Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 – why neither will lose
Introduction
There are plenty of articles around the internet stating that Windows 7 is going to kill Ubuntu or vice versa. These articles are irrationally designed to be Microsoft vs Linux debates, though that is hardly the case: Ubuntu only represents a fraction of the linux distro world, albeit the major one on desktop computers, and Windows is not Microsoft’s only major venture.
What people can do is to constructively, and usefully, compare Windows 7 and Ubuntu with each other, in their own right, regardless of history and path. Though it may be a slightly premature comparison, given that Windows 7 is still in beta (scheduled for roll out in 2010 or late 2009) and Ubuntu will have undergone two iterations by the time Windows 7 is released (expected Ubuntu 9.10). Nevertheless, the direction is all too clear.
The next section is a very short Windows 7 review and then follows a very short Ubuntu review. After that, I explain why the two will never manage to break each other, let alone ‘kill’.
Windows 7
This is Microsoft’s latest installment in its Windows series of operating systems. Windows Vista, Microsoft’s last major desktop release, was widely billed a failure. Vista was mainly deemed feature incomplete – some brand new concepts had been implemented but had not been worked through completely, leading to a half cooked OS.
Windows 7 aims to build upon those features, and deliver a performance boost while at it. Some of the concepts carried forward are the Aero interface, the User Account Control security system, the workflow system and the start menu. However, all these come with improvements, some minor and some major, that address previous gripes about them. Gone are the really unliked features, such as the Windows Sidebar (the gadgets can now be placed anywhere on the desktop) while new features are included such as Jump Lists (application specific context menus).
I have yet to test the Windows 7 beta myself, and users around the web are split in opinions. Some claim it is simply Vista with simply superficial changes, and detest it. Others claim it offers better performance and the issues they had with Vista have been treated. Either ways, Windows is still likely to be Windows as you know it, without any breakthrough changes.
Ubuntu
It is much harder to predict what Ubuntu 9.10 will be like, given that even Ubuntu 9.04 is not out. Nevertheless, it is likely to continue on its path of ‘user-friendliness’, and get an artwork upgrade. Hardware detection is likely to become much better, and boot times to be ‘blindingly quick’, as Mark Shuttleworth (the man at the helm of Canonical, the Ubuntu company). It is also expected to be a portal to internet.
At present, Ubuntu is basically Linux with that learning edge mainly taken off. And that means stability, speed and performance, along with a price tag of $0 (you even get a free branded CD, though I hardly think that will last forever). But also with that come the traditional Linux problems of support for some hardware, lack of software and a concept of operation that varies wildly from Microsoft Windows.
Why people compare the two
They are (well, will be) both complete OS solutions. They both have a complete GUI, and it is mainly possible to use both in everyday desktop computing without resorting to a commandline. Both target the desktop market to a large extent. They both have their advantages and disadvantages, and never more is the comparison more pertinent that now, when Ubuntu is taking market share fast (though still rather minuscule in the overall picture). Windows 7 is supposed to be a Microsoft OS that will maintain the strangle hold Windows still has on the desktop market, while Ubuntu is supposed to be the ever sung Linux that will break Windows.
Why neither will ‘kill’ each other
Windows and Ubuntu are used by two mainly different sets of people. Ubuntu is for those for whom Linux is a way of life, and would not dream of paying for software, even if it comes at the disadvantage of less software. Ubuntu performs well in areas where Windows traditionally fails (performance, stability). On the other hand, Windows maintains the reputation of power, and a wide choice of convenience in software selection. This exclusivity of pros and cons ensure each remains in their own domain. The percentage share of Ubuntu users will grow to some extent, then become static. Not that it means the number of users will stagnate: the number of computers around itself will increase.
Conclusion
Technically, Ubuntu is almost immune to being killed (unless the Linux community itself abandons it, or Linux itself is killed). Windows, with a price tag, is much more ‘killable’, but at the current moment, it is not vulnerable (due to the mountain load of real work around the world that relies wholly and solely on Windows and its releases).
Neither of them is losing this battle anytime soon. This is going to be a long dirty war.
Leave a reply to nathan Cancel reply
Recent Posts
- An infographic on Microsoft’s failures
- LaTeX characteristics being adopted by Microsoft Word 2010
- Firefox 4.0, Safari 5, Chrome 6 and Opera 10.53
- Old Blog Deprecated
- Windows 7 – Why I'll take Ubuntu 9.10 over it anyday
- Eid Greetings!
