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Comparison of Windows and Linux

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Jump to: navigation, search For a broader comparison of closed source and open source software, see Comparison of open source and closed source. This article may need to be wikified to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please help by adding relevant internal links, or by improving the article's layout. (July 2008) This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can.
(October 2007)

Microsoft's numbers on OS share Comparison of the Microsoft Windows and Linux computer operating systems is a common topic of discussion among their users. Windows is the most prominent proprietary operating system, while Linux is the most prominent operating system that is free software (note that many Linux distributions also have a small amount of proprietary components, such as compiled binary blob drivers provided by hardware manufacturers, for their default installation.[1]) The two operating systems compete for user-base in the personal

computer market as well as the server market, and are used in government offices, schools, business offices, homes, intranet and internet servers, supercomputers, and embedded systems. Windows dominates in the desktop and personal computer markets with about 90% of the desktop market share, and accounted for about 66% of all servers sold (not used) in the year 2007.[2] In server revenue market share (2007Q4) Windows achieved 36.3% and Linux achieved 12.7%.[3] As of June 2009, Linux powered 88.6% of the world's most powerful supercomputers, compared to Windows' 1.0%.[4] In December 2008, Linux powered five of the ten most reliable internet hosting companies, compared to Windows' one.[5] Linux and Windows differ in philosophy, cost, ease of use, versatility, and stability, with each seeking to improve in their perceived weak areas. Comparisons of the two tend to reflect the origins, historic user base and distribution model of each. Typically, some major areas of perceived weaknesses regularly cited have included the poor out-of-box usability of the Linux desktop for the mass-market[citation needed], while Windows' main drawback is susceptibility to viruses and malware. Both are areas of rapid development in both fields.[citation needed] Proponents of free software argue that the key strength of Linux is that it respects what they consider to be the users' essential freedoms: the freedom to run it, to study and change it, and to redistribute copies with or without changes.

Contents
[hide]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Total cost of ownership Market share User interface Installation Accessibility and usability Stability Performance Support Programs o 9.1 Gaming 10 Security o 10.1 Filesystem Permissions 10.1.1 Linux and Unix-like

11 12 13 14

systems 10.1.2 Windows VLSI industry Localization See also External links

15 References

[edit] Total cost of ownership

See also: Studies related to Microsoft In 2004, Microsoft launched a marketing campaign, "Get the Facts", to encourage users to switch from Linux to Windows Server System. [6] Microsoft claims that its products have an overall lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than open source programs because of their ease of use, resulting in less work and lower staff wages.[7] Microsoft's figures are disputed by a variety of organizations, notably Novell (which produces a Linux distribution) and The Register.[8] Some websites suggest that some common inaccuracies in Microsoft's figures stem from including figures for the Unix and Solaris operating systems with figures for Linux.[9] In 2004, The UK Advertising Standards Authority warned Microsoft that an advertisement using research that claimed Linux was [] 10 times more expensive than Windows Server 2003, was misleading, as the hardware chosen for the Linux server was needlessly expensive.[10] The German foreign ministry said that the cost of open source desktop maintenance is by far the lowest it experienced.[11] The French Gendarmerie reported saving millions on license fees by switching to Linux desktops from Windows XP, following the success of OpenOffice.org roll-outs[12][13].

[edit] Market share

The market share of Linux or Windows is difficult to determine as the former is usually not required to register their copies;

additionally, a large number of unlicensed copies of Windows exist. The above desktop usage share data is estimated from web browser user agent strings, rather than sales information or surveys. This is highly unreliable for countless reasons including but not limited to web browsers that do not always provide accurate information to web servers, and different sites attract different audiences that may be more prone to using one OS or another: such bias is very difficult to eliminate. (However, most servers are unlikely to be included in this measurement due to their traditional role as dedicated computer machines). Microsoft's own numbers for Linux share are higher.[14] More estimates are available at Usage share of desktop operating systems. According to a recent survey, Ubuntu is the most popular choice for developers. There is a shift from Microsoft Windows to Linux and Mac OSX for their desktop development operating system. 26.9% of respondents cite Linux as their primary desktop operating system, representing a 7% increase from 2007. Though Windows is still the dominant development OS at 64%, it has decreased 10% from 2007. The most popular Linux variant of choice among developers is Ubuntu, which accounts for over half of Linux respondents. Mac OSX has increased to 6.9% from 3.5% in 2007[15] Windows 87.90%[16][dubious Linux 1.02%
[16][dubious discuss]

Estimated discuss] Desktop Usage Share PrePre-installed by installation default on almost all new desktop PCs

Notes April 2009

Pre-installed by Microsoft's default on very few agreement new desktop PCs. with However, Ubuntu is vendors to now available on all sell only System76 the computers, some Windows Dell computers, and OS is being SUSE Linux challenged Enterprise Desktop in court by on some Lenovo French [17] ThinkPads. consumer Recently many rights more Linux-based groups.[19] low-end consumer Such laptops have been agreement introduced.[18] s by

See also: Comparison of Subnotebooks

Server 37.3%[3] revenue market share Top 500 1.0%[4] supercompute r operating system family share

13.8%[3]

Microsoft were found illegal in the case United States v. Microsoft. 2009Q1

88.6%[4]

June 2009

[edit] User interface

Windows Graphical user interface Linux Notes

The KDE Desktop The Windows Shell on Environment Windows Vista The Windows Shell. A number of desktop environments are This uses as its window manager the available, of which GNOME and KDE are Desktop Window Manager on Windows the most widely Vista, and a Stacking used. By default, they use as their window window manager built on top of GDI in managers Metacity and KWin older versions. The desktop environment respectively, though may be modified by a these can be variety of third party replaced by other window managers products such as such as Compiz WindowBlinds; or

completely replaced, Fusion. for example by Blackbox for Windows, or LiteStep. Other desktop The graphics system environments and window managers is part of the Windows kernel, and include Enlightenment, even servers run graphic subsystems. Xmonad, Xfce, Openbox, Fluxbox, etc. The X Window system runs in userspace and is optional. [20] Multiple X Window system instances can run at once, and it is a fully networked protocol. See Also: Comparison of X Window System desktop environments. Commandline interface A commandline interface, typically displayed in a system console, allows users A sample Windows to tell the PowerShell session computer to The Command A sample Bash perform Prompt exists to session tasks provide direct Linux is strongly ranging communication integrated with the from the between the user and system console. The simple (for the operating command line can be example, system. A .NET-based used to recover the copying a command line system if the file) to the environment called graphics subsystem complex Windows PowerShell fails.[21][22] A large (compiling has been developed. number of Unix shells and

It varies from exists; with the Unix/Linux shells in majority being that, rather than "Bourne shell using byte streams, compatible" shells, of the PowerShell which the most pipeline is an object widely used is GNU pipeline; that is, the Bash. Alternatives data passed between include the featurecmdlets are fully full Z shell; as well as typed objects. When shells based on the data is piped as syntax of other objects, the elements programming they encapsulate languages, such as retain their structure the C shell, and Perl and types across Shell. Many cmdlets, without the applications can be need for any scripted through the serialization or system console,[23] explicit parsing of the there are a lot of stream. Cygwin small and specialized provides a bash utilities meant to terminal for Windows. work together and to Windows Script Host integrate with other is included in programs. This is Windows 98 and called the toolbox newer versions. principle.

installing new software). Shells are powerful but can be confusing to new users. Some complex tasks are more easily accomplish ed through shells than through a GUI, such as piping, or scripting. See also: Comparison of computer shells.

