Differences Linux/MS Windows
Mouse-click-wise, almost none, once Linux is
properly installed. Linux installation can be a challenge though,
whereas MS Windows comes, most likely, pre-installed with your
computer.
The major differences:
Linux is free, whereas MS Windows costs
money. Same for applications. If MS Windows or Office comes
preinstalled with the computer it is unlikely it is free. Ask in
the store to take it off your computer (your run Linux) and you are
likely to obtain a discount, at least in smaller stores.
Linux file formats are free, so you can
access them in a variety of ways. On MS Windows, the common practice
is to make you lock your own data in secret formats that can only be
accessed with tools leased to you at the vendor's price. How corrupt
(or incompetent?) must be the politicians who lock our public
records into these formats! "What we will get with Microsoft
is a three-year lease on a health record we need to keep for 100
years"
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/health/newsid_1694000/1694372.stm].
With Linux, you are unlikely to violate any
licence agreement--all the software is happily yours. With MS
Windows you likely already violate all kinds of licenses and you
could be pronounced a computer pirate if only a smart lawyer was
after you (don't worry, most likely none is after you).
MS Windows tries to be the
"lowest-common-denominator" operating system (for better
or worse), whereas Linux is built for more sophisticated,
feature-hungry computer users (for better or worse).
MS Windows is based on DOS; Linux is based on
UNIX. MS Windows Graphical User Interface (GUI) is based on
Microsoft-owned specifications. Linux GUI is based on an
industry-standard network-transparent X-Windowing system.
Linux beats Windows hands down on network
features, as a development platform, in data processing
capabilities, and as a scientific workstation. MS Windows desktop
has a more polished appearance, smoother general business
applications, and many more games for kids (these are not better
games though--Linux games tend to be more sophisticated).
Linux is more feature-rich than you could
imagine. Heard on the Internet: "Two big products came from the
University of California: UNIX and LSD. And I don't think it's a
coincidence." MS Windows is simpler.
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