- Scientechie is now on AboutUs.org
- The Excellent SUSE Studio (and tips)
- Gearing up for the next RoboCup
- RockMelt – New Browser in the Making
Muhammad Fahd Waseem 
Nice article, though i disagree with u about the point that the number of ubuntu users will become static after having reached a certain extend. I rather think that ubuntu one day will certainly kill Windows, cause the open source software is constantly becoming better and also bigger software enterprises start to produce for Linux.
I agree with Carl. Open source will win in the end. It is really just a question of critical mass. Once there are enough linux users to make a dent in profit margins then software developers will be forced to all release linux versions. Once that happens the advantages of using windows will evaporate, and so will its user base.
@ Carl and Aaron: What I say is just a matter of extrapolation. You say that Ubuntu, if gaining critical mass, will kill Windows. Like I said, Windows IS killable. The problem remains that Microsoft is a powerful rival that offers a lot of benefits (after all, you are paying for it). And unless Ubuntu can replicate those benefits for free, there is no question of a ‘kill’ anytime soon.
Not that I am a Windows fan, it’s just that in the near future, it isn’t happening. Fifteen years down the lane – maybe.
As for the stagnating percentage, I think that is a very likely stage before the ‘kill’. Say the share statifies at 20%. But this 20% itself represents a growing number of users. And so it will remain until it reaches the critical mass you mention. Then, the fifteen year prophecy may take place 🙂
i disagree with open source taking the market if anything if windows 7 doesn’t get adopted by business we will see a problem you will then see apple computers gaining the market space. im saying this because windows xp computers are going to need to be replaced soon. and because of the techs for those companys saying vista sucks. which vista was a good operating system. the techs says it sucks because they didnt want to learn networking or learn vista they will still have to learn kernel 6 any way you go in windows down the road since windows seven is kernel 6.1. if you looked at the popularity of os and what os has grown and which shrank it was microsoft shrinking and apple growning. linux stayed growing at the same rate these past years. i wish i could say that ubuntu will take it but its very doubt full with what i have seen the past 3 years with mac os and windows os. i am a ubuntu user and i do enjoy using ubuntu. but i would be sad to see windows fail and see mac take it when the majority of mac users are just mac users are smart in other areas and not worried about os or computer innovation. and with how mac stands now is to shell out for something that has slower hardware and more exp for what you buy. i think windows and linux users need to band together to protect the computer world so we can have better hardware creation and better innovation. but we can all hope linux would take it for sure but on the flip side if that happens that would drive up costs on the computers since m$ deals and computer companies. but lets all dream of a world with just linux.
@ aaron gooch: Yes, let’s dream of a world with just Linux. But yes, I have mentioned: it’s not happening any time soon.
I think that Vista dealt a huge blow to Microsoft, not necessarily in the financial sense, but in a sense of trust. The thing is this, as a computer tech at a company myself, I don’t have time to sit there and force the OS to do what I want it to do. I want to be able to say “you, join the network” and the computer will just do it. I personally run XP on the office computers because we have software that doesn’t work on anything else, and I run RHEL on the servers because Microsoft can’t hope to make a capable server edition that even stands close to Red Hat. What I would like to see is the UNIX OSes such as Apple, BSD, GNU, and Linux all banding together with hardware companies (they are starting too. IBM and Dell sell Linux models) to offer a cheaper version of the same computer. Contrary to popular belief, there are probably more programs out there for Linux than Windows, simply because anyone can develop them, and they get added to the repositories where anyone else can improve them.
Microsoft isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, but it’s days are numbered. People are getting fed up with paying for software that doesn’t work, and having to pay even more to protect their initial investment. The UNIX community offers free help with everything, and if people can, and are willing to learn Vista, they can learn Linux much easier. It’s incredibly simple as an OS, its just that people are afraid to try it because its different than they are used to.
@ mike: There are more applications available for Linux. What is arguable is the quality of those.
The rest, I fully agree. Elegant words.
Predictions of the future made with such certainty.
Unfortunately predictions made in the past look a bit silly today.
The only one that seems to be correct is Moore’s Law (and that was based on past experience)
Good luck, one of you may be correct.
@ Bruce Sinton: Predictions are interesting. If you are proved right, you crow. If you are proved wrong, you simply find reasons to say why you weren’t right. Unless, of course… the predictions are absolutely radical 🙂
We work in a scientific laboratory (not the animal kind, we test soil :).
We buy “Instruments” that test this software, and unfortunately these have software only written for windows, they’re made by Agilent (HP in disguise) …
Up until now we’ve only had 98, 2000 and XP boxes, but i believe they have managed to re-write for vista, so i can only assume that if we buy new instruments that they’ll come with newer versions of windows.
