abundance of distributions.
Any site with a URL like 'whylinuxisbetter.net' is clearly going to be biased, but let's be honest, it's not as if Microsoft never play the FUD game themselves.
You're absolutely right that Linux does have it's own problems as well, but on the whole, I do think Linux is a better platform. However there is a big caveat there: it's the best platform for me.
The problem with having arguments about which OS is better is that the term 'better' is used too broadly. And as everyone has different criteria and preferences, what's 'better' for one person isn't always 'better' for another.
How is fragmentation hindering your usage ? This page is more for casual users and they don't have to worry about fragmentation.
My company sells software on all platforms. Our linux installer has never been a problem. Not only that Valve released their software just for one distribution. Within hours you had people working out how to get it to work on the distribution of their choice. So the fragmentation is not a problem, but more of a benefit where users do the work for you.
I see fragmentation on Linux as diversity and worldview. When you talk about major distributions like Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch, Debian, OpenSuse, etc. they cater to completely different type of crowds. Ubuntu will never be able to satisfy Arch community and vice verse. Major problem would not be fragmentation but shoving Ubuntu on Arch or Fedora users. If you are a casual user then just stick with Ubuntu or Linux Mint and be happy.
I've been a Gentoo user now for a good 7~8 years and every time I've tried playing with Windows again the one thing that I immediately notice and immediately get annoyed about is the lack of 'work spaces' ( http://www.whylinuxisbetter.net/items/virtual_desktops/index... ). I know there are implementations of this idea for Windows (Heck I even built one when I was learn shudder VB6 back in the day) but not a one I've seen is worth the effort of finding it.
I'm primarily a Windows user, though I dip into Linux pretty often. The first thing I do in any new install is to disable all but one or maybe two workspaces. Multiple workspaces just strikes me as a hack to get around poor panel design, or to facilitate running a modern PC on an ancient monitor.
If I leave >1 active I'm prone to losing windows on alternate workspaces; if I'd upped the number to 12 like the person who wrote that page, I couldn't even fill them all. You can see even he had trouble making them look "used" so he could take a screenshot. I've been using this PC daily for the 24 or so weeks it's been up, and I've only got 13 windows open.
This is mostly the same vein of stupid as "Macs can't get viruses".
" The average period of time before a Windows PC (connected to the Internet and with a default "Service Pack 2" installation) gets infected is 40 minutes (and it sometimes takes as little time as 30 seconds)."
Ok, so let's plug a 10+ year old unpatched default Linux distro into the net and see how long that lasts?
Lately I have seen quite a few "Linux is better than Windoze" posts. Each and every one of those posts woefully miss the mark. I include whylinuxisbetter.net to this list.
Especially the penguin at the bottom with the flyswatter makes me dismiss the whole post out of hand. Nobody in their right mind can take a site like that seriously.
The problem is that these sorts of efforts have an exact opposite effect and are more likely to drive people to Macs or back to Windows.
I have yet to see an article or video that explains the true virtues of Linux over other operating systems: A stable feature rich ecosystem developed by a diverse set of professional developers giving users free access to an incredible range of software.
Instead we get these lame websites littered with crap ads and factually incorrect statements.
The IM section was egregious too. How can they tout "Pidgin, the instant messenger for Linux (it exists for Windows as well, and for Mac OS X)" as an advantage of Linux?
That sections states that drivers are built in to the kernel, which is not always true.
There is a section below called "your hardware is not yet supported" under the "cases where you should stick to Windows" section, but that misses the biggest issue which is poorly supported drivers.
There are still many wireless cards, scanners, tablets, and other peripherals that have poorly written proprietary drivers or not-quite-functional open source drivers. The number is decreasing, but it's still a concern when buying new hardware.
Seriously dishonest and outdated as well. I love linux but I spend much more time installing things and tweaking my linux boxes than I do my Mac. Linux is awesome for the geek community but it's never going to compete with osx/windows for the casual user, nor should it.
Biased or not, the OS/platform arguments always need a context. I agree that Linux/Unix is better for me but I would not uninstall my mother's copy of Windows 8 and slap Ubuntu on there. The stability, flexibility, etc. actually feels like overhead when you don't need it to be there. The same thing goes for iOS vs. Android, in my opinion. It's not even a matter of saying "oh well let's just dumb down the interface and call it friendly."