[edit] Installation
The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (January 2009) Windows Linux Notes [26][27][28] Ease of On Windows Server Varies greatly by Install 2003 and prior, the distribution. Most installation is distributions intended divided into two for new or stages; the first intermediate users text-mode, the provide simple second graphical. graphical installers. [24] On Windows General purpose Vista and newer, oriented distributions

offer a live CD or GUI installer (SuSE, Debian, Pardus, Pclinuxos, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Fedora etc.), others offer a menudriven installer (Vector Linux, Slackware, Debian) while others, targeting more specialized groups, require source to be copied and compiled (Gentoo). The system can also be built completely from scratch, directly from source code (Linux from Scratch). Install time Varies based on Differs heavily version installed, depending on hardware distribution. Packageconfiguration, and based installation whether it's an (Ubuntu, Debian, update or clean CentOS) may take installation. several minutes. In Typically ranges extreme case of from about 20 completely sourceminutes to about based distribution, an hour(base OS). full system [29] installation may take from several hours, up to several days (heavily depends on hardware and software type).

the installation is single stage, and graphical. Some older versions require third party drivers (for example, by using driver floppies disks or slipstreaming the drivers and creating a new installation CD) if using a large number of SATA or SATA2 drives or RAID arrays.[25]

Please see footnotes for Ease of Install. "Installation time" can be measured differently depending on what actions are included: installing the base OS, additional drivers, OS updates, and/or applications.

Drivers

The Windows installation media usually contains enough drivers to

Linux kernels in most distributions include the majority of drivers available as

make the OS modules, hardware is functional. To this detected and drivers end, "generic" loaded at boot with drivers may be usually little or no used to provide user interaction basic functionality. required. These Drivers for these drivers are generally devices can later written by someone be upgraded from working for the the manufacturer. hardware Windows Update manufacturer or by may also contain someone in the user updated drivers community skilled in that can be doing so; usually the installed after the drivers are included base OS is in place. in the kernel (openDrivers are almost source), and always closedtherefore do not source, maintained require additional and published by media or any user the manufacturer interaction. A few of their respective hardware devices. Recent manufactures version of 64-bit (Broadcom, Nvidia) Windows force all who are drivers to be uncooperative about signed, giving contributing openMicrosoft the sole source drivers to the ability to authorize kernel have drivers; this feature proprietary drivers cannot be easily which may be overridden by manually installed. system Prior to introduction [30] administrators. of DKMS, third party [31] kernel modules had to be manually updated when the kernel was upgraded. Installation May be installed Almost all Linux via Live through the distributions now Environmen Windows have a live CD that ts Preinstallation may be used for Environment or install or recovery.[32]

Preinstalled software

BartPE. However, In addition, the live only the former is CD can also be used endorsed by for custom partition Microsoft. Only setups. Installing Microsoft-certified from a Linux live CD System Builders allows a PC to be (OEM companies) configured to boot are allowed to use from several different the WinPE disk for OS's, to include installation, by Windows. license. End-users are not allowed to use the WinPE installation environment. Some multimedia All main distributions and home use contain numerous software (IE, Media programs: Player, Notepad, multimedia, graphics, WordPad, Paint) internet, office suites, plus OEM bundled games, system software. Windows utilities and Vista Includes IE7, alternative desktop Windows Mail, environments. Some Windows Media distributions Center, etc. specialise in depending on education, games, or which edition is security. Most purchased. It does distributions give not include Office users the choice of suites or advanced which bundled multimedia programs to install, if software. However, any. Microsoft has licensed decoders for a number of patented audio and video coding methods, including the mp3 audio format, and Windows is able to play a number of

Microsoft's methods of bundling software were deemed illegal in the case United States v. Microsoft.[33]

Not preinstalled software

patented formats by default. A massive pool of A large pool of free Linux both proprietary software and some distributions software (including proprietary software can not shareware and covering a wide lawfully freeware) and free range of use. A include mp3 software. Programs Microsoft employee audio or usually come with wrote in an internal mpeg-4 the required report in 1998 that video libraries and are "Most of the primary decoders in normally installed apps that people a majority of easily. Most require when they countries, as programs must be move to Linux are it would individually already available for violate the installed. free."[34] Using free Patent Uninstallation can WindowsCooperation be of varying compatibility layers Treaty. There difficulty like Wine, some is nothing depending on Windows software preventing a which of many can also be run, often user from installer methods to a lesser degree, on installing were used, Linux. Third-party these components and software is usually decoders, registry entries listed/integrated into however the may be left behind. a packaging system, user Windows has a which is built into the assumes all built-in installer OS. Less popular liability for program, and programs, which are installing software that is to not in the said pieces be installed has an distributions of software. installer "wrapper" repositories, are often Players for that interfaces with provided in a form free the Windows (such as .deb or .rpm) alternative Installer to which can be audio/video accomplish installed easily by the formats are installation. Not all package manager. If available in windows software no precompiled Linux, but uses the install package exists, these manager. programs can be players are automatically built unable to from the source code. decode patented

formats such as mp3 audio.[citation

needed]

Partitioning Expanding NTFS Most file systems partitions is support resizing possible without partitions without problems, and on losing data. LVM Vista it is possible provide dynamic to shrink partitions partitioning. All Linux as well. Dynamic distributions have Disks provide bundled partitioning dynamic software such as fdisk partitioning. Third or gparted party tools are available that have more features than the built-in partitioning tools. File Natively supported: Natively supported: Windows can systems NTFS, FAT, ISO ext2, ext3, ext4, read and 9660, UDF, and ReiserFS, FAT, ISO write with others; 3rd-party 9660, UDF, NFS, Ext2 and drivers available NTFS, JFS, XFS and Ext3 file for ext2, ext3, others; many systems with reiserfs, HFS, and additional filesystems third-party others (most notably NTFS drivers such using NTFS-3g, and as FS-driver ZFS) are available or ext2fsd; using FUSE. Archives and ReiserFS and FTP sites also can through be mounted as rfstool and filesystems. related programs. Boot May boot to May boot to multiple Loader multiple operating operating systems systems through through LILO or the Windows Boot GRUB. With these, it Manager, in is possible to choose Windows Vista and between multiple newer; or the installed kernel Microsoft boot images at boottime. loader, NTLDR, in Graphical

Windows Server 2003 and prior. Numerous graphical configuration tools are available, such as EasyBCD for the Windows Boot Manager and MSConfig for NTLDR.

configuration tools for GRUB are available including KGRUBEditor[35] (KDE) and GrubConf [36] (GNOME). GRUB can also be configured at boottime via the GRUB prompt (this is a temporary onetime-configuration only). GRUB and LILO also support booting to non-Unix operating systems via chain loading; and thus for a Windows and Linux dual-boot System, it is easiest to install Windows first and then Linux.