There is no alternative.
Linux cannot win that battle, and i don’t think it ever will until corporations start using Linux on the desktop as standard, after all Linux/Unix networks (with the help of samba) talk happily to Windows networks (which is what we currently do)
Having said that; all our laptops have Ubuntu on them nowadays (we used to use SuSe, but you had to know too much), at least we use it for all those users who are clever enough to realise that they don’t need word and excel … (and yes i know about OpenOffice, but some of these guys want windows and excel “because it’s better”)
@ jad: Yes. I hate the fact that much of the hardware available around the world is optimized to run under Windows only. The drivers and the very architecture, sometimes, too.
Linux won’t win this battle now.
But you can never put the brakes on the winds of change, no matter how slow. As as OS, nobody disagrees that Linux is far superior.
Ubuntu is doing an excellent job of creating an easy to use desktop that requires very little maintenance to keep stable and secure. Its a good basic OS that will always work.
The problem with Ubuntu is everything is different so people have to learn all over again when they switch. It took me about a year to get completely comfortable installing Ubuntu with no internet via AptonCD.
Here is an example of what happens when someone switches; The media players can’t play common media files. Average users don’t know there is codecs in the software channels so they search on google for codecs (like they do with windblows) only to find a forum that is 30 pages long on how to install codecs. Even if they do type it in there is different sets of codecs other than gstreamer. They wont know which one to pick.
A non free version of Ubuntu would be kick ass. Most new users wont care if it cost a couple dollars for licensing if it comes to having to buy licenses because, they know they can just stick the disk in and it will work.
IF windows falls (I sure wish they would stop trying to take over the world)… I don’t thing Macintosh is as evil as M$.(besides being extremely proprietary) If they are I don’t think they will try to kill Linux like MS does. The OSX operating systems owe a lot to the open source community, programs for BSD and Linux can run on a MAC. After all, MAC is based on FreeBSD and NetBSD, Both Are somewhat Open source, and free to use.(as in costing 0$)
@ DIRT!!!!!: Actually, the MAC is based on Unix. The Mac is about as Open Source as Windows. The corporate world is not a movie – with good guys and bad guys. It what a company does that defines them.
Ubuntu is is hard for those who are completely new to Linux. Most do not understand that to install something, you download from a repository instead of clicking a *.exe file. Nevertheless, only time will tell how this really shapes up.
Linux will kill all closed source after all, but not soon. It’s just the concept of the whole open-source that will win, not the small differences like hardware support and games now…
Most people don’t even know what Linux is. I think the most progress in a short period of time for Linux is making advertisements. And then keep going to do the good work.
Go Linux !
Ubuntu will need money to run Ads, therefore I doubt that they will run any Ad Campaigns anytime soon. I do not think that windows will fall. I think they will benefit from the open source movement, by transitioning when the time is right. It is already rumored that they are looking into an Os based on Unix, after all Microsoft had a Unix Os back in the day.
microsoft has way too much capital. almost impossible for them to die. most people think their computer is made by microsoft. the name recognition is insane.
@ nathan: Agreed. You wouldn’t believe how many people in Pakistan go around touting that they just bought a brand new Microsoft computer with a Intel Pentium 8 processor 😐
One good thing Microsoft currently has is that it offers free Windows 7 upgrades if you bought your computer this summer from certain manufacturers. A lot of people will get Windows 7 and post about it and the OS will get a lot more attention, while only the Ubuntu community will hype about Ubuntu.
Just now, Windows 7 is better Ubuntu 9.10. Maybe Ubuntu is worrisome. 😦
My english isn’t good. I said “Windows 7 is better than Ubuntu 9.10”. 😀
I think the concept of Ubuntu will be great hit ie “Linux for human beings”. People will have to accept Ubuntu in the near by future because they are receiving something better and better free of cost. More hardware and software manufactures are going to support Linux based OS. I am no fan of Windows or Ubuntu however I would like to say that Ubuntu will surely become a greater hit than we expect.
Ubuntu has been evolving and it requires very little technical expertise to install and use these days, comparing the old redhat and debian. For most users ubuntu will meet the needs, although the stigma associated with linux is still there as i can see. I dont know anything about computers, so give me windows. when this idea changes Ubuntu will see that goldrush Opensource world is waiting for..
Windows 7 is quite a commendable version of windows next to XP and 98SE, Hence it will also see the following and profits as XP.
windows will still lead the race for now
Nice write-up. Insightful for a review written ten months prior to the releases of Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10 (both due in days now).
