1. Why I Should use Linux…..???
Linux is a computer operating system which is based on free and open source
software. Although many different varieties of Linux exist, all are Unix-like and based on
the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel created in 1992 by Linus Torvalds.
Linux V/s Windows:-
“ I'll believe Linux is ready for the
desktop as soon as you can give me a Linux distribution that even
my grandmother can run.”
I'm going to compare the linux and windows
Linux doesn’t have the virus problems: Even Microsoft’s CEO Steve Balmer
couldn’t clean Windows Viruses. Still not convinced? It’s not that there aren’t any
viruses for Linux but Linux is more secure and less virus prone.
Linux doesn’t need defragging: The Linux file systems work very efficiently such
that it arranges data in a way that it doesn’t require defragging.
Linux doesn’t crash without any apparent reasons: In Linux the core operating
system (kernel) is separate from the GUl (X-Window) from the applications
(OpenOffice.org, etc). So even if the application crashes, the core operating
system is not affected. In Windows (Microsoft prefers to call this tight
integration) if the Browser crashes, it can take down the entire operating system.
Linux doesn’t crash if you accidentally pulled out your USB key/pen drive: Try
this a 100 times if you don’t believe me. But don’t blame me if your pen drive
data gets corrupt.

2. linux doesn’t require frequent re-installation: In Windows if the OS crashes, there
is no easy way to recover this. Many IT support staff doesn’t know what to do
and all they can do is re-install Windows. Which means that users applications
and preferences are lost, and needs to be installed again. I haven’t seen anyone
using Linux, requiring re-installing unless there is a hard drive failure. Most
things in Linux can be fixed without requiring re-installation.
Linux doesn’t require frequent rebooting: Linux runs extremely stable, even if an
application crashes, there is no need to reboot the whole system, just restart
that application or service. Linux also doesn’t require rebooting when a new
hardware device is added configured. Linux doesn’t require rebooting when you
change any setting or re-configure your Network or when you install a new
application.
No licensing headaches: Yes Linux is free and you don’t know need to bother
about the complexion licensing of per user/per PC/per server/etc. Note: Some
Linux distributions charge a yearly subscription to get the updates and patches,
however this is still simpler than the proprietary world.
100 File Systems: Linux can read over a 100 different types of file systems.
Windows is limited to its own two file systems. Well most general users may not
care about this but its extremely useful is you are working in a mixed
environment or you need to extract some data from a hard drive formatted on
another computer.
Source Code: You have access to the source code and the right to modify or fix
things if you are a programmer. Many end users think this is not necessary but
they will realize how important this is when their application vendor decides to
discontinue support on an older version to promote a newer one.
No Piracy: You can also share the software with your friends and its completely
legal to do so. Didn’t your teacher tell you in kindergarten that you should share
things with your friends? Linux and Open Source actually encourage that while if
you do that in Windows its not only considered illegal but they will call you a
pirate!

3. Linux costs less , because not only the OS is free but the applications are also
free. Plus since Linux doesn’t have a virus problem, you also save on the
recurring cost of Anti-Virus software. Note: You may still have to pay for
support/training but the overall running cost is low.
Powerful Shell: Both Linux and Windows has shell environment Windows (know
as command prompt). The shell environments in Linux (such as bash) are more
powerful and you can write entire programs using the scripting language. This is
extremely useful to automate repetitive tasks such as backup.
Portability: Linux can run from a CD or can be installed on the hard drive.
Windows by default doesn’t have any such option. Using live CDs such as
Ubuntu/Knoppix, users can try out Linux by booting from the CD, without the
need to install the operating system. Linux is extremely portable, it can also run
off usb pen drives/portable hardrives/thumb drives and more.
US government have Window Backdoors: Did you know that in Windows, there
is built in back-door entry so US government can see you data as and when they
like? Yes the US NSA has the key build into every copy of Windows. In Linux
there is no such thing possible as the operating system is open source and can
easily be detected and disabled.
Linux has built in virtualization (XEN/KVM/Virtual Box/etc.) so you can run
multiple copies of Linux or Windows simultaneously.
Complete Driver Packages: The Linux kernel comes shipped with large number
of hardware drivers. 3000 Printers, 1000 Digital Cameras and 200 webcams were
supported by Ubuntu. On Windows, a lot of hardware doesn’t work until you
install the driver, this problem is worse with Vista as Microsoft doesn’t allow
drivers to be installed which are not supported/certified by Microsoft. On Linux, a
huge percentage of today’s common hardware works perfectly out-of-the-box.
Linux is the most documented operating systems and most of these
documentations are available for free. These documents are well written and
explain computing concepts too.
Excellent package management: Linux has excellent package management tools which
make it easy to install and upgrade applications, Most Linux distributions makes it very
easy to upgrade from one version to another.

