I've been having a little trouble with this. It's only happened once or twice, since I don't usually ever mention Linux but there are times when it comes up and I'm not great at explaining the differences and why I personally believe Linux is far superior.


Average computer users don't have any idea about scripting and the advantages that writing scripts can provide you in automation. What are the most important differences between Linux and Windows? (I'm leaving OSX out since it has the Zsh and in a way it is Unix-like (please correct me if I'm wrong))


Thanks!

The only environment in which Windows shines is at the very lowest level - Home Desktop Systems. The reason this is "lowest" is because one must sacrifice power and freedom for convenience. This convenience is something like renting a Butler who chooses your clothes each morning and dresses you. Even if you once knew how to dress yourself, after a time you will lose the ability and require retraining for fundamental and serious work.

There is some usage in more serious computing,like Enterprise, but only at the Workstation level and largely because it is expensive to retrain workers who only know Windows due in large part to Microsoft's "scorched earth" policy dressed up in glitz early in the trajectory of PCs. There is a reason even Windows Phones failed and there is virtually zero Windows usage on Super Computers and embeddeds. There's a reason Linux is on Mars in the very first off-world flying machine and Windows isn't.

Linux is vastly more configurable, adaptable, powerful and free but it requires some effort of the user as Administrator, with the exception of some variants like Ubuntu and other Debian-based derivatives where the system is slightly more of a "walled garden", nowhere near as restrictive as Win10 but somewhat locked down.

One major area that may come more to light as governmentent and criminal organizations hire more hackers is security. Fundamentally, even though a Windows installation can be made somewhat secure, the combination of "all eggs in one basket" Windows Registry with the lack of deep permissions control makes Windows more vulnerable. Add to that the built-in "backdoors" in Windows systems and... well... we shall see, won't we.

Linux is like owning your own home, which you can furnish and decorate however you like.

Windows is like being stuck in a dodgy motel, you don't have full control, and you're fairly sure there are cameras watching everything you do.

I just tell em that Windows is the spoken language of the country we live in. I chose to learn another language so as to be bilingual. EG: Gnu/Linux.

People being people. Say funny and mean things on subjects that make them scared and is a unknown in their life.
Hence the Linux Flak online.

Whether you run Linux or Windows. Just remember. Misery loves company. Learn to recognize this in others.
It helps when dropping bad advise.

Windows WORKS, you take it out, turn it on, you can surf the interwebs and get e-mail. Bought a new video card? Just plug it in. Want to use a printer/scanner you can buy in a shop, sure, just plug it in. Want to use a cheap $20 webcam, sure, just plug it in.

Linux, decide which distribution you want (no clues!), decide which graphical environment you want, then you're going. Bought a new video card? Hope you found out if the manufacturer provides Linux drivers for it. Want to use a printer / scanner you can but in a shop? Hope you found out beforehand if the manufacturer provides Linux drivers or if it's community support. Same with your cheap webcam.

https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ux-4175530403/

https://centos.tips/windows-linux-so...our-computing/

Windows - what you see is what you get; everything else is extra cost.

Android - like Windows, but with a little bit more freedom, & some free software.

Linux - freedom for you & your computer; everything you want is free, (to use &/or alter).

BSD - similar to Linux; but doesn't support every computer.

This thread reminds of at least a couple of conversations I've had with others over the years, most recently just the other day...

I remember living in a boarding house several years ago now, and there was a girl from Spain living there and she noticed I wasn't using Windows on my desktop PC. So she asked "what's that?" (I was using openSUSE at the time), so I said "it's openSUSE", and she had no idea what I was talking about. So I then said "it's Linux", then she said "oh, I've got that on my computer back in Spain!".

Fastforward to the present day... I was on the phone to someone explaining that I don't even have Windows anymore, and they interpret that as meaning "I can't 'access' Windows" Where it's like "no, I don't use Windows, I use a Linux distribution as my OS!". And of course they said "what's that?".

The point is that, in many cases you're fighting against ignorance. Because most people (esp. where I live) simply don't understand that Windows and perhaps macOS aren't the only choices, and seem to think that it's only Windows and maybe macOS outside of smartphone based OS's that one has available to them. And for that matter simply don't understand that you can actually download a "free" OS to use instead of Windows - they're locked into the M$ way of thinking, lock, stock and barrel, they're "consumers".

Great metaphor. Hope you don't mind if I use it

Very True. When I got into linux (about 2-3 years ago) and I started learning a little about terminal commands, scripting etc.. I almost was like a prophet or a gospel minister when someone would ask me about anything computer related. "hAvE yOu HeArD thE GoOd NeWs of LiNuX?" because I was so stoked that something like Linux/gnu existed and I just wanted other people to realize that!

