Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on December 22, 2003 09:01 AM
I did actually fill out the survey myself. I've been a long time Unix/Linux user and really don't see the harm in filling out the survey even if it is a fishing expedition for Microsoft to find holes in the Linux/Unix community.
Really, in the survey the only two negatives I had against Linux/Unix is that it needs to have better multimedia/gaming support and that it needs to be more streamlined. The first problem with Linux not having as good of gaming and multimedia support as Windows is really only a weakness if you're using your system to play games. As far as being more sreamlined, Linux has come a very long way in this department. Both Gnome and KDE are far more streamlined and more organized then in the past. The very existence of Gnome and KDE made linux far easier for the end user. But I still think the Linux community should agree to use either Gnome or KDE as a default desktop and put the other desktop as an alternative for those who prefer it. Whichever desktop is chosen as the default should be the default desktop on all the major distros. Then great effort should be placed on cleaning the desktop up and fixing all the major glitches bugs and features making them seamless to the end user.
As for Microsoft's own operating system, I had far more negative things to say about it. Firstly, security!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Microsoft has become far too lax in regard to security. Their entire OS is almost retardly designed to be as insecure as possible. In order to attain any level of security with the latest versions of Microsoft Windows you have to apply tons of patches and registry tweaks to get anywhere near the security level provided by Unix/Linux. Even when all the tweaks and updated and patches are installed you are still vulnerable to Viruses, worms, and spyware that are virutally non-existent in the Linux world.
Contrary to what many think, Linux inspite having many security holes of it's own is still far more secure then Microsoft Windows will ever be. For one thing, Linux doesn't automatically make every program you download executable. You have to manually make it executable in many cases. Secondly, a user on a Unix/Linux system can only modify files that they created or that they have full read/write/execute abilities over. They cannot modify critical system files without logging on with root access. Taking advantage of security flaws in Unix/Linux requires a much more in depth understanding of the operating system then in the Windows environment. Therefore, in the Unix/Linux world there are far fewer people who know how to exploit the weaknesses.
Additionally, security flaws in Linux are generally resolved much more rapidly then in the Microsoft world. Though there have been a few cases of security flaws taking a while to be patched in Linux, this tends to be the excveption rather then the rule. Furthermore, there are many Linux distros available each of which implements things differently. Because Linux is less predictable due to the many flavors available, it is also harder to hack.
In summary, Linux is far more secure, catching up in usability and multimedia, and makes a far better platform in a server environment then Microsoft Windows. I have had months upon months of uptime with my Red Hat Linux and Sun Boxes which would be unthinkable if the same systems ran Microsoft Windows. I never run into viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, or large amounts of spam that others experience. Unix/Linux is just a better platform!!
Microsoft cannot threaten Linux the way it has with its other competition. I will never go back to using Microsoft Windows as my primary OS ever again. Linux has few weaknesses. Microsoft has many! Eventually, I believe that Linux will win the war and that Microsoft Windows will start to lose a substantial amount of its userbase. Though I believe there will always be a Microsoft Windows Operating System I do not believe that it will dominate to the degree it has in the past.
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Re:Some of my survey answers
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on December 22, 2003 09:01 AMReally, in the survey the only two negatives I had against Linux/Unix is that it needs to have better multimedia/gaming support and that it needs to be more streamlined. The first problem with Linux not having as good of gaming and multimedia support as Windows is really only a weakness if you're using your system to play games. As far as being more sreamlined, Linux has come a very long way in this department. Both Gnome and KDE are far more streamlined and more organized then in the past. The very existence of Gnome and KDE made linux far easier for the end user. But I still think the Linux community should agree to use either Gnome or KDE as a default desktop and put the other desktop as an alternative for those who prefer it. Whichever desktop is chosen as the default should be the default desktop on all the major distros. Then great effort should be placed on cleaning the desktop up and fixing all the major glitches bugs and features making them seamless to the end user.
As for Microsoft's own operating system, I had far more negative things to say about it. Firstly, security!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Microsoft has become far too lax in regard to security. Their entire OS is almost retardly designed to be as insecure as possible. In order to attain any level of security with the latest versions of Microsoft Windows you have to apply tons of patches and registry tweaks to get anywhere near the security level provided by Unix/Linux. Even when all the tweaks and updated and patches are installed you are still vulnerable to Viruses, worms, and spyware that are virutally non-existent in the Linux world.
Contrary to what many think, Linux inspite having many security holes of it's own is still far more secure then Microsoft Windows will ever be. For one thing, Linux doesn't automatically make every program you download executable. You have to manually make it executable in many cases. Secondly, a user on a Unix/Linux system can only modify files that they created or that they have full read/write/execute abilities over. They cannot modify critical system files without logging on with root access. Taking advantage of security flaws in Unix/Linux requires a much more in depth understanding of the operating system then in the Windows environment. Therefore, in the Unix/Linux world there are far fewer people who know how to exploit the weaknesses.
Additionally, security flaws in Linux are generally resolved much more rapidly then in the Microsoft world. Though there have been a few cases of security flaws taking a while to be patched in Linux, this tends to be the excveption rather then the rule. Furthermore, there are many Linux distros available each of which implements things differently. Because Linux is less predictable due to the many flavors available, it is also harder to hack.
In summary, Linux is far more secure, catching up in usability and multimedia, and makes a far better platform in a server environment then Microsoft Windows. I have had months upon months of uptime with my Red Hat Linux and Sun Boxes which would be unthinkable if the same systems ran Microsoft Windows. I never run into viruses, worms, trojans, spyware, or large amounts of spam that others experience. Unix/Linux is just a better platform!!
Microsoft cannot threaten Linux the way it has with its other competition. I will never go back to using Microsoft Windows as my primary OS ever again. Linux has few weaknesses. Microsoft has many! Eventually, I believe that Linux will win the war and that Microsoft Windows will start to lose a substantial amount of its userbase. Though I believe there will always be a Microsoft Windows Operating System I do not believe that it will dominate to the degree it has in the past.
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