5 reasons to upgrade from Windows Vista to Linux

Source:http://www.itwire.com/content/view/20488/1141/
By David M Williams
Monday, 08 September 2008

Windows Vista has been out for almost two years now
but it still suffers from stability and compatibility issues, let alone
an insatiable desire for beefier hardware. You don't have to live with
it; here are five reasons why Linux makes a better choice for your
computer.

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One of the many
differences between a computer and an appliance is that your computer’s
system software can be easily updated. New features can be added. By
contrast a whitegoods maker can’t easily add new features to their
microwaves or washing machines once they’ve been constructed and sold.
This is a realistic thing: even the simplest appliance can have
programming flaws, or gain from improved logic or more user options.

Most readers will no doubt have upgraded the operating system on their
own computer at some point, whether from Windows ’95 to Windows ’98 or
Windows XP to Windows Vista or some other step.

Yet, an operating systems upgrade doesn’t necessarily have to wend its
way through the range offered by one vendor. After all, just as you can
replace the software that drives your computer in the first place so
too you can replace it with anything that targets the same hardware.

This gives rise to many a possibility. You might love the look of the
Apple MacBook but prefer Microsoft Windows over MacOS. No problem;
Apple even make available a CD of Windows drivers for their MacBook
hardware. Of course, I happen to think there’s another operating system
you might want to consider, and here are 5 reasons why you would
benefit from upgrading your Windows Vista computer to a modern Linux
distribution like Ubuntu.

You can update every single piece of software on your computer with a single action.

The value of this can’t be underestimated. If you wanted to make sure
you had the latest security patches, bug fixes and general enhancements
for every single item of hardware and every single piece of software on
your computer you would need to check an awful lot of places.

Microsoft Update is a good starting point, and will identify available
upgrades for all your Microsoft software as well as a good range of
hardware drivers but (logically) it stops there. You must also check
Adobe’s web site for new versions of their PDF reader, it’s prudent to
check your hardware vendors for their new drivers, and so on, for
everything.

With Linux updating is simple. When you check for updates this includes
everything – the operating system, your applications, support
libraries, hardware drivers. It’s all checked for new versions and
updated in the one go.

What’s more, Linux actively records the version of every one of these
items installed meaning the check for updates is blisteringly fast
compared to that of Microsoft Update which instead appears to scan
through your hard drive and check what you have installed that way – or
whatever it does, it’s certainly far less efficient.

So that’s one. Let me give you four more reasons to upgrade.

It’s the safest operating system ever

Vista is taglined by Microsoft as being the safest version of Windows
ever. Maybe it is, but nevertheless Linux is safer. Under Linux you
don’t have to cripple your system by running anti-virus tools which
intercept every single program startup and file download. You also
don’t have to suffer your screen turning black and asking for
permission to perform certain tasks. You don’t have to fear malicious
software being able to corrupt the system.

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Microsoft brought in
user access control (UAC) in Vista to provide a safer experience, but
it has proven to be intrusive due to the vast number of computer
programs which insist on elevated access whether it is genuinely
required or not.

To be honest, this is a problem of Microsoft’s own doing. From the very
beginning Windows was flawed because it encouraged users to log in with
full administrative rights. This invited trouble because rogue programs
(or user mishaps) had no restrictions on the damage they could cause.

Yet, Linux had a different philosophy. It encouraged users to work
under a regular user account which had no special rights or access. A
user could temporarily elevate their privileges if required or log in
as the super-user account temporarily, when performing systems
administrative tasks like loading on new software.

As a result, Linux never experienced the same problems that Windows
did. It was secure by design from the beginning while Microsoft has a
battle to undo the bad habits their operating system has instilled in
its users and developers.

Your PC can look after itself

There’s none of this defragmenting business to worry about under Linux.
With Windows you can’t just sit back and enjoy your computer, you must
exert effort to maintain it too. Any guide to Windows will instruct
about the importance to routinely defragment the file system. Yet for
Linux it is simply not an issue.

The reason for this is that Windows tries to locate files as close to
the start of the hard drive as it can. When you remove or edit files
you create small gaps. Newer files must then attempt to fit within the
gaps. If they cannot fit completely they will become fragmented with
portions stored in different locations. Over time as this goes on many
files are located all over the disk and performance is degraded.

By contrast, Linux was designed from the beginning as a multi-user
system and thus it was mindful that many people would be editing files
at the same time. So, it approached this problem by, in essence,
scattering files all over the disk. This means there’s generally plenty
of empty space to save large files or to move files around if need be.
Fragmentation only really becomes an issue when the disk is so full
that there simply are no gaps sufficient enough to store a large file
in completely.

Run an entire computer for free, without breaking the law

You expect to pay money for a computer; you’re receiving something you
can touch and which physically depletes the stock of the vendor.

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Software is different.
It can be mass-produced, it can be digitally duplicated, it could be
installed on computer after computer from the one disk – or even no
disk. And without software, your computer doesn’t really do anything.

Yet, most all proprietary software costs money. This isn’t an
unreasonable thing; the developers deserve compensation for their
efforts. Yet, let’s face it, people want computer programs and games to
use and aren’t always willing to pay for it. Without an actual physical
item being removed from stock there are many arguments that attempt to
legitimise software piracy.

Under Linux this isn’t the case. You can make as many copies of Linux
as you like. You can install it on as many computers as you want. Your
friends can all take a copy and at no time are you violating the
licensing agreement. It is expressly permitted to be free for use for
whoever wishes to use it.

The same is true for the bulk of Linux software. Nearly all
applications are licensed under a similar permissive license. You can
download all the games and productivity applications you like without
at any time being a software pirate. No matter if you cannot afford it,
you can still work on spreadsheets and word processing documents using
OpenOffice, you can layout complex publications with Scribus, you can
manipulate images and photographs using The GIMP. You do not have to
sacrifice on quality (by compromising using a less appropriate program)
or resort to using the program without purchasing it.

Take all your settings with you wherever you go

If you buy a new computer or you have more than one computer (a desktop
and a laptop, say) it’s not easy to set up things exactly the way they
were, under Microsoft Windows.

First you have to reinstall all your programs, that’s to be expected,
and is true for any operating system. However, all your preferences and
customisations are lost, things are back to the default. Again, this is
true for any operating system.

Under Windows there is no consistent way of storing settings. Some
programs save them in configuration files within the application
directory and some within the Windows directory. Other settings are
saved into the Windows registry which is not easily duplicated.

By contrast, because the Linux tradition is always for users to log in
to ordinary everyday unprivileged accounts there is no such thing as
saving settings to the directory where a program is installed, or to a
central operating system folder, or even to a single central registry.

Instead, programs invariably save all their settings into your private
directory, under /home, in files or folders with names beginning with
the full stop symbol, like .VirtualBox or .gimp-2.4, or .elmrc. Linux
prohibits these files from being shown when calling up a directory
listing (unless explicitly requested) but they allow your entire
workplace and environment to be duplicated by simply copying your
private /home folder.

So that’s but five reasons why you ought to upgrade from Windows Vista
to a version of Linux. What do you think? The choice and freedom is
yours.

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