In my experience, the heuristic I use for any device is "how much obstacle is there between me and what I want to get done?" If I want to run some development VM's or do full-stack web programming, I would hands down choose OSX or Linux because of their native support for that kind of stuff. If I wanted to log in to a computer, get a quick survey of pending emails, messages, and other generic consumer content, I have to say that Windows 8 did a decent job of delivering that kind of experience.
Sure, there aren't many viruses for Linux or OSX but it's partly because the writers of the viruses have a statistically better opportunity right now to target Windows. There have been plenty of OSX and cross-platform exploits. Most of the famous hacking stories are a person getting a rootkit to let the ssh into a backdoor on some Linux webserver.
While the author seems to be targeting Windows users I can't help but notice that most of these points benefits can accurately be ascribed to OS X as well.
I'm excited about it too but I don't think it's going to be "soon", There is basically one AAA title on Steam right now and about 20-30 indie titles (and a bunch of DLC to pad out the list.) It's a great start but I think it's going to be a few more years yet before there will be enough of a library to lure away the PC gamers full time.
Wow, the marketing department and designers really went to town on this one! </sarc>
Who exactly is this aimed at? Because if it's for anyone with any technical inclination then tell me something I don't know. If it for 'Joe Average' then see above.
Oh my. Why would you need to install things? Update all your software with a single click! Mostly! Need new software? Linux searches the web for you! As long as you know roughly what you want anyway. Too many workspaces?! Use windows! No big mess in your start menu! Unless you've taken our advice and let Linux install things for you. Use IM protocols in a single client! Linux only!
A lot of those are valid points, but they boil down to three overarching flaws:
1. Hardware vendors don't provide Linux drivers, often requiring people in their free time to create them from often nonexistent documentation.
2. Nobody can agree on APIs and interfaces. Whenever someone disagrees on something, they just fork it and make their own rather than compromise for a standard.
3. There are a lot of low level assumptions made 20 - 30 (or even up to the age of Unix) assumptions (ttys, shell script, group privilege model, kernel control and management of displays / network controllers / usb / devices) that hamper greatly the usability of the GNULinux ecosystem as a drop in replacement for Windows on the desktop. Android gets away with it by throwing out most of that plumbing.
The first 2 are an inherent problem to the entire ecosystem being FOSS. The userbase is the only group that can fix the second, by focusing and standardizing on one way to do it in the most popular distros and hoping it trickles down (pulseaudio, for example). Both are momentum problems.
The latter I just think ads a lot of unnecessary complexity, but you can work around it. I type this on an Arch box running mostly KDE stuff, it can be done.
What about just trying it instead? I, as a developer that only had used Windows, was always angry when someone posted a new library, and the instructions were linux commands. Until one fine day I started using Ubuntu 10.04 in Virtualbox, only for development. It was a joy, so a few months later when 12.04 came out, I installed it in the host, and everything was just perfect, never looked back. In my experience, everything in whylinuxisbetter.com is true. I have also used Fedora 17 in my laptop (HP Pavilion m7), and all the functions work perfectly. Windows = only for games, but even that will change thanks to pioneers like Steam.
[+] [-] nathell|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] laumars|13 years ago|reply
You're absolutely right that Linux does have it's own problems as well, but on the whole, I do think Linux is a better platform. However there is a big caveat there: it's the best platform for me.
The problem with having arguments about which OS is better is that the term 'better' is used too broadly. And as everyone has different criteria and preferences, what's 'better' for one person isn't always 'better' for another.
[+] [-] pavanky|13 years ago|reply
My company sells software on all platforms. Our linux installer has never been a problem. Not only that Valve released their software just for one distribution. Within hours you had people working out how to get it to work on the distribution of their choice. So the fragmentation is not a problem, but more of a benefit where users do the work for you.
[+] [-] donniezazen|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emeraldd|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] protospork|13 years ago|reply
If I leave >1 active I'm prone to losing windows on alternate workspaces; if I'd upped the number to 12 like the person who wrote that page, I couldn't even fill them all. You can see even he had trouble making them look "used" so he could take a screenshot. I've been using this PC daily for the 24 or so weeks it's been up, and I've only got 13 windows open.
