Posted on Monday 8th of January 2007 at 14:22 in Linux

Why Linux should be taken over Vista

Notice I say it "will" be better rather than "is" because I feel that the setup isn't quite perfect yet for average Joe User but I think there are several good reasons why stepping into the world of free operating systems is a good idea for the normal consumer.

1. The price
Nice and simple concept, Vista ranges from $499 to $129. Ubuntu is free. Fedora is free. PCLinuxOS is free. You get the picture.

2. Pick what suits you best
Dozens of distros means that the end user can seek advice to find the best match for their needs. Then there's the whole Gnome/KDE decision so there's a whole world of options available meaning you can do computing whichever way you've always wanted to.

3. The Community
The Linux community is an active and helpful group of people able to provide advice, support and any number of tips. This means that if you're stuck or at a loose end - there's a massive group of people (for each major distro) on hand to help you out. This is not something Microsoft offers beyond a help section on their website.

4. Hardware
Make no mistake; your hardware of yesteryear is going to perform much more comfortably on Linux than it is on Vista. You're looking at 1gb of RAM for Vista for comfortable running. Linux should manage on 256mb. So no need to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on a new computer just yet.

5. Viruses
Slightly over-trodden ground but it's still as valid as point as ever. Everyone is concerned about viruses and malware and this simply isn't a real concern on Linux. Sure if you're being stupid bad things can happen but there's an exponentially reduced risk of this on Linux. So lest you be safe in your browsing.

6. Regular Updates
Get tired of things quickly? Well distros such as Ubuntu release a new version every 6 months allowing you to receive new features on a bi-annual basis. For free don't forget. So every 6 months you'll get a more stable, more user friendly, more compatible version of your operating system? Useful.

7. Digital Rights Management
Vista is looking to be fully supportive of DRM (meaning that the music you download/buy/rip has limited functionality depending on what you want to do with it). Most people like freedom and Vista is a movement in the opposite direction.

8. Genuine Advantage
Microsoft has already expressed a keen interest in monitoring your activities with the Windows Genuine Advantage tool. I, personally don't trust it because I don't like my software habits being broadcasted. Things are unlikely to become less invasive with Vista so that's a concern worth expressing.

9. Do you like being treated like a child?
Well Vista insists on doing so whether you're a power user or not. "Warning, you are about to do this" and "Are you sure you wish to do that?" are abundant. Personally I dislike too much hand-holding - I like assistance WHEN I request it, not every step of the way.

10. Customisation
Finally, because most things are done in an open source way, it means that dedicated members of the community can modify the code to create mash-ups or extra functionality. This means that whatever you want - it can be done (if it hasn't already) without having to pay for new software.

Just some thoughts on why average users should care about Linux. It may be less cuddly than Windows but there's a whole new world out there for free which I think some people don't appreciate.

 

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