Benefits of Windows over Linux

It is a long running debate on the Internet ever since I remember. Since the day I came to know about the word Linux, it has been a question which I ask myself and have seen many people asking over the internet, and even fighting like hell. I wonder whether they could have really hit each other with stones if it were not for the internet which unites you but separates physically.

So when it comes about "which is better, Windows or Linux?" question, I usually leave it on the user and his purpose. In my view, after using almost every major operating system on the planet including Windows, Linux, BSD, SOLARIS, MAC OS X and many versions of them, I found each one of them having their own benefits and drawbacks. It completely depends on the user and what he wants to do. While MAC has all the features, anyone would want, it cannot be installed on the non-apple machines (hacked versions create problems which can even make you break your system) and Windows is not well suited for server purpose unless you are running Windows server editions. Linux does it all and multimedia support is very well lagging.

Every OS has its own advantages and disadvantages. I leave the decision of choosing (or favoring) one to the user and simply present the comparison of two popular OS in the world, Windows and Linux. This comparison will favor Windows over Linux. I plan to write an article about benefits of Linux over Windows soon. But until then, here it is:

1. User interface: Windows has long been touted and proven as the most user-friendly operating system out there and it is not just for the popularity. It indeed is easy to use when considering the Linux OS or other UNIX Like operating systems.

A user interface consists of many parts including icons, windows, cursor, colors and much more. It defines how the user feels while working on the system. Microsoft spends millions to make the correct decision about how Windows should look and feel to the user and that makes it quite naturally the winner.

It is also easier to use. Why? Linux uses strange error messages with full details of the error. While it is great for those who know what all those words, memory addresses and error codes would mean, they are gibberish to the people who are not technically great. Windows keeps the blow of the error soft by omitting the details. While it creates the difficulty to find the origin of error, the user is still satisfied!

2. Installation of Linux vs. Windows: You may think this should have come earlier. But it is at the second place because we seldom think of the installation problems. But since it is very important, it cannot be pushed down.

Windows has traditionally used 80 X 25 text based installation up to Windows XP. Since Windows Vista, it's all graphical and how! It is just a matter or few clicks and it's done! While there are Linux distributions which keep it easy; the most popular being ubuntu, you still have to deal with terms like cylinders, file systems, swap space and so on. More sophisticated installers such as 'yast' used for installing openSUSE go to the extreme end of sophistication and make installing Linux for a user new to computer a nightmare. Windows keeps it just easy!

3. GUI versus Command Line: Some people tend to think that Linux happens to be an operating system which has no graphical user interface and you have to type commands on a boring terminal with a rectangular blinking cursor. Well, that surely is not the case, Linux has a Graphical user interface and it has many (even that is a problem)! While it can compete with Windows on the "effects" area, the overall experience of using the computer still is better on Windows (and MAC as well).

However, Linux having a GUI does not make it all easy to use. It depends on how you use the computer. While almost all Linux distributions come with a graphical tool to change your password, the utilities for configuring your network may be too much sophisticated or too much crippled. Some even don't have any!

4. Multimedia support - Linux and Windows: how would you feel if you just installed a system and you can't play your MP3 files? And then you cannot play your video files? Well, that is the case with most major popular Linux distributions like ubuntu, opensuse, and fedora. While they all have the ability to get it from the internet, that isn't easy for the average user as well. You need to add repositories and issue the command to get the libraries and packages over the internet and install them! Notice that you will need a fairly fast internet connection for that.

5. No double-click-and-install feature: When windows users discuss about software, they seldom discuss about "how to install the software" because almost everyone knows that you will get a "setup" file, you double click it, and a wizard will help you get the application running within a minute or so (of course depending on the size). Well, that isn't the way things work for Linux. You don't have any "double click and install" facility. While there are formats like RPM and DEB for Linux which may help you do so, they don't work on all Linux distributions! Moreover, they do not guarantee the installation to succeed due to something called as the "library dependency" they do not come with all the libraries needed and presume that some basic libraries are already installed on your system. If the library is not there, well you will see the trouble you can have only by experiencing it. The only word I personally have for such a trouble is: mind-boggling.

6. Libraries in Windows: While Windows installation packages come with all the libraries, things are not the same for Linux. In Linux, you have to have the libraries installed before you proceed with the application installation. Now the problem does not end in libraries alone. The libraries which are needed may also need other libraries in turn to work and they may be in need for a couple of them or more! Resolving library dependencies is not easy.
Major distributions lie fedora and openSUSE try to make that easy by resolving those dependencies automatically. But then, one version of the library may not work. You may need the newer one. So, to get that one extra feature in your application, you may have to go through a huge lot of problems, more so especially without an internet connection! While the scenario is fast changing in the Linux world, there is still a lot of work to do!

And in case you are wondering what is a Library, well it's quite technical and common in Linux world!

While Linux is a great operating system, it is not so for the normal computer user. It is great by the way it does things and is meant for those people who know much about how the computers and especially the operating systems work. If you are not one of them, may be Linux will be a better choice, for now. While I have favoured Windows in here, there is a lot more to praise about Linux too. Hopefully, I will do that soon. The bottom-line is: Linux is not for people who do not have a clear understanding of how computers work (and in a bit or detail).