I want to chime in because a few weeks ago I (finally) loaded up Ubuntu 9.04 on a spare USB drive I found here at home. I wondered how it would handle the hardware on my fairly recent issue Acer Aspire 5735z notebook, an Intel/Vista model I got at Best Buy last December for ~$400. Short answer: Ubuntu’s installation got everything perfect, far as I can tell. So, in my humble opinion, there’s no question that Ubuntu could fairly easily replace Windows for almost anyone. And I don’t think finding Linux versions of popular apps is much of a problem anymore; at least, it doesn’t need to be.
Almost every application a person needs is now available on the web in a browser. Email, money management, text editing, spreadsheet, video, music, games, you name it; it all works exactly the same whether it’s Windows, Mac, or Ubuntu. When folks figure that out, or when Ubuntu figures out how to market itself as the free OS that freely does everything for free that any free person could conceivably want to do, its numbers should start rising same as Firefox did a few years back when it (finally) revived Mozilla.
I, for one, will probably not upgrade to Windows 7 when it comes out next week. I’m already looking forward to upgrading my notebook to Ubuntu 9.10.
Will windows die?… nope. unfortunately. if there is money to be made someone will find a way to controll it one way or the other. ubuntu works because its not in the lime light.
i am ejoying using it as my main os and its been a fun introduction to linux. osx and ubuntu have really shown me how silly this microsoft monopoly is. one definately not based on product quality.
personally i think the future of software is to become less os dependent. less localised.
I am currently using ubuntu 8.10. I would like to upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 but may wait a while. I want to get a netbook so will stick it on that,
I am not interested in Windows, I don’t need it,
@ NealB: Neither will I. I am waiting for Ubuntu 9.10 too. The performance is far superior.
@ bob noris: “future of software is to become less os dependent. less localised.” – That, in fact, is what Google thinks too. Remember the hype about the Chrome OS? Same concept. But at the end, many people would still like to keep their work to themselves.
@ Paul: Some people do need Windows. I’m a student engineer, and I can’t do some of my very basic work if I stick to Linux. On the other hand, Windows can hardly perform some of the network oriented tasks I need. So for me, it’s a dual boot that serves best.
I started migrating from MS to Linux 1.5 years ago…. My experience is that for any given WIN app, there is a Linux app that does the same thing. While true that in some cases the Linux app does not do quite as well INITIALLY as the WIN app does, because of the whole open source concept, improvements come rapidly.
Use PhotoShop vs GIMP as an example, while PS does still have a slight performance edge, the Gimp has closed much of the gap, and in many areas is actually better. Considering that the developers are handicapped in a sense because they are trying to be compatible with a closed source rival, the progress made by Linux and its apps is amazing.
Many people also have older boxes at home that can not run ANY of the modern MS offerings, and be usable. I can take almost any box, down to and including an old 486 box, and find a Linux distribution that will install as easy or easier than Windows, and will have better hardware detection and recognition than MS offers, AND, have a usable computer that runs quickly and is easy to use. I have 3 boxes at home used for distributed computing that would be useless under windows, but are still very useful under Linux.
(By The Way…. 2 of those boxes have not been rebooted in almost a year… would never be able to do that with a windows box of any type)
I used ubuntu for almost a year but I switched back to Windows XP simply because the openoffice application was way too slow and unstable for my purpose.
Window will not die because many people earn living from it, so it will target at customer satisfaction or fulfill people’s desire in owning things.
Linux will not die because it is free, nothing can be worse than this factor.
I dont really understand, why is paying for software a terrible thing ? People pay for paintings, they pay for the daily newspaper, for their tv channels, pay for communication services like internet and phone services, and so on. So why one shouldn’t pay for software ? People worked on it, so why should they come on idea to give it away for free ? Sure, it should not cost unaffordable money amount, but work has a price in software development like in other areas. Why should software be open source ? If i open the sources, then I implicitely want, that my sources are modified by other users, recompiled, repackaged and redistributed.And if I want so, I will set the price to zero. So there is no barrier for others who are interested in the software idea. And the only thing you can charge a price for, is a service. That is the current opensource marketing model: get it for free, develop it freely, but if you want be sure that everything works the way it should in your productive environment, then subscribe to a support service. So it comes, that enterprise sector pays for opensource development, while normal home users pay nothing, but have to maintain the software themselves. And this way the developer company does make not so much revenue like one with a closed source product, because only the enterprise sector pays something, but “general” user pays nothing. But this way the software gets lots of volunteer developers, which is a better survival strategy in times of economic recession.