Linux distributions were said to be difficult for the average user to install. However distributions like Ubuntu include graphical package managers which assist the user in searching for packages and installing them graphically (e.g., Adept Package Manager). By use of package managers the need of downloading software (open source) from official site saves time as there is no need of surfing web pages as the downloading, installing, resolving dependencies, conflicts are handled by the package manager.[37] Today, most distributions have simplified the installation and offer a Live CD system allowing users to boot fully functional Linux systems directly from a CD or DVD with the option of installing them on the hard drive, this enables a user to evaluate a distribution with no permanent modification to their computer. The Windows install process and most general-use Linux distributions use a wizard to guide users through the install process.

[edit] Accessibility and usability

A study released in 2003 by Relevantive AG indicates that The usability of Linux as a desktop system was judged to be nearly equal to that of Windows XP.[38] Windows Linux User Focus Mostly consistent. The quality of graphical Inconsistencies design varies between appear primarily desktop environments through backports and distributions. The - software ported two biggest desktop from newer environments (GNOME operating systems and KDE) have clearly to older ones. For defined interface example, software guidelines, which tend ported from Vista to be followed to XP, or from XP consistently and clearly. [41][42] to Windows These provide 2000/98, must consistency and a high follow the grade of customizability guidelines of the in order to adapt to the newer system (IE7 needs of the user. and Windows Distributions such as Media Player 11 Ubuntu, SuSE, Fedora are examples of or Mandriva take this [39] this). However, one step further, Microsoft combining wellcontinually pushes functioning usability for consistency and safety. However, between releases inconsistencies may with guidelines for appear, since GNOMEinterface design. based programs, The latest are following different Windows Vista guidelines, look notably User Experience different from KDE guidelines.[40] programs. There are Their focus is on other consistency and environments/window usability, but with managers, usually increased concern targeting professionals for safety in new or minimalist users, versions. Thirdfeaturing some very party applications powerful programs with may or may not rudimentary, minimalist Notes

Consistenc y between versions

Consistenc y between application s

follow these graphical front-ends, guidelines, may focusing much more on have their own performance, small size guidelines, or may and safety. not follow any WindowMaker and the rules for interface Fluxbox/Openbox/Black design. box environments are such examples. Some other environments fit between the two models, giving both power, eye candy and simplicity (Enlightenment/E17, Xfce). Some graphical environments are targeted to mouse users only (Fluxbox), others to keyboard users only (Ratpoison), others to either. Certain graphical environments are also designed to be as resourceconservative as possible, so as to run on older machines. User interaction Consistency can be with software is poor between usually consistent distributions, versions, between versions, window releases, and managers/desktop editions. environments, and programs. Software is generally highly usercustomizable, and the user may keep the customizations between versions. All Microsoft Highly consistent within Though software follows KDE and GNOME. Windows' the same However the vast GDI and guidelines for GUI, amount of additional most

although not all software developed for Windows by third parties follows these GUI guidelines. As stated above, backports tend to follow the guidelines from the newer operating system.

software that comes with a distribution is sourced from elsewhere; it may not follow the same GUI guidelines or it may cause inconsistencies (e.g. different look and feel between programs built with different widget toolkits).

widget toolkits in Linux allow for applications to be created with a custom look and feel, most applications on both platforms simply use the default look and feel. However, there are exceptions like FL Studio for Windows, and LMMS for Linux.

Customizati Windows provides Few working on extensive, wellspecifications exist for documented Linux driver programming programming interfaces that interfaces, and no enable third model for consistent parties to develop binary driver support kernel software exists. In fact, a that extends and compiled Linux driver is modifies system tied to builds similar to behavior. the kernel running on Microsoft provides the machine where the its Windows Driver driver was compiled. Kit at no cost, This process is which includes facilitated by the fact thorough that the kernel source documentation, code is available.

samples, and tools However, historically, for building, kernel internals testing, and typically change over deploying drivers. time, and source code Windows driver for many modules must programming be periodically updated interfaces are in order for it to based on continue to function. standards and This also means that specifications, modifications that work often the product on one machine will of a process sometimes fail to work involving leading on another machine if players in the their kernel versions applicable are different. industry. While Windows drivers are compiled based on specifications, and are not tied to a specific version of Windows, source code for a specific version of Windows may, in theory, be purchased for modification in some circumstances (restrictive), or third-party tools may create modifications. In practice, the availability of Windows source code is generally heavily restricted or extremely expensive, if available at all.

However, even where source is available, modification to the operating system can break the EULA, and in turn be prohibited or even illegal. Accessibilit Both Windows and Linux offer accessibility options,[43] y such as high contrast displays and larger text/icon size, text to speech and magnifiers. However, Windows is limited to one language by default, whereas most Linux distributions come with many languages and several dialects.

[edit] Stability
General stability Windows Linux Notes Windows variants The kernel Instability based on the NT technically inherits can be kernel (Windows NT, the stability of UNIX caused by 2000, XP, 2003, due to its modular poorly Vista) are technically architecture written much more stable (acknowledged to be programs, than earlier versions stable).[citation needed] aside from (95, 98, 98 SE, ME). Linux terminal intrinsic OS Installing unsigned emulators and stability. As or beta drivers can frontend Window Linux's lead to decreased Managers graphics system stability. stabilities vary system is Mechanisms to widely, but the more decoupled terminate badly common ones are from the behaving generally stable. kernel and applications exist at Mechanisms to the system it multiple levels, such terminate badly can be as Task Manager. behaving usually be applications exist at restarted multiple levels, such without as Ksysguard and affecting the kill command. nonBecause Linux can graphical

use a text based programs system if the and services graphics system running [21][22] fails, the under other graphics system can shells, and be easily restarted without following a crash restart.[44] without a whole system reboot. Most Linux distributions also provide a Live Distro, which can be used to repair a completely unbootable OS. Device Device drivers are Device drivers are Crashes can Driver provided by sometimes reverse be caused by stability Microsoft or written engineered to work hardware by the hardware for Linux. Some problems or manufacturer. vendors contribute poorly Microsoft also runs a to free drivers (Intel, written Certification HP etc.) or provide device program. proprietary drivers drivers. (Nvidia, ATI etc.), though the stability of these may vary between distributions. Specifically designed server lines exist. Some Windows drivers can also be used (mostly wireless drivers using the ndiswrapper framework). Downtime Reboots are usually Linux itself needs to required after restart only for core system and driver driver modules updates. Microsoft when not in use can has its be swapped kernel [45] hotpatching updates.[46]

However, a special utility can be used to load the new kernel and execute it without a hardware reset (kexec) and hence can stay up for years without rebooting. N.B. Ksplice allows the linux kernel to be patched without a reboot. Recovery In modern, NT-based All processes except versions of for init and Windows, programs processes in D or Z that crash may be state may be forcibly ended terminated from the through the task command line. In manager by KDE applications can pressing be closed using CTRL+SHIFT+ESC or CTRL+ALT+ESC or CTRL+ALT+DEL. by KSystemGuard by Should this fail, pressing CTRL+ESC. other third-party SysRQ allows lowapplications can also level system be used. manipulation and crash recovery if configured. The entire graphical subsystem can be restarted with CTRL+ALT+Backspa ce without the need for a whole system shutdown (though this functionality has been disabled on some distributions). Reboots are seldom required.[47][48] Additionally, Live

technology, designed to reduce downtimes.

