Top 10: When Linux is better than Windows…

Over the past years, Linux has been gaining popularity because of it's 'user friendly' desktop, and it is quite common nowadays to have a person having a dual boot setup of Linux alongside Windows on his PC.

Yet one may think that this is nonsense, because there is nothing to do on Linux and Windows is the 'real thing'.

However this is quite poor thinking, because in reality there are many penguiny things which you can do better on the platform.

These are my top 10:

1. It's Open-Source. From the inside-out, the operating system is built entirely on open code, this meaning that any person with programming skills can pick it up and make improvements to the operating system.

2. Rarely any viruses. Meaning none. Viruses are designed for Windows because attackers know of it's easy vulnerability, which nowadays expand to malware etc., with still the same winning situation. With it being an 'open code' and the system being 'Unix minded', including the security structure, it is very difficult to get something malicious into your system unless you deliberately let it in.

3. Security, like mentioned above, you cannot perform system tasks, such as installing updates and programs without you granting administrator privileges every single time, or else having a username without a password, or simply accessing and changing anything administrative on your system without the administrative user's permission.

With Windows, they have been closing the gaps, however I'd suspect that it's just layers upon layers and that there is a loophole somewhere since it was not built with security in mind.

4. Workspaces. Can you imagine working with, for example, four monitors at once? or maybe just an infinite number? Of course anybody can do this, but it can be done much easier if you work with 'workspaces', which can ultimately let you work with one monitor but have multiple desktops that you can switch to.

5. Latest distro works on older PCs. Meaning that if the latest version of Ubuntu came out and you are complaining because it won't run on your really old PC, it can! Any Linux distribution released today and in the future can be run on old hardware, and this can be easily done by using a desktop environment that's properly designated to be lightweight, such as LXDE and XFCE, and there are plenty of methods to have it installed and run efficiently. Also talk about scalability!

6. Huge software database. You just install it and then you install it. From your Linux OS to your favorite programs that is, and if you don't know what to get than you can look up for it from the software center application. With many interesting programs to find, from educational, to video and image editing, programming and so on...

7. Defragmentation. This is a pure classic. Remember times when your PC get's realllyy slow with use, and you have to run a program called Disk Defragmentor to properly organize your hard drive?

With the originally running 'filesystem' that the majority of Linux use, which is mainly ext, all data is managed and arranged on the air, leaving the system organized correctly as it were without making fragmentations. This all means that the drive does not get slow with use.

8. Major updates and barely any restarts or system hanging... Windows has become the champion of updates when it comes to wasting away at your productivity. Downloading and installing updates in the background without you being aware and then you go to restart your PC or it forces you to, and it takes hours upon hours for that update to finish. Then worse is when it restarts and almost as soon as its about to get to your user it continues with updates, fooling you into thinking that it was finished, but just about to start again, making you feel frustrated.

In Linux you are notified about the updates and asks for your permission when to start downloading and installing, which most of it is done live without disturbing you, whilst allowing you to work. Rarely does it ask for a SIMPLE restart and in most cases you can just continue with using your OS without any interruptions.

9. Meaning longer uptime... As like the above, your operating system is always doing its best to keep running and working without failing, which is why most of servers are run on Linux and promises stability.

10. Don't spend hundreds for a nice and functional desktop... Also as stated earlier, your desktop is highly customizable, you can run different desktop environments which suit your likes, you can also run environments which allow you to tweak the desktop to the maximum, such as GNOME classic and you can also change compositing software which allow your desktop to become animated and lively, most popularly using compiz.

Also other things which make the operating system strong, including a large community and given support, also installation of drivers and new technologies have become basically easier on the Linux platform than any others...