[+] [-] jiggy2011|13 years ago|reply
" The average period of time before a Windows PC (connected to the Internet and with a default "Service Pack 2" installation) gets infected is 40 minutes (and it sometimes takes as little time as 30 seconds)."
Ok, so let's plug a 10+ year old unpatched default Linux distro into the net and see how long that lasts?
[+] [-] nodata|13 years ago|reply
Yep true, but SELinux is 10 years old now, and with it enabled? I bet it would do a lot better than an unpatched Windows box.
[+] [-] kristaps|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mylittlepony|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Yuioup|13 years ago|reply
Especially the penguin at the bottom with the flyswatter makes me dismiss the whole post out of hand. Nobody in their right mind can take a site like that seriously.
The problem is that these sorts of efforts have an exact opposite effect and are more likely to drive people to Macs or back to Windows.
I have yet to see an article or video that explains the true virtues of Linux over other operating systems: A stable feature rich ecosystem developed by a diverse set of professional developers giving users free access to an incredible range of software.
Instead we get these lame websites littered with crap ads and factually incorrect statements.
[+] [-] phpnode|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davebees|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] th|13 years ago|reply
There is a section below called "your hardware is not yet supported" under the "cases where you should stick to Windows" section, but that misses the biggest issue which is poorly supported drivers.
There are still many wireless cards, scanners, tablets, and other peripherals that have poorly written proprietary drivers or not-quite-functional open source drivers. The number is decreasing, but it's still a concern when buying new hardware.
[+] [-] rmangi|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] freijus|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] return0|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jtanderson|13 years ago|reply
In my experience, the heuristic I use for any device is "how much obstacle is there between me and what I want to get done?" If I want to run some development VM's or do full-stack web programming, I would hands down choose OSX or Linux because of their native support for that kind of stuff. If I wanted to log in to a computer, get a quick survey of pending emails, messages, and other generic consumer content, I have to say that Windows 8 did a decent job of delivering that kind of experience.
Sure, there aren't many viruses for Linux or OSX but it's partly because the writers of the viruses have a statistically better opportunity right now to target Windows. There have been plenty of OSX and cross-platform exploits. Most of the famous hacking stories are a person getting a rootkit to let the ssh into a backdoor on some Linux webserver.
As in most things, context matters.
[+] [-] JimmaDaRustla|13 years ago|reply
How bad is malware? I bought a Dell 3 years ago, and there was virtually no crapware on it...just the Dell service software I believe...
[+] [-] JimmaDaRustla|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] revscat|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] emeraldd|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] speeder|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jaredmcateer|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kamjam|13 years ago|reply
Who exactly is this aimed at? Because if it's for anyone with any technical inclination then tell me something I don't know. If it for 'Joe Average' then see above.
[+] [-] keithpeter|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nicholassmith|13 years ago|reply
Ridiculous.
[+] [-] blackhole|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fixed_input|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] vital|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] zanny|13 years ago|reply
1. Hardware vendors don't provide Linux drivers, often requiring people in their free time to create them from often nonexistent documentation.
2. Nobody can agree on APIs and interfaces. Whenever someone disagrees on something, they just fork it and make their own rather than compromise for a standard.
3. There are a lot of low level assumptions made 20 - 30 (or even up to the age of Unix) assumptions (ttys, shell script, group privilege model, kernel control and management of displays / network controllers / usb / devices) that hamper greatly the usability of the GNULinux ecosystem as a drop in replacement for Windows on the desktop. Android gets away with it by throwing out most of that plumbing.
The first 2 are an inherent problem to the entire ecosystem being FOSS. The userbase is the only group that can fix the second, by focusing and standardizing on one way to do it in the most popular distros and hoping it trickles down (pulseaudio, for example). Both are momentum problems.
The latter I just think ads a lot of unnecessary complexity, but you can work around it. I type this on an Arch box running mostly KDE stuff, it can be done.
[+] [-] mylittlepony|13 years ago|reply
[+] [-] obituary_latte|13 years ago|reply
Proper logging.