CDs of Linux, if equipped with the correct tools, can work to repair a broken OS as long as it can mount the hard drive.[49] Unrecovera If the kernel or a The Unix equivalent ble errors driver running in of the Windows blue kernel mode screen is known as a encounters an error kernel panic. The under circumstances kernel routines that whereby Windows handle panics are cannot continue to usually designed to operate safely, a output an error "bug check" message to the (colloquially known console, create a as a "stop error" or memory dump, and "Blue Screen of then either wait for Death") is thrown. A the system to be memory dump is restarted or restart created and, automatically. depending on the configuration, the computer may then automatically restart. Additionally, automatic restart can be applied to services. Hardware Available from Available in most Abstraction Windows NT4, 2000, Linux distributions. Layer and later. Not present in the Windows 9x (95/98) line of Operating Systems. The Hardware Abstraction Layer serves as a buffer between the kernel of the operating system and the

physical hardware. For an operating system to be subjectively stable, numerous components must operate synchronously. Not all of these components are under the control of OS vendor; while Linux and Windows kernels may be stable, poorly written applications and drivers can hamstring both. Much of stability, then, is the extent to which the operating system is structured to thwart the consequences of bad behavior of third party installations. Much of the reputation Windows has for instability can be traced to Windows 95, 98, and ME, which were notorious for displaying the blue screen of death (BSOD) upon crashing. Three weaknesses with these particular Windows versions increased the likelihood such a crash would occur:

Full 16-bit compatibility. When memory management of the DOS subsystem failed, it would often prompt a BSOD. Windows NT has no true 16-bit support; it emulates it in a virtual sandbox. The 64 bit versions even lack this emulation. Direct hardware access. Unlike Windows NT, Windows 9x had no hardware abstraction layer. A program or driver that attempted to access protected memory, or interfaced poorly with the hardware, could cause a BSOD. Poor DLL management. DLLs are external libraries of functions that prevent unnecessary repetition in a program. Windows 9x had no protections on system DLLs, and poorly written programs would often overwrite them at will with incorrect versions. Over time, the general stability of the system would decrease. Windows 2000 and later versions have a routine called Windows File Protection that prevents the replacement of important system files.

These are not the exclusive causes of instability, but their correction in the Windows NT codebase has dramatically improved the stability of all subsequent Windows variants: Windows 2000, XP, Server 2003 and Vista.

[edit] Performance
Windows Linux Process NT-based versions of Windows Linux kernel 2.6 once Schedulin use a CPU scheduler based on used a scheduling

a multilevel feedback queue, algorithm favoring with 32 priority levels defined. interactive processes. The kernel may change the Here "interactive" is priority level of a thread defined as a process that depending on its I/O and CPU has short bursts of CPU usage and whether it is usage rather than long interactive (i.e. accepts and ones. It is said that a responds to input from process without root humans), raising the priority privilege can take of interactive and I/O bounded advantage of this to processes and lowering that monopolize the CPU,[52] of CPU bound processes, to when the CPU time increase the responsiveness accounting precision is of interactive applications.[50] low. However, Completely The scheduler was modified in Fair Scheduler, addresses Windows Vista to use the this problem. cycle counter register of modern processors to keep track of exactly how many CPU cycles a thread has executed, rather than just using an interval-timer interrupt routine.[51] This section of this table is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. WikiProject Computing or the Computing Portal may be able to help recruit one. (April 2009)

Memory Windows NT and its variants Most hard drive Manageme employ a dynamically installations of Linux nt/ Disk allocated pagefile for memory utilize a "swap partition", Paging management. A pagefile is where the disk space allocated on disk, for less allocated for paging is frequently accessed objects in separate from general memory, leaving more RAM data, and is used strictly available to actively used for paging operations. objects. This scheme suffers This reduces slowdown from slow-downs due to disk due to disk fragmentation fragmentation, which from general use. As with hampers the speed at which Windows, for best the objects can be brought performance the swap back into memory when they partition should be are needed. Windows can be placed on a hard drive

configured to place the separate from the pagefile on a separate primary one. partition; doing this negates the disk-fragmentation issues, but introduces an I/O slowdown due to the seek time involved in switching back and forth between the two partitions.[53] However, the main reason this is not done by default is that, if the pagefile is on a separate partition, then Windows cannot create a memory dump in the event of a Stop Error.[54] The ideal solution performance-wise is to have the pagefile on a separate hard drive to the primary one, which eliminates both defragmentation and I/O issues. Correction *Note - Vista no longer over *Note - Many newer hard s Needed utilizes pagefile as previous drives do not allocate versions of NT, and can run partitions in contiguous without one. Also the pagefile regions, so even a on NT is not guaranteed to separate partition can be become fragmented, as the fragmented on drive pagefile may or may not provisioning. Also see grow, can be set to a static note to the left, as size, and XP and Vista both partition location on the have the ability to defrag the hard drive can reduce pagefile if it has dynamically performance if put in a allocated more space causing lower speed position. fragmentation. Even in major pagefile growth NT attempts to allocate contiguous space so this presents a situation where you have relatively few fragments in the pagefile. Having the pagefile on a separate physical hard drive than the OS will offer better

performance, but moving the pagefile to a separate partition on the same physical hard drive is not recommended. Just creating a separate partition on the same hard drive will often create the partition in an area that the hard drive has lower read/write speed due to the design of hard drive varying in performance based on data location.
[clarification needed]

[edit] Support
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
(November 2008)

Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (March 2007) Windows Community Microsoft Developer support Network (MSDN), Microsoft TechNet: Resources for IT Professionals, and multitudes of user driven support forums are available at no charge. Additional support is available by 3rd party services. Linux Notes Most support is There are provided by many paid advanced users and local developers over Windows online forums, and techs. other free community Fewer for based venues. Linux. Professional support Most OEM's is available, but most offer commonly only support utilized by largealong with scale businesses, and their server dependent products, organizations. which include both hardware

and software technical support. By Microsoft or OEM. Red Hat, Canonical, Novell and other major distributors have support available as well. Documenta A wealth of Most documentation tion information is is available online, available free online, either in FAQ form or or in books, as well Wiki pages on as on Microsoft's own developers websites. support page. Detailed documentation for specific commands, programs, functions, libraries, files, and file formats are available through the man pages, which are accessed through the command line, or through graphical viewers. Some major distributions have books written by 3rd party authors, mainly for server admins, or application development. Training Many IT courses are Linux is taught in written for many computing participants to learn university courses in how to use and programming and manage Windows computer systems and science[citation needed]. networks. Most Linux diplomas and computer assistance certificates are rarely experts have offered. Courses for Windows training and certifications are qualifications. provided by Linux Phone support

Professional Institute and some distributions, such as Red Hat and Ubuntu. Third Party As Windows has the Most non-LinuxDocumenta majority of the specific products give tion market share, most little to no producers of software instructions to install and hardware will or use software on give Windows Linux. Indeed, some specific instructions Linux laptops have for the installation shipped with and operation of their superfluous Windows programs and documentation[citation needed] drivers. .

