Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The advantages of Linux Ubuntu over Windows

The apples to apples comparison (apologies to Apple). I am comparing Windows 7 Professional 64bit to Linux Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) 32bit.

Windows 7:
It's fast, does take some time to boot, but when you get it going it works well. I found most of the software I had to install was 32bit and dilutes the speed of the 64bit OS. Would I buy a copy for home... Hell No. I just use it to update my iPhone using iTunes (which is not available for any version of Linux).

Ubuntu 10.04:
The 32bit version is just as fast as Windows 64bit. It boots faster, shuts down faster. The programs load and operate faster. Majority of software is free from the 'Ubuntu Software Centre' repository.

My view on the outcome:
Ubuntu wins easily. I'm now finally free from Virus/Malware/Botnets. My PC rarely stalls, freezes or reboots itself.
So you may think that you have dependencies on Windows? Let's see...
This is what I need on a PC.
Browser: Chrome (free), Firefox (free).
Email: Enterprise (free), Thunderbird (free), K-Mail (free).
RSS Reader: K Agrigator (free)
Instant Messenger: Empathy IM Client (free).
Office: Open Office or Libre Office (free).
Graphic Editor: Gimp (free).
3D Editor: Blender (free).
Video Editor: Kdenlive (free).
Video Transcoders: WinFF, Arista, Transmageddon (free).
Ripping/Burning: AcidRip (free), K3b (free), Brasero (free).
Media Players: VLC (free), Movie Player (free), Amaroc (free), Rhythmbox (free).
HTML editor: Komposer (free).
FTP: FileZilla (free).
PasswordManager: KwalletManager (free).
Anti-Virus: Clam-AV (free)

Are you getting the point? All this and much more is FREE. As many games as you can point a stick at. All FREE.

How much would you pay for Photoshop? Or MS-Office? Or Norton? Or how about Adobe CS-5? Me? I pay nothing... I don't use them.

I also like the way Nautilus (Win-Explorer) can resize a selection of picture files into the resolution you want automatically (it knows if portrait/landscape). I'd like to see Explorer do that!

The management of multiple screens is way better than Windows 7. I can unplug my slave screen and use it for something else and re-plug it in later and after a couple of clicks it's back unchanged. Trust me I've done the same in Windows 7 and spent 15 minutes getting it to look the same as before. It's truly painful.

Browsing Windows Shared folders is not as simple as Windows as you have to 'log into' the 'share'. Perhaps Windows needs to do that as well to keep viruses from spreading autonomously. So perhaps this is a plus not a minus?

Alter the Minimise, Maximise, Close buttons from the left side (like Apple) to the right side (like Windows), no problem.

Adding a 'Launcher' to the bottom of your screen like a Mac... No Problem!

Kdenlive is a great program for editing hi-def video. It's better than what's available for Windows with the exception of the Adobe Premier Pro CS5.5. And Final Cut for Apple is better again. But are they both free? Sorry NO!

For all this I paid $0.00 How much did you pay for Windows? How many visits to the local computer geek because it would not boot? How much for anti-virus software?
How many cartons of beer to your mate (who thinks you are a dick-head) to fix your PC?

Now about my iPhone... I'm sorry Apple. You had 4 years to write a Linux version of iTunes and you did nothing. My next phone is going to be an Android. This is the same reason I bought a Lenovo K1 Tablet instead of an iPad. There's nothing to sync with (apart from my Google account).

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