What are the advantages of Linux (any specific OS) over a system which already has XP on it?
Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at
07:02
Is there any reason that one should switch to, or dual-boot with some sort of Linux OS over Windows XP if they already have Windows XP installed? If so what exactly are they?
Tagged with: dual boot • Linux • windows xp
Filed under: Linux
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I don’t use dual-boot.
It simply does not work.
The reason is that your data (documents, pictures, music, etc) are going to end up on the system you use most; and that makes the other system ever more useless because it’s just a system and it doesn’t have your stuff.
This happens every time you log in to ‘quickly’ do something; you download something, make a bookmark, edit&print a document… and bingo! More of your stuff accumulates on one system.
Personally I use Linux all the time now. I took my time to transfer my stuff to it. I have left a partition open for Windows, but I have not installed it yet.
I feel safer (no virusses or spyware – they’re written for Windows and they don’t even work on my system if I tried).
I am not being limited by what software and options Microsoft thinks I should have.
My OS is free and legal, and I have access to 20000 software programs, which are all free and legal to install.
I use the Firefox browser (just like on Windows), Bittorrent for files, Limewire for music and OpenOffice for documents – I have everthing and it´s all free.
well ive heard that it is virus proof and runs nice but me myself i would prefer xp just because i am used to it and dont wanna learn how to run another os
Linux to me is a headache
Well, one big advantage is that Linux is completely free (there ARE some non-free distributions but hardly anyone uses them) and far more secure than Windows. And there are Linux distros like Ubuntu and Mandriva, that will give Windows XP a run for it’s money.
linux is free and always will be
linux has very little virus problems as most are written for M$
linux is open source so you can customize it if you know how
and it’s extremely fast and doesn’t even need a hard drive to run(live cd)
linux is free and has little virus problems, i enjoy it, but now our department adopt the windows xp, because it is convinient for every one. moreover, other software can been installed on it.
I can think of several advantages / diadvantages (bear in mind, I’m not a linux user myself, although I’ve ran several flavors before).
I *think* most releases can now at least read an NTFS partition; but many may not be able to write to it. This means you could still read your windows-based documents (and run some programs, if you used WINE, a Windows Emulator) but you might not be able to save the documents back to their original locations where they are accessible through windows.
Device drivers are another sticky point. Finding drivers can be bothersome for some devices; many new devices though, have drivers readily available for download.
Linux provides many neat features, such as virtual desktops, and some quite stunning visual effects that don’t apear untill Windows Vista.
But to really unleash Linux, get prepared to know the command line. It is based on UNIX, remember, so there is a whole lot of scripting going on behind what you’re doing.
-best luck