can linux replace windows
 

hi,
can linux replace windows?

yes it can

:)

It depends.

And how would we know??? We're through the looking glass here people.

Discuss. (30% of final grade)

That is precisely what Linux is for.

not necessarily

Not at all, Linus and others have gone on record many times to say that replacing Windows is not the main aim merely a welcome side effect.

Yes and no. It depends on the individual and their usage of the OS. At least for me, linux has replace window$ for my purposes.

I read an interesting article yesterday on ReactOS (www.reactos.org; I would post a link to the article but they don't have URLs for printed magazines yet), which is a Linux-based distribution that aims to run Microsoft Windows programs as if they were native.

All right, so that will never work as long as Microsoft keep changing their platform, but consider that when (not if) Microsoft stops making Windows, the platform will no longer be changing.

No, it cannot, because Windows and Linux are different operating systems, and altough they overlap in some areas, neither one is exactly everything and a little more than the other. Besides there are different powers behind either one, and different goals - the other one is a commercial product only, aimed at certain things, and the otherone semi-commercial, aimed at some other things.

Seriously, when do people stop asking when Linux overrules Windows and makes it vanish forever, or vice versa? When does the world end, or why didn't it end the last twenty or so times it was predicted to happen?

But it has ended all those times. It's just that it also restarted in exactly the same place it ended. Haven't you seen The Hitch Hikers Guide To The Galaxy. hehe

:)

Yeah (the movie was worst ever - really, it's like they wanted to turn a bar of gold into a mountain of ....), and read the book in two languages too. But even that doesn't explain why people are still interested in the Windows vs. Linux -thing.. :)

A second thought. Linux actually did replace windows, but that was long ago when I installed it over my laptop's out-of-the-box-Windows operating system. Sorry that I didn't think about that before.. ;)

Rather abstract question don't you think? Replace Windows in everything? Or just server, or desktop or what? Actually this question has different answers to different people. Some might use Linux as a server only replacement to Windows, but might run Windows for desktop only, or MacOSX. For me, yes Linux can replace Windows, but thats just me. Does this mean I will only work in Linux now? Not really, I have had my eye on FreeBSD for quite a while now, and tried out Solaris in a VMWare session.

As much as I despite Micro$oft. Micro$oft is not going away. They're just to wealthy and powerful to compete against. Their net profits are in the BILLIONS...they make so much money that they can afford to have some bad seasons.

Sure, we would love to see microsoft squirm a bit in sales and/or the OS marketplace. Will it ever happen? who knows. As long as there are other alternatives to windows is all that really matters.

there is nothing linux based about reactos,
ReactOS is to Windows as Linux is to Unix