Now, a couple years later. I discourage others from using linux, because most people are, like you said, just consumers; They don't value computing based on principles like: Privacy, freedom, total control. And they could care less about what's going on with device they're using and continually feeding data to. I guess now I just want Linux to stay a well kept secret. That's why I hope it never gets popular. The masses just ruin things. I mean if you need any proof look at "The emoji movie". Things that have mass appeal, have that appeal because they're over-simplified, and mass marketed..

1. Windows is proprietary so you're not allowed to know what's inside it. If it breaks, you can't fix it; you have to reinstall it. There are no commercial secrets in Linux so you can find out exactly how it works. You can explore and understand your system.

2. Windows is just an OS. You have to buy the software you want to run on it, either from Microsoft or from some other company. Linux distros come with all the software you need.

3. With Windows, you can't choose what the user interface looks like except for minor details like themes. With Linux you have a choice of graphical desktops -- or none at all.

4. Different Linux distros have different update policies. Again, you can choose whether you want stable or bleeding-edge.

5. Linux has security baked into it with its file ownership and permissions system. Any security features in Windows have been added on over time and are not very reliable.

6. Linux has a community and they will help you out if asked politely. Windows only has customers and a help desk [removed] who work from a script and don't actually know any more about your system than you do.

Linux never made it on the desktop because the desktop partially became a much less significant market than the one carved out by Android and iOS today.

MS with its long standing relationships with the major x86 OEMs, is still firmly in control of the desktop PC market. ChromeOS is confined to mediocre hardware and is just for web browsing - google have not tried to enter the same market as MS.

The "average joe" doesn't know and most likely doesnt care. Back in the innocent times of full on advocacy, you would often see hapless individuals who had followed advice but were clearly out of their depth and after a few days they were struggling to get Windows reinstalled... this was common on 'buntuforums back in the day.

So using Linux or a 'BSD will always be an individual choice and a conscious one. This is why I never advocate. It's likely that if someone hasn't heard it - that they're not the kind of person you should worry about discussing it with.

Linux is amazing but you won't believe me cause you don't know anything about scripting and 'command line programs' and all that jazz you hear about it, and maybe you think you're too dumb, but you're not.
But, I'll be honest, I'm not committed to teaching you any of that 'right now' so I can't really convince you how good it is. right here, so I guess you have to stay with Windows.

Only if my statement just now piqued your interest, try out Linux in a VM and go chat with other users on cool stuff.
If not, then don't unless you wanna try anyway.

I could wax on and off but you're not me, even if you end up being a super duper Linux guru, you might do things completely different to me. All I can say is that I've been using it for many years now as my main driver and going back to Windows, and even other Linux distros out of their box, so to speak, feels like a pain in the ass to me.
That's how comfy I could make my Linux installations to me.

However, that took time, time I enjoyed more than it frustrated me, but there was frustration, too. I will never go back to Windows.
Stay on Windows if you don't want risking a taste of the best and perhaps get overwhelmed. This is not ribbing, it's just pragmatic. Linux is superior only if it can convince you.
Windows is the safer choice, you'll suffer, but it won't really feel like suffering, it will feel like "this is normal Windows usage, like the millions of others are feeling".

Yep, right there with ya!

Unfortunately, that's what tends to happen when something becomes "popular", the masses move in and it goes down the toilet because the "consumer" just doesn't care about much if anything, except "convenience" and that's about it - look at Ubuntu if you want an example of a Linux distro trying to be "just like Windows".

At the end of the day, Windows is very deliberately designed to be as "idiot proof" as possible, and it's a commercial product to make $$$ and that's it. So it makes sense to use Windows if you don't give a rats ass about how things work "under the hood", as long as things do "just work" - and that's all the average "consumer" cares about. So it's the "blind leading the blind" in blissful ignorance, for the sake of "convenience". What a sad and ignorant world we live in...

i think it is like some hotel with good service, but where employees have a multiresistant tuberculosis.

Actually this is no longer quite accurate. Not only has Windows abandoned a lot of older hardware, they worked VERY hard to disable support for hardware retroactively to force users to "upgrade" to Win10 on newer systems. MS started with Z390 and perfected it by Z490 and a similar progression of AMD based systems. One of their main thrusts was/is support of USB controllers. For example, boards with both USB v2 and V3 that used to work in Win7 no longer work and drivers hosted by MS, and ALL motherboard manufacturers were removed and no longer available anywhere. MS apparently learned from Users who found earlier drivers that worked on Win7 and forward and capped that process to freeze out anyone who wanted new hardware and older Windows, effectively and artificially forcing millions to Win10.

It can no longer be said that Windows "just works" in being able to just Plug N Play. Granted this happens at hardware levels as well as entire busses just disappear, but at least that is known before you buy and more importantly not simply and actively sabotaged.