When did you see a laptop or a desktop from a large scale computer manufacturer that came with Linux pre installed? The odds are, probably never. Or maybe on cheap low specification models from companies like Dell. Most laptops and desktops today come with Windows pre-loaded, and most desktop users have never heard of Linux. Even though the Operating System itself is free, pre built machines with Linux preinstalled usually cost more than their Windows counterparts, because of economies of scale.
Most of the desktop world’s software is written to work on Windows and macOS. The adoption figures of Linux as a desktop OS can be optimistically pegged at only around 10%. And yet, Linux has a dedicated fan following among it’s users who will vehemently defend the operating system. Why?
I’ve been using Linux for around seven years now, and I’ve found it better than Windows in many use cases. There have been so many instances of people asking me why I stick to Linux even though the Windows equivalent of said program has more features. This post is the reply. Although several thousand websites have an article comparing the two Operating Systems, I’d like to share my opinions.
So why is Linux good?
To begin with, Linux is FOSS. That is, it’s free and open source software. Not only can a end user download and use Linux for free, they can also read it’s source code, make changes and even submit those changes to be included in the official kernel. Found a cool open source application that you want to improve on? Go right ahead! The source code is available for editing.
That can even be used as starting point for a different piece of software! Android, the operating system of choice for many phones, tablets, TVs, watches and even cars today, is based on Linux and runs the Linux kernel at it’s core.
Windows, on the other hand, is close sourced and it’s internals cannot be analysed by an average Joe like me. It is commercial software from a company that makes money out of selling it — every activated copy of Windows costs money and inactivated copies are illegal. From a moral standpoint, especially as a computer science student, Linux makes more sense.
The three biggest issues that I have with Windows are all interlinked. We begin with security. Windows uses the black box security model, meaning as access to source code is illegal, access to it is gained only by people with malicious intent who then use bugs and weak code to exploit, until users, researchers or Microsoft finds the problem, fixes it and releases a patch.
Linux software code on the other hand, can be read by anyone, meaning code is under constant scrutiny and bug fixes and patches are being written by thousands of eagle eyed developers all over the world. Alongside the lower adoption rates meaning a lesser number of malicious hackers attempting to hack into Linux systems and this white box security model, Linux has better security.
With that done, it’s time to talk about the one thing everybody using Windows hates — updates. Over the years, beginning with sending updates and marking them important, Microsoft has modified their update handling policies to make sure updates are installed on time — Windows has now started deciding when and how updates are installed, and chooses to update itself often at the wrong time, while the device is needed. Users have little to no control over updates unless they turn off the Update service, which some people do totally defeating the purpose of rolling out security patches. Such unpatched systems are ticking time bombs, and are starting points of major hacks.
Why is Linux better? Well, there are lesser flaws, the ones that are out there are found and fixed before they can cause harm and said updates can be installed by the users when they want to and the updates don’t hurt the workflows of users.
These are just some of the ways in which Linux is better as a choice of operating system. Other major ones include choice, customisation options and the excellent supporting community on the Internet.
In the next post, we talk about Linux and choosing the right Operating System for your wants and needs. Do give it a read : )