Windows won’t kill ubuntu or vice versa anytime soon.I think that more and more open-source software will be released and that will boost ubuntu’s base,but MSFT will counter with some super innovation ( WinFS maybe ).That will hold things down for the next ten to twenty years.By then MSFT will have much more ideas to deal with.I use ubuntu right now and boy is it something else! It’s pretty good so far.There’s nothing I’ve seen windows do that ubuntu can’t do the equivalent to.If windows were to die by ,it would be those crazy anti-trust lawsuits that would do it,not necessarily ubuntu’s features.
open source stuff is way better than closed source. thats why ubuntu will someday kill windows. As for mac, only stupid people will buy it. no offence. did you guys know that ubnutu can actually use windows softwares with a program called wine(windows emulator).
the thing why ubuntu hasn’t killed windows yet is because not a lot of people know about it. even if there was one advertisement on tv about ubuntu, windows would have already been killed.
I have been using linux for the past 12 years, and ubuntu for past 3. Ubuntu is one of the best OS that we can depend on.. But ubuntu/linux will not be able to kill windows unless we have tool like .Net (Microsoft Visual studio), its the power of Visual studio that makes developers to turn to develop windows software.. using VS.NET is simple and easy, no pain in development, virtually any one can develop a tool. But when it comes to QT, we have got minor issues, mainly in time of development.. First we need to get hold of some thing like .NET for ubuntu/linux.. the day microsoft will start falling..
And Ubuntu must arrange deals with companies (laptop/desktop) to pre-install ubuntu instead of Free dos.. Then windows will be wiped off
@fjfr74
Please note that wine is not windows emulator, its => “wine is not an emulator” . And about mac, its one of the powerful os that you can ever have .. Not being open source is not a crime.. windows sucks, but mac do not.Mac one of the fastest and best performance os that you can ever get. being a linux guy do not mean that we must blame Mac and windows. Mac is developed on X-code, have u ever found another os that handle grahics like cake?? Mac do. Do you know what technology Mac is having?? its the best a customer can ever hope to get.. there tools are best, they integrate it very well, they have custom hardware that you will never dream of.. The people who use Mac/windows are not stupid.
Not sure why the article says a number of times about ‘less software’ on linux. There’s nothing I have tried to do that I haven’t been able find a very good linux app for yet.
@ Jon: There is definitely lesser software for Linux. It’s inductive reasoning – which platform is likely to have ‘more software’, one that is run by less than 1/10 of the populace, or the one that is run by 9/10s?
Of course, ‘less software’ is perhaps the wrong term. ‘less quality software’ is more in line with what I meant. It is undeniable that while Linux does have good equivalents for many commonly used Windows apps, the quality is almost always marginally, and sometimes largely, lower – particularly when it comes to ease of use.
@ fjfr74: You should also know that WINE fails to successfully or easily handle many sophisticated Windows software suites, such as Office 2007 or Adobe CS4.
@jon
Yes, linux has many variants and a vast collection of softwares, but when it comes to real world they are limited. We can get replacements for many windows application and some can be run over wine, but many other software don’t have replacements for eg: VS.Studio, softwares those can burn programs into micro controllers etc, photoshop do run over wine but the results are pretty bad to neglect, there are lots more.. but still LINUX ROCKS..
I’ve been working with Windows since version 3.0 (back in 1991) and with Ubuntu for the past three years.
Vista might have been a failure for MS, but Seven is definitely going to be successful, and it’s going to put a lot of money into MS’s pockets.
Software quality is one critical issue for Linux. Although GIMP isn’t bad, it’s nowhere even near Daobe Photoshop, and the same applies to Inkscape in comparison to Adobe Illustrator. OOo is the only cross-platform app that could be called a qualified success, and despite tons of subsidies from Sun even OOo isn’t as powerful as MS Office. Let’s NOT speak about software for special purposes such as CAD (and particularly special CAD purposes such as construction of machines, furniture etc.) These are the territories in which Windows-based apps rule entire markets, where billions of dollars are turned over and millions of dollars of profit are generated every year.
Why, for the love of God, should successful software companies such as Autodesk, Adobe, MS etc. stop pursuing their successful and proven product lines to adjust their software to 20 or so different flavours of Linux? Ubuntu might be the most successful Linux version, but it isn’t even near a monopoly on the Linux market; and if it were, would it then be better to trade one quasi-monopoly (Windows) for another (Ubuntu)?
