What's better, Linux or Windows?

well i_am_alex, you do not have to install ubuntu in order to try it. you can download the CD and boot it "live" to see if you like it. running "live" is a bit slow, but it does give you the chance to asses it.

Then, if you do like it, you can dual boot. The install program can do this for you.

 

I read that pclinux has overtaken ubuntu in the download stakes.

don't like either so they haven't been downloaded by me 300 times each by mistake.:lol:

here is the list of live cd's.. with download links.. http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php

Any recent one should work well.. but think about your hardware a little before attempting to install.. I always carry a sabayon64 and a slax killbill (32) disk with me because they will boot just about anything.

 

There is no way on this planet that PClinuxOS has overtaken Ubuntu on the downloads. Distrowatch is flawed in so much as it just tracks interest. But outside of distrowatch i just never hear of it.

The other thing is the user forums, go and take a look at PClinuxos user forums and there is a handful of postings compared to the massive amount on the ubuntu forum.

Something fishy about the fact it gets so much attention on distrowatch though, what i am talking about is google trends. Which i think if you look at it you will agree seems a bit more like the sort of graph you would expect...
http://www.google.com/trends?q=pclinuxos,+ubuntu,+suse,+fedora&ctab=0&geo=all&date=all&sort=0

 

I'm thinking the same with those figures, maybe someone involved with it is fudging numbers to get a bit of the spotlight. I hadn't heard much about it until very recently, and what I read about it doesn't make it sound too appealing to me. But each to their own, if it means just one more Linux user then it is a win for the team as far as I'm concerned.

In other news, I got a new laptop for the girlfriend the other day. My god Vista ran like a dog. Not the good kind of dog either, a big, fat, lazy feral dog. Granted, it is only a 1.7GHz Celeron with 512MB ram (64MB of that shared for video), but it was disgusting. After slowly grinding away at removing all the bundled crud (why do they think most customers want SQL Server? I did a lot of database stuff at Uni, and even I don't need a DBMS on my home systems).

A couple hours later: Hasta la Vista, Vista!

 

Now we can get into that distrowatch discussion until the cows come home..

If you want the real truth about the situation, the largest userbase of any real = free open source = non-paid-commercial linux distro is still debian. It's currently around 35% of all non windows/non mac desktop machines worldwide. People move to it after a few weeks on ubuntu. ubuntu is flawed... end of story.

The argument about size of the forums is invalid.. ubuntu is aimed squarely at new linux users, pclinux isn't, therefore the size of the forum reflects the general competency level of the target audience, not the size of the userbase.

See where I'm going here? Just because a lot of new users need basic help doesn't make something the biggest user base. It seems that pclinux users stay with it after the honeymoon period is over, whereas ubuntu users drift either to a kde type distro, or on to "real" debian. sudo and no real root user is a stupid mistake, and you can't get rid of it because of the way ubuntu has been built.
I don't need to bash ubuntu.. the project is worthy of praise for making a serious inroad into the M$ monopoly, but that doesn't alter the fact that it has some serious and fundamental flaws. It tries too hard to be a "linux windows clone" and forgets the fact that no matter how hard you try.. copying that broken M$ offering is wrong.. vive la difference.

So on to which linux is best... now for the controversial time..

Gentoo.. simple really.. total configurability.. will run any linux application because everything is built from source against your hardware, on your hardware, using your specific libraries and tools.
It's not for n00bs.. and never will be. Rather like slackware.. you need to know what you are doing to get the best from it. And you need the time to do all that.

 

That slax killbill looks very good, downloading a copy now.

 

Hi Alex, first, I'd take a hard look at a Mac OSx, especially the new Leopard OSx as I believe it will do everything you are looking for and more. Mac OSx 10.4 will run Windows software using Parallels or VMware which is software that will allow you to use Linux, Windows and I believe Unix as well as Mac software and or Operating Systems. I think the Mac is the most versatile Operating System out there. It is also based on a 64 bit OS but will run anything and everything with a few exceptions. Macs are expensive but they maintain a higher resale value and they have fewer problems with hardware and software. I don't have a Mac yet as I'm waiting for the Leopard OSx which will be out on Oct 26 of this year. I'm running Xandros Professional 4.0 and like it as it too is Debian based and an easy transition from Windows. It is not a free version, it is a commercial version which is a more complete version that comes with it's own antivirus, adware and file protection system as well as a license which enables you to load it and use it on as many personal computers that you own as well as one business PC. Go to Xandros website, check the hardware compatibility list before you decide to buy it as you may want to base your decision on what you have, what you might have to replace or just go for a MAC

 

As far as to what distro to use, here are a few good options for newbies:

1) Linux Mint (everything works out of the box; Ubuntu derivative)
2) Ubuntu
3) Xubuntu (uses less resources that Ubuntu)
4) PCLinuxOS
5) SimplyMEPIS
6) Freespire

These are the ones I've used and they all work fine. I'd recommend you download and burn these on CD and boot up your system with them so you can give them a test first... most if not all of these come with a "Live CD" which is part of the image so you can try them without changing your current OS.

So give them a try, you got nothing to lose. Remember, almost 100% of the Linux distributions are free.

PS: As for the best one; there's no such thing, you need to decide for yourself. That's the beauty of Linux, there's a perfect distro for everyone.

 

Well said, I could not agree more and IMO all are better than Windows!