How You Know When It's Time to Switch to Linux

[nsane.forums]

It's easy to be content with your computer installation as long as it keeps doing what you want it to without too much trouble. When frequent problems arise, however, it's hard to remain faithful for long.

The majority of the computing world "grows up" on Windows, of course, since Microsoft's operating system still holds by far the largest share of the market. Not everyone stays there, however.

Growing numbers, in fact, are switching to Linux every day, and for good reasons. How do you know when it's time to switch to Linux? Here are just a few (mostly) serious signs.

1. You're Tired of Paying for Software

You wake up one day and realize you're tired of paying for an operating system that's more bogged down with bugs than most alpha builds are. What, exactly, are you paying for here? Then, of course, there's also all the antivirus software you have to buy to keep it running. With Linux, on the other hand, countless developers around the world are working around the clock to keep the 100 percent free operating system at the head of its class.

2. You're Tired of Upgrading Hardware

If you find yourself upgrading perfectly good hardware just because resource-hungry Windows demands it, you might be using the wrong operating system.

3. You're Tired of Malware

Your older hardware probably still is fundamentally pretty good; too bad there's all that malware dragging it down. Thanks for sharing that love, Windows! Note to Microsoft: a stronger permissions system would have been a lot better, just FYI.

4. You've Seen One Too Many Patch Tuesdays

You've experienced your share of Patch Tuesday repair efforts, and they aren't getting any more fun. In fact, they're getting worse. It wouldn't be so bad if you didn't know how long the bugs had been there, flapping in the breeze, before they finally got fixed.

5. You Don't Have the Time

Who among us doesn't enjoy spending hours at a time scanning for viruses and spyware and defragmenting? Well, probably all of us don't enjoy that, actually. Then, too, there's all that unplanned downtime. Don't we have other things to do?

6. You Like Speed

If Windows' boot speed were faster, when would you make your coffee? Right. Sadly, that argument doesn't quite cut it anymore.

7. You Like Sharing

Your business associate in Berlin tried to send you an .ODP file--based on the international standard file format--but PowerPoint wouldn't read it properly. So much for interoperability.

8. You Don't Actually Love Internet Explorer

It's no accident Internet Explorer's market share is slipping, and vulnerabilities are a big part of it. Then, too, there's the monoculture effect making it all worse.

9. You Want to Be in Control

It's no longer fun waiting to see when Microsoft will fix bugs, or what new features it will come out with. You're ready to start driving changes like that yourself.

10. You're One of a Kind

Though it can be altered in very small, superficial ways, Windows can't hold a candle to Linux when it comes to customizability. Are you just another face in the crowd? Of course not, and Linux recognizes that.

Is Linux perfect? Certainly not. But it is a lot better than Windows in so many ways. Isn't it time for you to finally make the switch?

View: Original Article

[Grey Ghost]

My criticisms of this:

1) Windows might be a bit glitchy, I agree, but there are free, lightweight antivirus programs available (namely MSE and Avast). Besides, most consumers/businesspeople don't really care about this; they just have their IT guy get it set up for them. Or (and by no means am I endorsing this) for the "paying" bit, there's always piracy.

2) Every upgrade for every operating system requires slightly more powerful hardware than the last. New major Windows or OS X releases might not come around often, but the reason why they almost always require marginally more powerful computers is because Microsoft/Apple knows that there are advancements in the computer industry between releases that offer more potential ways to increase the speed and power of their OS.

3) Antivirus programs typically do the job well, but I do agree the core OS should be locked down a little more.

4) Don't try to fool us: Linux has periodic patches too that can screw around with the system. Besides, under 7, I've noted that a lot of the patching is in the background. When it's not, it typically doesn't require more than a trip into the update manager and a few button clicks.

5) While Linux may have less unplanned downtime, antivirus scanning does not require the user or the sysadmin to constantly monitor the computer during the entire scanning process. It's more like hit the button, do regular work in the meantime, and then go back when you hear the ding to see the results. If it's on a server, I agree, that can get annoying, since you have to isolate the infected computer, but then again who'd really be stupid enough not to have backup servers for situations like these?