4. No registry Keys: Unlike Windows, Linux doesn’t use registry. Most of the
configuration is stored in plain text files, which are easy to manage/backup and
transfer between systems. Registry is a pain to manage, very complex and your
system configuration is stored in a proprietary format which needs special tools
to open. The biggest pain with registry is when it gets corrupted, this problem is
eliminated in Linux because it doesn’t use registry.
No more hardware upgrades: Linux runs happily on older hardware and the
hardware requirements don’t increase with every new version. If you have really
old computers like Pentium I/III, you can still convert them to thin clients using
LTSP and still use them. If you compare the hardware requirements between
Ubuntu and Windows, you would notice that Ubuntu’s hardware requirements
haven’t changed for many versions.
No Hidden APIs: Windows many hidden or undocumented APIs which is used for
unfair advantage to Microsoft. In Linux all APIs are completely open and
documented. For example Microsoft specifies that everyone writing Internet
application should use the Winsock API while Microsoft Internet Explorer doesn’t
use the Winsock API, it uses an undocumented API allowing Internet Explorer to
run faster than other browsers.
No Execute by default: By default if you download any file, it doesn’t have the
execute permission, making your system more secure. The app cannot execute
unless you go and change the permissions.
No write access to applications: By default users cannot install applications
unless they change their permission or login as a supervisor. This ensures that
any virus or malicious code cannot go and write to your application folder.
No open ports: By default most Linux distributions have all their incoming ports
blocked, thereby making their Operating more secure from network attacks.
Centralised repository of applications ensures that you are downloading your
applications/patches only from a known source only. The repository is digitally
signed which ensures that only the right application and code can be
downloaded and installed on your computer.

5. Faster release cycle: Many Linux distributions have a fixed release cycle of 6
months which makes it easy for them to incorporate all the latest applications,
bug fixes, improvement and support for newer hardware. Windows release cycle
is not predictable. Takes a few years and is often delayed.
Multiple Interfaces: While both Linux and Windows have a GUI, Windows has
only one default GUI. Linux is all about choice and has a option to use different
type of GUIs or Window Managers as they are know as in Linux. Users can
choose from something that looks like their favourite Operating System or they
can choose something that’s simple and fast. Popular ones are Gnome and KDE.
Free Applications: Most Linux distributions come bundled with whole lot of
applications such as Office Suite, Photo Editing, etc. You not only get the OS for
free but you also don’t have to pay for the applications. Yes many of these open
source applications such as OpenOffice.org also run on Windows but you need to
find, download and install them where as there are available in most Linux
distros by default.
Linux saves bandwidth cost: The volume of Updates that Windows, Antivirus and
similar applications do, is much more as compared the updated in Linux. So if
you are paying for every MB that you download, its a big consideration.
No automatic updates: Windows Vista it setup to automatically update your
system by default. In Linux it will alert you for an update but you have to choice
to click and apply the update. You can setup to automatic update if you like. So
you can update when you like and not when your operating system decides to
update.
Chat and Social Networking: Empathy/Kopete popular IM clients on Linux are
single clients that can connect to all the protocols – Facbook Chat, Google Talk,
Yahoo, MSN, Jabber, ICQ, AOL and more. Twitter/Facebook broadcast from the
desktop. With Gwibber client, you can view your social network status right from
your desktop or update your status to all your accounts without logging onto
each of them separately.
Processor scalability: Linux can scale to unlimited processors. It is already
running on a single system with 2048 CPUs. Windows can’t even claim to come
anywhere near that number.

6. No annoying message like Vista keeps telling you that xyz application is trying to
access your system. Vista confuses the user, either the user will always click
allow or don’t know what to do.
Easy to dual boot: Linux makes it easy for it to exist with any other operating
system. If you install Linux on a system which already has Windows, Linux will
not mess your Windows. Windows on the other hand messes up your Linux
partition, if it finds one.
Linux has bundled Databases such as MySQL and PostgreSQL which are
extremely powerful and used in production environments. Customer doesn’t need
to purchase expensive databases.
Linux is been used for super computing clusters, most of top super computers in
the World use Linux. Windows just can’t scale to that level.
File system scalability: while NTFS file system can scale up to 16TB, XFS on Linux
can scale up to 18 million TB! Yes that bigger than what you would ever need.