Bye Bye Linux (Ubuntu), Hi Again Windows

Good stuff, but there is something a lot of people don't consider (and the author didn't here either). Most "benchmarks" people use to judge Linux are based on experience with Windows, yet almost no one ever judges Windows based on Linux. Linux makes much more of an effort to meet Windows benchmarks than vice versa.<p>Linux is (mostly) secure by design. How does Windows stack up?<p>Linux has a powerful command line interface which can do almost anything that can physically be done on a Linux system.<p>Linux comes equipped with programming support (I think a C compiler should be considered a standard part of ANY system).<p>Linux (generally) has resizable dialog boxes. The Windows environment variables dialog box is downright evil.<p>Linux allows for a great deal more system and desktop customization.<p>If you get used to running Linux, you can pretty much dual-boot or straight up change your OS on a whim (especially given the available of Gnome and KDE). Also, you have something to change to. If you decide you get sick of Windows, it's a much bigger deal to change OS. Windows to Linux is nothing like Ubuntu to Arch.<p>Installing and running a development/test web server on a Linux machine is almost trivial.<p>I would say in general where Linux excels, it excels far more than Windows does where Windows excels. Windows may be a little better in some areas, but where Linux is better, it's so many lightyears ahead that Windows isn't even in view anymore (think virus protection for example).

This is a nice article. He makes some good points. I'm generally leaning Linux-ward these days, but I really appreciate what he says about laptops.<p>A few notes:<p>- On the initial installation, CD + 20 minutes for Linux, CD + 2 hrs for Windows, sounds about right to me. But another point to make is that on Ubuntu, another 20 minutes, maybe an hour at most, gets me a fully loaded system, while on Windows I'm swapping CDs for days. Of course, I don't have to do that Cisco VPN stuff he complains about.<p>- An issue that he doesn't touch on at all is the general "scriptability" of the system. I've found that under Linux, it is usually much easier to write a little script to automate some task, than it is under Windows. Of course, this matters not at all to some people.<p>- Laptops, external displays, etc.: Definitely. If I were running the Ubuntu project, I'd put everything else on essential-maintenance-only status, and <i>get</i> <i>it</i> <i>working</i> <i>right</i> <i>on</i> <i>a</i> <i>laptop</i> as soon as possible.

Unfortunately one of your problems is reliance on Microsoft Products and specific hardware even when you were switched to Linux, such as Office/Outlook and products such as the Dell Docking Station and Multi Function Printers who doesn't support any *nix, and Cisco VPN (look in to vpnc). That's like comparing using Windows and trying to get KOffice and Cygwin working on Windows and benchmarking so.<p>You pick a platform, and start using the tools associated natively with it.<p>Linux isn't a good suite for everyone, and definitely not in this case.

Actually the external screen stuff worked quite well since one or two releases ago. At least for me. They added nice controls for it.<p>Printer - oh well, just have to buy the right one, I guess.<p>Docking station: very exotic use case.

He is complaining about docking a Dell. Can anyone here confirm that latest Ubuntu works with latest Dell Latitudes and their docking stations?<p>I just placed an order on one of them and I'm getting nervous. Google searches didn't reveal any potential problems.<p>My specs:<p>Latitude E6400,<p>NVIDIA Quadro NVS 160M,<p>Intel® WiFi Link 5300 802.11a/g/n Draft Mini Card,<p>E-Port, dock for charging, digital video, and USB / eSATA port support

Complaints are:<p>1. Hard to set up printing to complicated printers.<p>2. Laptop docking station doesn't work.<p>Yeah, hardware compatibility is indeed a perenial problem with linux distros. The reason is that it's not something the OS vendor can solve. The truth is that Microsoft doesn't make this stuff work, HP and Dell do. They're the ones who get the support calls when stuff fails, so they're the ones with an incentive to make the integration work right. The linux world has no equivalent player (in the consumer space -- there certainly is on servers, where vendors care deeply about linux support).<p>3. Distros don't update Firefox when new releases come out.<p>I think this is fair. There are arguments to be made either way, but it's true that a windows user has a much easier time upgrading to new versions of popular software at release time than linux folks do, where you generally need to wait 0-6 months for the new Ubuntu. I think some kind of answer for the user who wants to download someting new Right Now would be a good thing.<p>4. External monitor support sucks in X.org.<p>Absolutely true, but it's improving rapidly.

Just a note for the upcoming October release of Ubuntu: I've been trying the alphas, and in version 2 all my external display woes have gone away. It's as easy as setting up external displays in windows.

I'm a little depressed that external monitor support is still so poor. The last time I tried it was 2 years ago back in college, and it took me weeks of Googling, reconfiguring and reinstalling to get it to just barely work. Seems like it has barely moved since then... what a shame for something so obvious and vital to many laptop users! Reminds me of the xkcd comic. (<a href="http://xkcd.com/619" rel="nofollow">http://xkcd.com/619</a>)

Could do without the attitude, but would be interested to see the author of the blog try a mac for a bit and compare.

With the default xorg.conf, usually you just plug in your second monitor and type 'startx -- :1' for your presentations... it is annoything that if I'm working on the train (one screen) and I get to work, I have to start a new X session. I think xrandr solves this issue but it's not ready for me yet.

Its a sad thing that while most of linux kernel code is drivers, its hardware support is still flaky in many places :(