[edit] Programs
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Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
(December 2007)

Windows Linux Binary Cygwin or Interix Cedega, CrossOver, Emulation, and its successor and Wine can be Alternative SUA may be used to run some API used to compile Windows programs programs on Linux with dependent on varying degrees of Linux libraries, reliability. While but neither can these programs be used to run technically do not Linux binaries. emulate Windows, Whether full ABI and instead provide compatibility for an alternate open-source Windows API, the software is practical effect is actually needed, the same. Some however, is windows software debatable. Linux may not run distributions correctly since API themselves are implementation also typically provided by these

Notes With binary emulation (or alternative API implementation) user is able to run software designed to run on different operating system or hardware platform.

software packages is not complete. Wine and similar approaches often require less cpu power than Hardware emulation or Virtualization where whole Microsoft Windows operating system must be run. Hardware VMware, VMware, VirtualBox, With emulation VirtualBox, Xen, Parallels, Linux- virtualization you and Virtual PC, VServer, OpenVZ, may run an Virtualizati Virtual Server, Win4Lin, KVM. operating on Hyper-V (only VirtualBox and system within available on 64- QEMU can be used another bit versions of to run Microsoft operating Vista SP2, Windows as guest system. Windows 7, and operating system. Windows Server 2008), Parallels, QEMU on new hardware. Operating Several linux User-mode Linux Andlinux is systems distributions can allows user to run simplest way of run as be run inside Linux kernel as running linux application windows as userland software on userland application. windows. application using Cooperative Linux as kernel and Xming as X server. There exist userfriendly easy to install software packages based on this approach (Andlinux , Portable Ubuntu). Linux

unable to execute binaries compiled on any other distribution, or on a different version of the same distribution.

distribution installed in this way is binary compatible with other x86 linux distributions, only difference is special kernel modified to run on top of windows. Package Windows Linux programs are PM simplifies the manageme programs are not sometimes process of nt system tied to specific dependent on exact installing new library or kernel kernel and library software, versions and the version (or ranges of updating it, and original versions). Such managing developer of a programs will only dependencies program can function properly on (See therefore a specific (or very Dependency distribute a similar) version of hell). In Linux single package the distribution they distributions the that can work on were built for. In type of package multiple versions order to manage the manager is preof Windows. This complicated determined by obviates any dependencies that what the problem arise, most distribution was comparable to distributions have a originally derived what exists in package manager, from though the Linux often based upon more modern ecosystem RPM, APT, or Gentoo distributions can where it's Ebuild import other necessary to metapackages package formats. maintain large (source). Sometimes repositories of an installation can packages have a second compiled for package exact versions of management the operating system which is system, and to incompatible with manage the primary system. complicated Numerous dependencies distribution-specific

between front-ends exist on different top of the core package formats allowing for versions and GUI or commandrepository line package sources. installation e.g. Modern versions aptitude, Synaptic, of Windows rely Portage, YaST and on the Windows YUM. Though rare, Installer to install some distributions and manage create their own software. This formats e.g. Pardus registers what PiSi or Pacman. components are Most package installed where managers have a on the user's form of package system. signing usually Microsoft's based on PGP e.g. guidelines OpenPGP for Debian strongly suggest packages. It is also that software possible to create a vendors use the GUI installation Windows package not Installer. depending on the However, many distributions by applications are using Autopackage. still deployed Software can also be with alternative compiled from installers. One source code, which example is NSIS. does not require any Applications are kind of packagetypically management installed into the system. However, Program Files compiling software directory by an from its source code executable file. can be timeconsuming and difficult. Source code is also typically tied to specific library versions, and in many cases, source code can not

be compiled without updating system libraries, which can disable existing installed software that is dependent on exact builds of those libraries. In some cases, conflicts arise where the latest version of one program depends on having an older version of a specific library, and another program will depend on having a newer version of the same library. Adding Thousands of In addition to New programs are website downloads, Programs available for thousands of download from programs are many websites available from and for purchase repositories on CD/DVD in maintained by each retail shops. distribution and are Programs must generally considered be downloaded "trusted" and (or purchased on require review CD/DVD) and before new installed additions will be individually. accepted. Access to the repositories is usually without cost. The package manager automatically handles download and installation of selected packages, and automatically upgrades or patches

Updates

software when a newer version appears in the repository. For some distributions, however, it's normal not to update the applications released together with the distribution to new versions. In these cases, only security updates are provided.[55] Thirdparty software rarely (if ever) contains adware/spyware/viru ses, and does not require as much discretion in that regard. The Package Windows Gentoo goes Update manager further and handles handles allows different only updates for versions of updates to software that software and Microsoft was installed libraries to be software via the installed in and can package separate deploy manager. SLOTS so a driver system can have Generally, updates if different updates present on versions of the generally do same software Windows not require a installed. update system site. GoboLinux uses restart, with Some third a radically the exception party different of kernel software approach where updates. has its own "the filesystem is However, separate the package there are update manager" which multiple ways allows even manager.

Windows Installer (See Package manageme nt system above) does not manage updates. Windows security updates typically require a restart. Many programs are written for the Windows API, and depend on an implement ation of that API. Source compatibili ty with some UNIX programs is done via POSIX subsystem (Windows NT and 2000), or Subsystem for UNIX

Crossplatform (software)

around this, and it is possible to load the kernel into memory, update it, and commit to memory Ksplice. Updates to X may require restarting X (for example, by logging out and back in again) to take effect. Linux is a UNIX-like operating system, and can run programs written for UNIX programming standards. However, few programs are written for the various frameworks that are specific to Linux, and those that are usually have a Windows port. Compatibility between Unixlike operating systems (such

different versions of a program to be run concurrently.

[56]

Some companies, such as Id software, make versions of their products to work on both Windows and Linux. These programs are generally not dependent on either framework. Instead, the installation is such that there is an "interpreter" layer and the actual program binary files. The interpreter layer runs on-the-fly to deliver the appropriate

application s (formerly Interix) (2000, XP, 2003, Vista).

as BSD Unix, Solaris, and Mac OS X) through various standards, such as the POSIX thread standard.

Crossplatform (developm ent)

Many Microsoft libraries have not been ported to other operating systems

Wine allows some Windows programs to run on Linux, although sometimes with some glitches. The GNU toolchain has been ported on Windows, as well as GTK, Qt and many other libraries. Many projects already have Windows builds

program experience to whichever platform is running. Using this method, software can be created independent of the platform, and only the interpreter layer needs to be configured for the OS. OpenGL is cross-platform.

Software that is written in crossplatform languages and frameworks are usually easily ported.

Many of Microsoft's framework s can be replaced by counterpar ts in other operating systems CrossWindows client platform and server OS (hardware) comes both in x86 and x64

i386, x86-64, PowerPC 32/64, SPARC, DEC Alpha, ARM, MIPS, PA-RISC,

Historically , GNU began working on

editions. ARM, S390, IA-64, SuperH MIPS, x86-64, and m68k, and SuperH are the many PDAs and target platforms embedded systems. for Windows CE / Windows XP Embedded. PDAs are the target platform for Windows Mobile.

