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Windows versus Linux (again!)

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Weeks ? LOL Is that a thing to be proud of ? :biggrin:
My Linux servers measure uptimes in years -- usually interrupted by major power outages or planned hardware upgrades.

Hard to believe you're making that argument. When Linux has to deal with the enormous diversity of current and legacy applications, hardware, drivers, configurations and such that Windows does, then we can talk. It's not tough to do a simple job reliably. Our Windows servers rarely ever fault either.

I think people consistently fail to underestimate the enormity of what MS has accomplished. To drive a team of 10s of thousands bright, temperamental and highly opinionated developers to produce a such a highly reliable and capable package is quite something. There's a reason that nobody has come up with a really viable competitor - except perhaps for in niche applications (like servers) where the demands on the software are so much less.
 
Hard to believe you're making that argument. When Linux has to deal with the enormous diversity of current and legacy applications, hardware, drivers, configurations and such that Windows does, then we can talk. It's not tough to do a simple job reliably. Our Windows servers rarely ever fault either.

I think people consistently fail to underestimate the enormity of what MS has accomplished. To drive a team of 10s of thousands bright, temperamental and highly opinionated developers to produce a such a highly reliable and capable package is quite something. There's a reason that nobody has come up with a really viable competitor - except perhaps for in niche applications (like servers) where the demands on the software are so much less.

WHAT are you talking about ? Linux runs on a LOT more widely varied hardware than Windows, starting from wrist-watch through smart-phones (ever heard of Android?), desktops, laptops, PS3, Tesla (your center screen runs Linux too), all the way to supercomputers with thousands of CPUs, not to mention various embedded devices, routers etc.
Linux was originally developed as a free operating system for Intel x86-based personal computers. It has since been ported to more computer hardware platforms than any other operating system. It is a leading operating system on servers and other big iron systems such as mainframe computers and supercomputers.[SUP][12][/SUP][SUP][13][/SUP][SUP][14][/SUP] As of June 2013, more than 95% of the world's 500 fastest supercomputers run some variant of Linux,[SUP][15][/SUP] including all the 44 fastest.[SUP][16][/SUP] Linux also runs on embedded systems, which are devices whose operating system is typically built into the firmware and is highly tailored to the system; this includes mobile phones,[SUP][17][/SUP] tablet computers, network routers, facility automation controls, televisions[SUP][18][/SUP][SUP][19][/SUP] and video game consoles. Android, which is a widely used operating system for mobile devices, is built on top of the Linux kernel.
List_of_Linux_supported_computer_architectures

In terms of applications: an average Linux distribution comes with thousands of applications available right from the install DVD, then you can download many tens of thousands more. And the number of developers in the open source linux community is also several fold the number of Microsoft employees and they are more diverse in terms of background / languages spoken.

And no, I do not underestimate the enormity of what MS has accomplished -- companies / sw it has either bankrupted via illegally leveraging its monopoly or via "business deals":
- Stac Electronics
- Digital Research/Caldera
- Netscape (see DOJ action)
- Spyglass (source of Internet Explorer, deal was to pay x% of revenue, then MS gave away IE for free bankrupting both Netscape and Spyglass)
- Q-DOS (became MS-DOS, and cost $3M or so later on)
- Lattice (for their C compiler)
- Multiplan (became Excel)
- Sybase (became SQL Server)
- Powerpoint
- Fox (became FoxPro)
- Avalanche (SGML tools)
- Visio
 
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Just to be clear...The Model S is running Linux, and while Linux is a Unix like operating system, in no way is it actually branded Unix.

UNIX is more of a philosophy and architecture, there's no such thing as an official UNIX OS. Linux, Mac OS, iOS, Android, Solaris, IRIX, OpenStep/NeXTStep etc... are all variants of the same thing more or less. These days there's only really two OSes on the mass market: UNIX and all it's variants and Windows.
 
UNIX is more of a philosophy and architecture, there's no such thing as an official UNIX OS.
UNIX is a trademarked brand. To call an operating system "UNIX" it must be certified by the Open Group to meet the Single Unix Specification (The UNIX System).

The UNIX trademark is owned and managed by The Open Group on behalf of the industry to signify products that are certified to conform to the Single UNIX Specification. By preferring products that are licensed to use the UNIX trademark, end user enterprises can obtain the benefits associated with the Single UNIX Specification, the UNIX standard for portable applications.
UNIX® | The Open Group

Many different OS's have done this (Solaris, HPUX, even Apple brands OS X as UNIX), but Linux has not.
 
Love Linux Mint. Had a problem with my desktop this weekend. Asked a question in the forums. Problem solved. It was easy, no fuss.

Not so easy with the Windows PCs I've had.

Linux Mint. Faster than Windows. Easy to use. Picks up new hardware immediately, installs drivers with a click. It just works.
 
Linux is great for servers, tinkerers and technology gurus, but not so great for the general public, where Windows shines. As a software developer, I work with both. Linux is superior in many ways. But here's the thing. No matter how great it is, it doesn't change the glaring fact that I have mult-page cheat sheets I have to reference frequently when working with Linux. I don't need cheat sheets on Windows. They both have their place I think.