Windows is by far the most versatile operating system on the market; there practically isn’t any niche market where you don’t find more than just one or two different Windows apps that – unlike quite a lot of Linux apps – work really well.
Open-source software might gain more importance in fields such as productivity apps and communications but as most open-source software runs on Windows systems, too, it needn’t pose a threat to MS.
I Agree with this BUT I must say that on a day to day base, more and more windows administrators are looking at ubuntu. It’s a relatively new OS, but it’s hit the world by storm as it’s robust, sturdy and you can do with it what you want. It’s like going out on the town with the boys and when you’ve had a couple and go to the loo, you just can’t help taking a peek at the guy next to you. lol. I’ve actually started up 2 machines and installed both OS’s. I’ve fondled with both and found that although windows is more..i don’t know…a norm…ubuntu is way more flexible. I also read that someone was refering to a lack of software on ubuntu…that’s nonsence. I can do anything and everything any windows admin can do on Ubuntu..and it won’t cost me a dime. If you’re going Ubuntu, you should go open source. Natively, I’m an Windows Admin. I accidently somehow managed to play around with ubuntu 8.10 and that was it for me. The flexibility, stability and the fact that it’s cost effective was enough motivation for me to stick to it and migrate my network as I know it.
At the end of the day though, this is not just a war, this is a matter of opinion on the user and admin levels and a war of pride between the 2 software vendors. Also, ALL windows and linux admins will fight about this to the end of days as the IT Sector is a very competitive sector where as all of us want to out shine the other. My vote goes to ubuntu…Microsoft windows 7….bleh!
@ Muhammad Fahd Waseem…
And I’m quoting on
“….Muhammad Fahd Waseem
February 13th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
@ aaron gooch: Yes, let’s dream of a world with just Linux. But yes, I have mentioned: it’s not happening any time soon.”
Linux will aventually own the shizet out of MS windows. And why is that? Well, mathematics.
Cheap + Reliable + UNLIMITED FREE SOFTWARE + lightning fast + reshapable = Awesome!
Where as MS Windows is
Same shite new packages + pretty pictures + same reliability as Ubuntu if not worse + you can expect the blue screen = Crap…. you do the math. Windows has the capital….ubuntu has ppl with the brain.
@ Impartial
Firstly my friend. You seem like the narrow minded user/admin who has worked on both platforms with out opening your mind to the differences between the two. how many times have you had data loss on Microsoft’s OS or even Office as you had to point out? Then compare how many times this has happened on Ubuntu. Very stupid thing to point out I know but one of the key things on windows that we all hate/dread is the fact that it WILL go corrupt. There is no life span that you can pre-determine. Other than that…you can’t way the two up against each other while thinking about which company has the most money. Ubuntu is a very flexible OS that has saved me tons of money. If you have the brains to use it, and you’re comfortable with toying around..you’ll soon find that you can do way more on Ubuntu. Ubuntu server for example..when you install you can choose you server type similar to windows, but you can litterally build anything you want on there afterward without worrying about little nitty gritty things such as licensing. It’s cheap and cost effective and won’t let you down. Also it’s fully customizable. The only 1 thing I’ve ever heard when waying the two up against each other was “Yeah, but it can’t authenticate to Active Directory regardless of how you approach it. And even on that comment, after 2 minutes on google, I found 3 guides that works. I’ve tried them all. You need to be open minded. The war between Linux and Windows comes down to this…..Windows users feel they pay so their software owns..but in actual fact, that’s narrow minded. You need to think … Can I build a machine of the same capacity…using both? The answer, undoubtly is YES!
SHZWA!
@ Kaleeka f#ck yah! so true!
Actually linux don’t have to kill windows, its already dead on its own.
@Counter Terrorist
Behave your self 😛
i’m in no way a fanboy, i use windows xp, mac osx, and ubuntu 9.10 on my laptop. I use whatever i need, like windows for games, and mac osx for imovie and itunes, and ubuntu for everything else.
ubuntu though is a delight to use, and much less of a ‘boxed in’ feeling that i get from the corporation’s os’es windows, mac. It’s like a “you must do it our silly way” compared to linux’s “this is just one way to do it”
I think that once the better quality applications start popping up on ubuntu (we have open office, and gimp already) that can take care of video editing and game playing.. the operating system landscape will change for the better.
I can’t see linux going anywhere but up, afterall its always been considered the underdog. Windows and Mac are going down, although mac fans will insist it’s going up. I’ll agree mac is gaining more shares and users etc, but compared to linux’s gains, due to it’s free and un-corportized design, mac might as well be going backwards.