68000 but always had a strong multiplatfo rm vocation.

[57]

The first version of Linux was developed for the i386.

Software Windows Extensive Compatibili programs are compatibility issues ty compiled against exist in Linux generalized, software that tie specificationspecific versions of based header source code and files and are not binary packages to tied to the local specific machine where distributions, library they are versions, and kernel compiled. That versions. For fact combined example, binary with a welldrivers are almost documented always tied to an effort by exact kernel build, Microsoft to and binary driver maintain binary distribution is compatibility has therefore quite rare. resulted in Common practice in Windows Linux and open programs source in general is typically being to configure usable on a compiler and library variety of packages so that Windows compiled binaries versions. will be tied to a specific version of the package. For example, the same

source code may successfully compile with two different versions of glibc, but each resulting binary will be tied to the respective version of glibc. Therefore, a binary compiled on a given Linux machine will typically only be compatible with the specific version of the specific distribution that is running on that machine. As a result, distributions and third parties maintain extensive repositories with many compilations of the same source code in order to provide users of different distributions with access to binaries that will work on their machines. Backwards Has historically Programs that use This refers to the Compatibili been a very high Linux Standard Base backwards ty between priority.[58] functions will work compatibility of releases However, for at least six years the operating exceptions do on any LSBsystem between exist, even compliant releases. [60] within distribution. NonMicrosoft's own LSB frameworks and applications libraries have other (particularly with compatibility respect to policies Windows Vista).

[59]

IDEs & Several Several commercial Compilers commercial IDEs IDEs and compilers for sale, such as for sale such as PGI, Microsoft's Visual Intel, and Absoft's Studio. Multiple Fortran compilers.[61] [62] free IDEs and Multiple free IDEs compilers, and compilers, the including the most common of GNU Compiler which are often Collection, included in Eclipse, distributions;[63] NetBeans, Pelles including the GNU C, lcc32, Borland Compiler Collection, C++, Visual Eclipse, NetBeans, Studio Express Mono, (Visual C++, C#, MonoDevelop, and VB.NET Geany, Anjuta, compilers), .NET KDevelop, Free compilers freely Pascal, OpenLDev, included in .NET Codeblocks Framework, Sharpdevelop, Free Pascal Linux distributions come with a great deal of software which can be installed for free, with an especially large collection of computer programming software.[64] Debian comes with more than 18,000 software packages.[63] Microsoft has had a longstanding emphasis on backwards compatibility.[58] In general, the Windows API is consistent over time[citation needed]; programs designed for earlier versions of Windows often run without issues on later versions. For the sake of progress, however, Microsoft sometimes draws a line precluding support of very old programs. That first happened with Windows 95, where some purely 16 bit Windows 3.1 applications would not work, and again with Windows XP, where certain mixed-bit applications would not work. 64-bit versions of Windows (XP-64 and Vista-64) drop 16bit support completely. However, 16 bit emulation and the enormous array of application-specific tweaks (shims) within new Windows versions[65] ensure that compatibility with old applications remains very high.[66]

In the Linux world, the landscape differs. As most (if not all) parts of the operating system is open source and many Linux programs are open source, when a Linux distribution breaks backward compatibility, anyone willing might write a patch to the operating system or the program itself that would allow the older software to work. In reality though, since many popular Linux distributions uses software repository and all of the most popular programs exists in the repository, the programs provided in the repository is guaranteed to be compatible with (depends on the distros) the most recent version of the operating system.

[edit] Gaming
A major attraction of Windows is the large library of video games available for purchase. The majority of current major games natively support Windows and are released first for the Windows platform. Some of these games can be run on Linux with a compatibility layer like Wine or Cedega. Those that rely on copy protection or undocumented features require much more effort in order to work properly. Since Wine is not an emulator it can, and does, obtain native speed, sometimes surpassing that of Windows.[67] There are notable exceptions, such as id Software's Doom and Quake series. When a developer chooses to write graphics code in OpenGL instead of DirectX, Linux (and OSX, mobile, etc) ports become much easier. In addition, games such as the Unreal Tournament series are written in 3 parts: The core 'engine' of the game, the graphical display system, and the actual game data itself. The first two, typically being compiled programs, require porting, however only the graphical display system will often require much work (Windows to X Window, DirectX to OpenGL, etc). The third part, the game data itself, is typically written in system-independent file formats and scripting languages. This allows the game developer to separate the actual game experience from platform compatibility. This also serves to reduce the cost of development in 2 ways.

There is no need to port the game data to another platform, which eliminates the need to compile and bug-fix the game data for each platform. Future releases of the software can use the same "engine" and graphical display system. This allows game developers to

focus more on the game experience, and less on compatibility issues. There are also numerous Open Source games designed first for Linux.[68] While most of these are small casual games like Kolf or Pingus, there are also larger "hardcore" games, such as Nexuiz and Freeciv. Many have been ported to work on Windows as well. Additionally, VMware Workstation 5.0 and Virtualbox 3.0 support accelerated 3D graphics for Windows guests.[69] Although when it comes down to the availability/quality of games on Windows versus Linux, Windows is the preferable solution for the hardcore Gamer. Some gamers opt to dual boot Windows and Linux, Using the Windows partition for gaming and the Linux partition for everything else.

[edit] Security
Windows Malwar According to e Kaspersky Lab, more than 11,000 malware programs for Windows were discovered just in the second half of 2005.[70] However, it is common for anti-malware software to have more than 1,000 signatures against which potentially malicious components can be compared. Botnets - networks of infected computers controlled by malicious persons Linux As of 2006, more than 800 pieces of Linux malware have been discovered.[70] Some malware has propagated through the Internet.[72] However, in practice, reports of bonafide malware presence on Linuxbased systems are extremely rare[citation needed] . Nonetheless, anti-malware tools (such as ClamAV and Panda Security's DesktopSecure for Linux do exist. Notes

with more than one These programs are million computers mainly intended to have been filter Windows [71] witnessed. Once malware from malicious software emails and network is present on a traffic traveling Windows-based through Linuxsystem, it can based servers.[73] sometimes be incredibly difficult to remove. As such, users are advised to install and run anti-malware programs. Open Claims its platform Claims its platform Microsoft claims vs. is more secure is more secure that Windows Vista Closed because of a because all of its is more secure than comprehensive code is reviewed by other operating approach to so many people systems.[76] security using the that bugs are However, security Security detected (referred vulnerabilities have Development to as Linus's law). been found in [74][75] Lifecycle. Anyone with Windows Vista.[77] However, because programming Security issues are Windows is closed- experience is free also still being source, only to fix bugs and reported for Linux [78] Microsoft-employed submit them for programmers (or inclusion in future licensed thirdreleases and parties) can fix updates. bugs. Respon Claims closed Bugs can be fixed se source offers a and rolled out speed faster and more within a day of effective response being reported to security issues, (often within [79] though critical hours), though bug fixes are only usually it takes a released once a few weeks before month after the patch is extensive available on all programming and distributions.

