Linux.com

Being a "newbie" and a former XP Pro user I have the blessing of hands on with both. Since I'm adapt to build machines myself, I like the idea that Linux is not as hardware dependant as Linux. In order for XP to run faster and more effecient, you must invest in hardware that is specifically XP compatable and so that pretty much eliminates legacy devices. There is a undiscovered wealth of hardware that although considered by most obsolete, it still can hold its own with the more efficient O/S to drive it. There is the issues of updating drivers and mission critical components. I found it was complicated to go to websites to fetch the latest driver to install (sound and video mostly) Linux is tested for a specific packages and rarely require upgrade unless you update to the latest version. I also got tired of the constant cleaning and defragmentation issues. Linux has a more itelligent and efficient way of storing data thus eliminating that chore. On a more personal front, I found that I became intellectually lethargic with XP. I took for granted XP would always take care of issues and thus I felt I was losing the ability of the hands-on aspect to diagnosed a system and because XP has a rather watered down version of MSDOS within it, I trusted XP until it would crash then where is those skills when you become overconfident of a O/S enough to forget them. Linux is more involved but the user is forced to learn those aspects of that system and better prepares them to service it in the event of a crash. XP only provided a pristine armchair experience in that manner. In the real world IT, you must have a intimate knowlege of hardware and the O/S even if doesn't have a backup or system restore to save it from a crash. Linux is not perfect by any stretch but I would rather have a sixteen year old write programs for this and understand his process in writing it and debugging it then the closed-loop MS uses to develop installations for its offerings. The end user has no input what so ever in the direction of development or the goals of it. So in the end result, If you feel trusting of XP abilities without a say in how that is developed, then by all means do so but you might find one day that these systems that you have so much faith in will fail requiring costly hardware changes or time comsuming reinstalls of the operating system and unless you can personally afford it at about 65 dollars a hour or above, It makes sense to know the ropes before you have to grab onto them to save yourself. It is a matter of preferance really but I personally trust my own judgements and not the determinations of a huge corperation that is guilty in a anti trust case filed by our own government, to how O/S's and computer systems are implemented and maintained. I sleep well with that understanding, question is, do you?

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