Well, lets look at the Short term, Mid term and Long Run. Three different OSes, Two Oses we need to Pay and one is Open Source (Free of clutters).
Lets look at the really short term.
Windows will lead and will still have a great market share as traditionally they have captured the market shares way beyond anyone can even break the ice. Even if they try it will be a mammoth task of breaking the glacier, which is not going to happen in the coming years as 80 % of the Pc’s run on windows because of its user friendly interface copied from Apple mac of the old generations.
People using Mac will always thing mac are fare superior than windows or linux. Mac followers will love to hate windows. In the shorter run there will be a small windows users who will migrate to mac say about 3 to 5 % globally. And its because the Mac Os is more stable and mac Os also has bugs like our windows cousins’ but they get fixed much faster than windows bug’s within a week.
Linux users does not matter which linus distros they use they will always think they are the Geeek God of the computer world. So let me say that about 2 to 7 % migration from windows to linux in the desktop arena in the short term.
In the Mid term windows will loose a far bit of share and will come down to about 70 % were else the linux market will increase by about 6 to 9 % and mac will increase to 9 % globally and there are others who would still think my windows 98 and 95 andwindows Xp is still doing fine and doing just what I want to do and will stick with their comp for another decade.
May be a decade from now
Long term the rise of cloud computing and Software as services (SAAS) concepts will slowly eat up shares and all a user needs to do is turn the comp and it will be connected to the central server which will automatically load what the user ask for just like the SETUP box does for watching our favourite channels. Then the OS is completely relevant, I see GOOGLE and other players will slowly emerge and take most of the Corporate world’s share as they only need to use what they want and don’t use what they are offered . what this means is that every users will know what his/her needs /preferences are. Like NetPc “ http://www.novatium.com/novanetpc.htm”. This concept is gaining a great attraction in the emerging markets like India, Africa, East Europe, Asia, and South America , So the market for this concepts will outshine windows / or Mac or linux. As the only pay for the services. Like say 10 $ per month, were in windows or mac or linux may have to deal with a different kind of marketing strategy.
@Jai:
This site is “http://www.novatium.com/novanetpc.htm” bull shit.I strongly doubt that u r not a computer geek .. grrrrr
Firstly this is a great article, and one of the few unbiased ones of its kind.
Ubuntu 9.10 is, in my opinion, a disaster. I had so much trouble installing it that I had to wipe it, install 9.04 and then upgrade. And since then Ive had many issues such a memory leaks. My brothers laptop wont go out of sleep mode, neither will his friends. My 9.10 startup is significantly slower than 9.04 and Ubuntu actually freezes sometimes (never before!). The only thing that got me through was a bit of technical prowess, and a love of Ubuntu (now waning).
The fact is is that there are loads of bleeding edge distros there to choose from. Ubuntu, however, is marketed as easy “Linux for Human Beings.” Ubuntu 9.10 simply did not fit this bill. If Windows 7 came out with anywhere near as many issues there would have been uproar. Ubuntu does that and they get away it, mainly (in my opinion) because their fans generally refuse to accept criticism.
The only way Linux in general will crack Windows is if, as stated many times above, it becomes easier to use and more compatible. What we have seen with 9.10 is a shift away from stability and ease of use towards bleeding edge. This is totally backwards.
My advice: slow the release cycle to once a year! Think real hard about the motto Ubuntu has. Make it more stable. On the phone to my brother he said that the only reason he didnt move back to Windows was because of security and that he would probably downgrade to 9.04. I lament that this could start to happen more if Ubuntu doesnt re evaluate where the want to go.
Apologies if tl;dr. 🙂
I’m about half and half about Ubuntu killing Windows, because the world seems to think that if something is free, it can’t be any good. Which in a lot of cases free things can be scams, and in cyber world viruses, so I can see where people get the mentality that this might be “too good to be true”, but maybe, hopefully, one day ubuntu will beat on windows.
This was an interesting article, with a great range of comments.
I have been a MS OS user since the beginning. I then gradually migrated to portable applications. Although they were still reliant on the Windows OS, they didn’t get caught in the registry and so were more portable when moving between machines. Then a couple of weeks ago I installed Xubuntu Linux 9.10. An easy install and yes, I had access to decent quality applications. In fact, many of these applications were the ‘portable applications’ I had been using in Windows.