testing[80][81] and certain bugs have been known to go unpatched for months or even years. User In Windows Vista, Users typically run A malicious Accoun all logged-in as limited accounts, program executed ts sessions (even for having created under a limited those of both administrator account in both "administrator" (commonly called Linux and Windows users) run with "superuser" and is limited to that standard user named "root", has user's data. The permissions, UID 0) and at least use of sudo on preventing one user account some Linux malicious programs during install, configurations asks from gaining total preventing for the user's control of the malicious programs password only once system. Processes from gaining total for a set amount of that require control of the time (in Ubuntu, 10 administrator system. Note that minutes). During privileges can be the user "root" is this time, the user run using the User not the same thing is able to do Account Control as the root level of anything root could framework. For the filesystem, do without entering standard users, this indicated by "/" a password and presents a alone. In most actually becoming credentials Linux distributions, root (assuming dialogue (example) there are sudo is configured that requires the commands (su, this way; the stated password of a sudo) that will intent of sudo is to member of the temporarily grant allow users to run administrators root/administrator select commands group (who are privileges to as root). The su listed). For users processes that command requires who are already need it. In practice, the root password logged in an the sudo command every time, and is administrator, only is generally far less therefore more confirmation of an annoyance, secure; (example) is leading to its use malware(which can necessary. The first over su in enter a system in a user account distributions like variety of ways, created during the Ubuntu, in spite of such as browser

setup process is the additional exploits) cannot automatically a security risk. In exploit a member of the addition, a user can passwordless administrators log into the PC as period to hijack the group. The majority the "root" or system. User of users did not temporarily Access Controls in change to an become root with Windows only account type with su (normal console grants fewer rights, logout returns the administrator meaning that, in user to normal privileges to the Windows versions permissions). No user for each prior to the elevated process as a oneintroduction of UAC, permissions are time-shot. Each malicious programs needed for process that needs would have full anything when elevated privileges control over the logged in as root. In spawns a new system. practice, this can prompt to the user be very dangerous, (often more than as a simple typo one) for the user to error at the accept. command line can wipe a hard drive clean or clear the contents of system RAM. Unlike Vista's UAC, a privileged process has complete, unrestricted access to the system. For graphical programs containing thousands of lines of code, this creates a larger opportunity for something to go wrong. New frameworks such as PolicyKit seek to rectify this problem by splitting the privileged program

into two parts: A light daemon program with the privileges necessary to carry out the task and the GUI front-end that uses PolicyKit to communicate with the daemon. However, as of Feb. 2009, PolicyKit is not in widespread use. Other frameworks such as AppArmor and SELinux ensure that a program can only carry out specific tasks (for example, a web server is not allowed to change critical system files).

[edit] Filesystem Permissions

Both Windows NT-based systems and Linux-based systems support permissions on their default filesystems. Windows' original FAT filesystem, however, does not support permissions. This filesystem is available for use in both operating systems. Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 95, and previous versions of Windows only operated on the FAT filesystem, and therefore do not support permissions natively. [edit] Linux and Unix-like systems

File system permissions on a Linux system running GNOME. Linuxand Unix-like systems in generalhave a user, group, other approach to filesystem permissions at a minimum.[82] Access Control Lists are available on some filesystems, which extends the traditional Unix-like permissions system. Security patches like SELinux and PaX add Role-Based Access Controls, which add even finer-grained controls over which users and programs can access certain resources or perform certain operations. Some distributions, such as Fedora, CentOS, and Red Hat use SELinux out of the box, although most do not.[83] Most Linux distributions provide different user accounts for the various daemons.[84] In common practice, user applications are run on unprivileged accounts, to provide least user access. In some distributions, administrative tasks can only be performed through explicit switching from the user account to the root account, using tools such as su and sudo. [edit] Windows

File system permissions on a Windows Vista system. Windows NT and subsequent NT-based versions of Windows use NTFS-based Access Control Lists to administer permissions, using tokens.[85] On Windows XP and prior versions, most home users still ran all of their software with Administrator accounts, as this is the default setup upon installation. The existence of software that would not run under limited accounts and the cumbersome "Run As..." mechanism forced many users to use administrative accounts. This gives users full read and write access to all files on the filesystem. Windows Vista changes this[86] by introducing a privilege elevation system called User Account Control that works on the principle of Least user access. When logging in as a standard user, a logon session is created and a token containing only the most basic privileges is assigned. In this way, the new logon session is incapable of making changes that would affect the entire system. When logging in as a user in the Administrators group, two separate tokens are assigned. The first token contains all privileges typically awarded to an administrator, and the second is a restricted token similar to what a standard user would receive. User applications, including the Windows Shell, are then started with the restricted token, resulting in a reduced privilege environment even under an Administrator account. When an application requests higher privileges or "Run as administrator" is clicked, UAC will prompt for confirmation and, if consent is given, starts the process using the unrestricted token.[87] For more information on the differences between the Linux su/sudo approach and Vista's User Account Control, see Comparison of privilege authorization features.

[edit] VLSI industry

The VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration, IC design & manufacturing technology) industry uses Linux. These companies usually have servers and Solaris/Linux installed. Most of the VLSI tools are designed for Linux and there are no ports available for Windows making Linux dominant in VLSI industry.

[edit] Localization

It is easy to have multiple languages installed in Linux and to switch between them while the user is logging in. Almost all applications will communicate with the user in the selected language, because the open nature of development allows volunteer based translations. In MS Windows, localization can be provided by a separate installation of the operating system, or the Multilingual User Interface (MUI) can be used to provide multiple languages on one installation. Many of the available applications for the Windows platform lack natural language support for many languages.[citation
needed]

[edit] See also

Free software portal Microsoft portal

Comparison of operating systems Comparison of open source and closed source Comparison of Office Open XML and OpenDocument

[edit] External links

An IT Professional's Testimonial of Windows and Linux The table of equivalents/replacements/analogs of Windows software in Linux

[edit] References
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2. ^ "Microsoft sees Windows gaining server market share".

iTnews. February 28, 2008. http://www.itnews.com.au/News/71042,microsoft-seeswindows-gaining-server-market-share.aspx. Retrieved on 2008-03-16.[dead link] 3. ^ a b c "Worldwide Server Market Experiences Modest Growth in Fourth Quarter as Market Revenues Reach Seven-Year High in 2007, According to IDC". IDC. February 27, 2008. http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS21114208. Retrieved on 2008-03-08. 4. ^ a b c Operating system Family share for 6/2009 5. ^ "New York Internet and WestHost are the Most Reliable Hosting Companies in December 2008". Netcraft. 2009-01-02. http://news.netcraft.com/archives/2009/01/02/new_york_intern et_and_westhost_are_the_most_reliable_hosting_companies_in _december_2008.html. Retrieved on 2009-07-18. 6. ^ "Get the Facts", Microsoft's Website 7. ^ Get the Facts: Total Cost of Ownership, by Microsoft (refers to Windows Server 2003). o "Acquisition costs are a very small component of TCO ", p. 2 o "The cost of IT staffing for Linux is 59.5% higher than for Windows", p. 10 8. ^ Windows v Linux security: the real facts, The Register, 22 October 2004 EMA Study: Get the Truth on Linux Management, Levanta / OSDL, February 2006 Unbending the Truth, Novell, Inc. Truth Happens, Red Hat 9. ^ Linux TCO edge: Lower labor costs, ZDNet, 3 January 2003 10. ^ Microsoft's Linux ad 'misleading', BBC News website, 26 August 2004 11. ^ DE: Foreign ministry: 'Cost of Open Source desktop maintenance is by far the lowest' Open Source Observatory 12. ^ FR: Gendarmerie saves millions with open desktop and web applications Open Source Observatory 13. ^ http://www.noiv.nl/files/xavier_guimard_05032009.pdf 14. ^ Ballmer: Linux Bigger Competitor than Apple 15. ^ The Eclipse Foundation. (June 01, 2009). News reports. Developers take a shift from Windows to Linux. Retrieved June 05, 2009 from http://www.ciol.com/Developer/OperatingSystem/News-Reports/Developers-take-a-shift-from-Windowsto-Linux/1609120333/0/062009

