   Linux - The Pros and Cons, Lets here it!
  Ok, for a while now, I''ve been listening to people say Linux is better than Windows. I honestly have no clue how Linux works or if it is better than Windows. I''d like to know what makes Linux better than Windows (if anything) and why some people like it more than windows.   RapidArp
  It''s Open Source...It''s free (in terms of money, not in terms of your time and effort, heh)...It''s stable (a very good server platform)... ;  In visual and operation terms, it''s similar to windows 95. However, I have seen some text only linux spin offs that I like, because a few of them basically gave you a text only desktop GUI that you could operate with your mouse. ;  Ummm... Linux is NOTHING like Win95.  It is impossible to really characterize Linux in visual terms because there are a plethora of window/desktop managers out there, many of which are much cooler looking than any windows interface that I''ve ever seen.  The operational side of Linux is what throws many users off in that there is a high learning curve for people with no experience with Unix based systems. The main advantage Linux has over Windows is all related to the concept of open source, which would really take pages and pages to fully explain the implications of, but suffice it to say that when you use Linux, you know what your getting whereas with Windows you get a mostly semi-functional black box that you own but are not allowed to open.Past that I''ll recommend that you read In the Beginning there was the Command Line by Neal Stephenson (the author of Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Cryptonomicon) which is a very intelligent take on operation systems in general with a unique perspective on the topic.   peace and (trance) outMage ;  I like GNU/Linux mainly because it offers options. That is a philosophy that stands at the very heart of Linux, and the open source community in general. Linux does not limit you to one way of doing things, or lock you into a system where you do not have the power to change things you disagree with, but must instead put up or shut up.For one thing, you have greater options for graphical shell customization (anything from a bare-bones Blackbox with nothing but an XTerm and a clock, all the way to a bloated KDE in all it''s Windows-ish glory). You can choose Enlightenment or IceWM or GNOME. If your system is older or resource-limited, you can run with no graphical shell at all, significantly reducing hard-drive space used and overall system load.If your intention is to set up a web server, Apache is included by default with most distros. As well, you can easily set up an ftp server, a mail server... you name it. These tools are free, powerful, and open source. If you''re setting up a development station, you''ve got an extensive collection of compilers, libraries and script tools. There is a wealth of documentation available via man pages (something I have often thought would be handy to have when I was a Windows user), so that looking up the particulars of any given standard C function, or shell command, etc... is as simple as a few keystrokes.The fact that it is a Unix-like environment means it comes with a wealth of command-line based tools, for just about every task you can think of--from complex, reg-ex based searching and replacing across multiple files/directories/mounts, to text formatting, to scripting. There is comprehensive support for regular expressions, shell scripting, etc... far more powerful than the Windows command prompt. There are certain tasks which are more intuitively and more conveniently handled from a powerful command prompt than from clicking, double-clicking, dragging or dropping.Linux draws deeply on the Unix heritage, a system and way of computing which, while not perfect, has been developed and tested for considerably longer than Windows; and while it has some quirks, and can be intimidating at first to the noob/layman, it quickly grows on you, and will eventually impress you with its power and flexibility.Linux also offers a greater depth of community spirit and participation. Users are given the option of contributing to the development of Linux and the GNU tools. They are given the option of customizing those tools as they see fit, without the dangers of reverse-engineering or barely legal hacking. Everything, down to the kernel at the lowest level, can be modified as you see fit, to best suit your needs, with kudos and full support from everyone in the community.Of course, there are downsides. Since there is such flexibility in the system, you can not always make assumptions about any particular part of the system. Anyone who has tried building a large application or package from source is probably familiar with the concept of "dependency hell", and has spent a considerable amount of time tracking down various libraries needed for building a particular application. The rapid pace at which such things as the standard libraries are patched and updated means that if you don''t keep fairly up to date on such things, you may have problems. Of course, the tools have been improved to deal with this problem, so this is less and less an issue every day. There are tools available now which can automatically track the required dependencies, find them, and install them.There is also frequently a lack of cooperation from hardware vendors, leading to spotty support for some equipment, or no support at all. While this gets better all the time, as Linux gains a greater foothold, I still have a stack of various cards and a graphics tablet for which I can find no suitable drivers, and probably never will (owing to the company having gone out of business). These cases now, however, are few and far between, and we are seeing a great deal of enthusiastic cooperation from more and more hardware vendors, as Linux is accepted into the mainstream.Distributions such as Mandrake Linux cater to folks new to Linux, who are unfamiliar with the particulars of getting the system set up, and while they do things in a way most veteran hackers would not (automating some services most folks would prefer were not automatically started up, installing a lot of fluff, obfuscating critical parts of configuration, etc...) they do manage to present an experience almost as easy as Windows, from simple installation to defaulting to KDE for the benefit of folks familiar with Windows--while still giving you the option to change as your experience grows. Joshvertexnormal AT linuxmail DOT orgCheck out Golem: Lands of Shadow, an isometrically rendered hack-and-slash inspired equally by Nethack and Diablo. ;  Linux is a stick shift Porshe. Looks cool, powerful, but if you don''t know how to drive it it''ll kill you.Windows is an automatic Mustang.  Everyone''s got one, simple to drive, and occasionally you see one driven by someone who knows what''s going on and who has a little Cobra emblem on it.I hope that was original. It sure sounds cool! ;quote: Ummm... Linux is NOTHING like Win95. Regardless, I have seen a few incarnations of it that used the same kind of win95 GUI interface. ;quote:Original post by Dungeon Master  quote: Ummm... Linux is NOTHING like Win95. Regardless, I have seen a few incarnations of it that used the same kind of win95 GUI interface.   Since when does the GUI represent the essence of an OS? The kernel i.e what makes linux what it is, does not represent any of windows prior versions. ;  I dont see the need for the average user to use linux.  Linux still needs a lot of work before it is ready for the average user to even think about using it.  The lack of hardware support is an extreme deterant for me.  Even if you do find the drivers they are likey to be written by a linux user and not garaunteed to work right.  Installing the driver is a seperate issue all toghether.I have red hat on my laptop and I really never use it anymore.  For me Windows has all the stability that I need and all the software I use it written for windows.  My system stays on 24/7 and I never have a crash. ;quote:Original post by PixieDust  ...  My system stays on 24/7 and I never have a crash.   My linux server stays on 24/7 and has never crashed. But you''re right about one thing: linux is not for the average user as of yet. For me, it makes for a superb networking OS. Linux was built around networking, whereas windows was not built on that foundation. 