6) In today's world, most people just leave their computers in sleep mode perpetually. And a standard Windows 7 boot is only about 30 seconds; OS X is about 15-20, I find. Ubuntu 10.10 running in a virtual machine with 4 GB of RAM, two virtual processor cores, and high CPU priority didn't seem to boot a lot faster than either of those two.

7) Most of the world operates with .doc, .ppt, .xls, .docx, .pptx, or .xlsx. I've never come across a single .odp file on my trek throughout the internet...

8) That's why we have Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari. And others, but no one really cares about them.

9) You can't really fix changes if you're an end user or if you don't know how to code in C, or if you don't know where the glitches lie in whatever part of the OS you're using. It doesn't really help that there are over 100,000 lines of code in the base operating system itself, not to mention all of the other programs that are bundled with the OS itself. Not to mention updates to the OS/packages can break your own fixes.

10) True.

[Sl@pSh0ck™]

When I get a never ending loop of BSODs I think that would be the time for me to stick to Linux

[ck_kent]

I never get tired of paying for software - because I'm a pirate! :D

[Tunerz]

It's time to switch to Linux when the world tells so, till then it's a Windows world.

[shought]

It's time to change to Linux when someone has created a Windows clone (lookalike) with the UI and stuff from Windows, but the Linux kernel, then we'll just tell all tech support guys and computer salesmen to quietly install this on everyone's PC. People will be surprised when they click 'Microsoft Office Powerpoint' and some other program pops up, but they'll just think it's new, save the file, don't notice it's in a different format because Windows hides file formats for those people (who wants to see what file you're working with anyway, .exe, .bat, .reg or .gif, they're all the same, right?).

:D

*Evil plan*

[*dcs18]

This is one of those very rare topics where . . . . . . . . . . the masses are not asses. :mellow:

[Peace_Angel]

People using windows have frequent problems with virus/spyware because they run as Administrator (root in Linux). Just give an end user root priviledges on Linux and notice how fast it takes to crash the whole system. So in comparison, since most windows users do not even know they are running as super user, and are still able to use the system for a long time without crashing, I say that it's pretty robust!

I don't work for Microsoft as some of the Linux users might reply back. But windows has its own merits and being fans of Linux doesn't mean you have to ditch windows just because you feel the world should be using Linux. Then, I suppose some company will always sue Linux for monopolising the market! Go apple! Lol

Peace.

[RadioActive]

As much as I like Linux, unfortunately it isn't always that easy/simple.

First problem is gaming. I'm not an expert in Linux but I believe you can run Windows games on Linux through some application/platform (similar to Wine but dedicated to games). But will it be the same? It certainly won't be as easy, and I don't know even about the performance implications let alone the compatibility issues.

Second problem is a bit more isolated, personally I'm a .NET developer which means I Windows environment to work and I can't just change my profession/specialization just to use an OS? But I guess a workaround would using VMs.

Just thinking out-loud here...-_-

[DKT27]

I know this article is a bit biased, well many of the linux articles are actually. But the points mentioned, you can argue on them, but cannot beat them.

You gotta use and love it if you wanna be clear about it. When I try linux, I leave my Windows fanboy thing behind and try to start a new and see what's good or bad. Every OS has it's positive and negative. With Windows 7, M$ beats them all, but that doesn't mean you cannot give linux some chance.

[alexcmia]

I used to work for an IT outsourcer in Miami. Then I moved to Russia, Sochi, and now I'm working for another IT outsourcer. I see countless people come through our doors, your mom and pap, businesses, schools, corporations, they all want to pay money to buy new licenses for software like Windows 7, Microsoft Office, anti viruses, Auto CAD, etc, etc, etc..

I used to not give it much thought, through now I view it as peasants paying for the right to use "land". It's high tech slavery basically.

I welcome Linux, yet I admit that I can not switch to it myself. A lot of software I used is not available on Linux.