I don’t think the Ubuntu/Windows issue is black and white because the cake is divided up in different ways:
1. Closed Source OS & Apps – Windows & Commercial apps
2. Closed Source OS & Open Source Apps – Windows and a shed load of other stuff
3. Open Source OS & Closed Source Apps – (say) Ubuntu and many commercial Linux developers (yes, they are out there too!)
4. Open Source OS & Open Source Apps – (say) Ubuntu and Canonical and the community.
Windows as an OS could still remain strong, but you might get more users adopting Open Source software for Windows and that will keep adoption of that OS high.
Ubuntu has commercial developers producing software that is not free. To get Microsoft Excel 2007 to work in Xubuntu I had to use Wine with a commercial app called Bordeaux for Linux. Wine on its own would not work. So there is still a cost factor there.
I personally feel that the way things will develop is to centralise the provision of software – operating systems and applications. This would be much easier to maintain and control – and it will be the best way to protect income streams. How many of us can honestly say they’ve purchased every Windows application they use? Microsoft loses billions every year through piracy. By centralising everything any upgrades/fixes are done seamlessly. This will be a pay-as-you-use service. I don’t think the real information technology battle will be between Windows & Ubuntu – it will be between the likes of Google and Microsoft.
Also technology is a key factor. In twenty-years time things are bound to be very different and a central software provision will possibly better suit that technology.
Someone said that the success of Firefox was an example of the way Ubuntu could progress. I disagree. Firefox is an example of good open source software – its not an example of a good Linux application. Firefox adds to the success of Windows as much as it would Ubuntu.
I for one will be interested to see how things develop. I still blow between Windows and Ubuntu. The things I like about Ubuntu is that it feels stable and dependable. I also like the fact that I’m not actually using ripped-off software. But that said, I like Microsoft Office and think that suite of applications is far superior to any open-source / Linux offerings. That’s not my opinion, but a statement of fact.
In closing, I take a much more philosophical line on the Microsoft / Windows and Ubuntu / Linux head to head. Microsoft / Windows is representative of the competitive approach to life, one that provides variety and reward, but one that seriously affects the life balance of this planet. Ubuntu expresses a cooperative approach to life, one that is open, sharing and caring and its this philosophical attitude that will get us out of the climatic mess we are in.
On philosophical grounds I would choose Ubuntu / Xubuntu. On practical grounds, I would want to continue using Microsoft Office. Creating an Excel spreadsheet in Xubuntu/Open Office will not rendering the same Excel spreadsheet when opened in Windows/Excel and I even had Open Office losing / corrupting spreadsheet data.
It’s a difficult choice…but thankfully we all still retain our tribal mentality and because of that we will continue to have our preferences and dislikes, just like we do with our favourite sports, pastimes and other interests.
Good debate!
@ GrahamG: Thank you for a very nice comment. I truly enjoyed reading it.
Philosophically, many would choose Ubuntu / Some-Linux. Practically, most stick to Windows – simply because it runs the programs they want, or think they want.
Ubuntu doesn’t have to kill Windows, it only has to be a serious competitor. The compitition will force good things from all OS companies. the problem with Windows is that they aren’t seriously pushed to do things better. Where are you going to go if you don’t like it? Apple Mac could have killed Windows a long time ago had it not overpriced its hardware.
I agree that Linux needs a powerful programming suite like MS Visual Studio. This allows the mass of programmers create utilties and applications more rapidly for commercial and business use. Once there is a equally powerful Linux way to do the same things that Windows can do, then the monopoly will crumble. It may not kill it like BetaMax, but it will make Microsoft work harder at making things better. That serves us all.
Hola a todos sin duda recomiendo windows 7 sin duda alguna ubuntu da muchos problemas ademas el software que tiene es de mala calidad editores de video no son muy buenos juegos los mas malos que pude ver de que vale que ubuntu tenga efectos sea bonito si no tiene rendimiento windows tendra software de pago pero por lo menos es el masd potente que ahi ademas de una gran lista de juegos buenisimos un saludo
I Think you need to get real! a linux base OS is not going to overtake window without the support of commercial software suppliers. The strength of the windows platform is two fold.
1. The home pc market – it support games written for the platform. Since ID stopped releasing linux versions of its games and the move away from open GL to directX gamers have only one choice of OS.
2. The business market – outside of the usual stuff like email, web browsing & office applications there is no alternative to windows. Solid modeling, CAD, MRP, Accounting, and industrial programming (PLC,s HMI, Robotics & Vision systems) rely on the windows platform.
Commercial software supplier would have to compile the packages for each flavor of linux, as releasing the source code to allow users to do it is not an option as they need to protect their investment.