16. ^ a b "Operating System Market Share". Market share for browsers, operating systems and search engines. www.hitslink.com. September 2008. http://marketshare.hitslink.com/report.aspx? qprid=8&qpmr=100&qpdt=1&qpct=3&qptimeframe=M&qpsp =123&qpnp=1. Retrieved on 2009-05-04. 17. ^ Lenovo, Novell partner to offer Linux on the ThinkPad 18. ^ Linux PC Models Multiply As Vista Struggles - Linux InformationWeek 19. ^ Logiciels prinstalls Les fabricants en accusation : IMAGESON-INFORMATIQUE INFORMATIQUE Logiciel - UFC Que Choisir 20. ^ ftp://ftp.suse.com/pub/people/trenn/ACPI_BIOS_on_Linux_guide /acpi_guideline_for_vendors.pdf 21. ^ a b "NT vs. Linux". March 2000. http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/8143/nt-vs-linux.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-16. 22. ^ a b "Linux vs Windows (a comparison)". June 20, 2005. http://www.michaelhorowitz.com/Linux.vs.Windows.html#agui. Retrieved on 2008-03-16. 23. ^ "CLI magic: shell programming". Linux.com. March 15, 2004. http://www.linux.com/feature/113635. Retrieved on 2008-03-16. 24. ^ Clean Install Procedure with Illustrative Screen Captures, The Elder Geek 25. ^ Sjouwerman, Stu; Tittel, Ed (September 1999), "Windows NT and Hardware", Windows NT Power Toolkit (Pearson Education (web outtake: Microsoft TechNet)), ISBN 978-0-73570922-5, http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/ntwrkstn/maintain/o perate/hardware.mspx, retrieved on 2008-04-12 26. ^ http://madpenguin.org/cms/html/47/5937.html "switching to windows" 27. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20080302202614/http://linux.blog web.de/uploads/winVSubu.pdf "Windows vs. Ubuntu" 28. ^ A comparison of Ubuntu 6.06 and Windows XP 361degrees 29. ^ "Windows Vista Imaging and Installation Performance". Microsoft Windows Vista team blog. http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/windowsvista/archive/2006 /10/02/Windows-Vista-Imaging-and-InstallationPerformance.aspx.

30. ^ "Driver Signing Requirements for Windows". Microsoft. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/drvsign/drvsign.mspx. Retrieved on 2008-02-23. 31. ^ "Microsoft blocks 64-bit driver Microsoft blocks 64-bit driver". heise Security UK. 2007-08-08. http://www.heiseonline.co.uk/security/Microsoft-blocks-64-bitdriver--/news/94035 Microsoft blocks 64-bit driver. 32. ^ The Live CD List http://www.frozentech.com/content/livecd.php 33. ^ Official court document outlining illegal behavior in Microsoft's practice of bundling software http://www.usdoj.gov/atr/cases/f1700/1763.htm 34. ^ Microsoft Halloween documents leak #2 - [1] 35. ^ KGRUBEditor KDE-Apps.org 36. ^ GrubConf - GRUB Graphical Configuration Editor 37. ^ LUIGUI - Linux/UNIX Independent Group for Usability Information, Linux Journal, March 2000 38. ^ Linux Usability Study Report, Relevantive AG, 13 August 2003 39. ^ http://www.actsofvolition.com/archives/2001/december/windo wsxprough XP inconsistencies 40. ^ Windows Vista User Experience Guidelines 41. ^ http://usability.kde.org/hig/ KDE human interface guidelines 42. ^ http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/ GNOME HIG 43. ^ Microsoft Accessibility, KDE Accessibility, GNOME Accessibility 44. ^ http://www.catb.org/~esr/halloween/halloween2.html 45. ^ "Using Hotpatching Technology to Reduce Servicing Reboots". http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServer/en/library/e550 50fc-22c9-4984-9bae-b8b0527334721033.mspx?mfr=true. 46. ^ GeodSoft. "Linux, OpenBSD, Windows Server Comparison: Linux Stability". http://geodsoft.com/opinion/server_comp/reliability/linux.htm. 47. ^ "Windows-to-Linux roadmap: Part 1. Thinking in Linux". IBM developerWorks. November 11, 2003. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/lroadmap1.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-17. 48. ^ Brian Hatch (April 9, 2003). "The Upgrade Process: Restarting vs Rebooting". http://www.hackinglinuxexposed.com/articles/20030409.html. Retrieved on 2008-03-17. 49. ^ List of Rescue and Repair LiveDistros

50. ^ Windows NT Kernel Thread Scheduling 51. ^ Inside the Windows Vista Kernel: Part 1, Microsoft Technet 52. ^ Dan Tsafrir, Yoav Etsion, Dror G. Feitelson. "Secretly Monopolizing the CPU Without Superuser Privileges" (PDF). http://www.cs.huji.ac.il/~dants/papers/Cheat07Security.pdf. 53. ^ XP Myths: Moving the paging file 54. ^ How to configure paging files for optimization and recovery in Windows XP, Microsoft Help and Support 55. ^ "New OpenOffice for Ubuntu". http://user.services.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php? f=16&t=68. 56. ^ "GoboLinux at a glance". GoboLinux. http://www.gobolinux.org/?page=at_a_glance. Retrieved on 2008-03-17. 57. ^ Compare First steps paragraph in http://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html 58. ^ a b http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2003/10/15/55296 .aspx Raymond Chen on Backward compatibility 59. ^ McLaws, Robert (2006-09-27). "The Truth About Visual Studio Support on Windows Vista". Robert McLaws: Windows Vista Edition (www.windows-now.com). Archived from the original on 2006-09-27. http://web.archive.org/web/20070209172800/http://www.wind ows-now.com/blogs/robert/archive/2006/09/27/Visual-StudioSupport-in-Windows-Vista.aspx. Retrieved on 2008-04-12. For example, Windows Vista is not compatible with pre-2005 versions of MS SQL Server 60. ^ Application Compatibility - The Linux Foundation 61. ^ The Portland Group 62. ^ Polyhedron Software | Home 63. ^ a b Number of Debian Packages 64. ^ Debian Packages 65. ^ http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/Ou/?p=325 Vista will ship with thousands of application shims to accommodate legacy applications 66. ^ Microsoft (April 2007). "Application Compatibility Cookbook". The Windows Vista Developer Story. Microsoft Developer Network. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/enus/dnlong/html/AppComp.asp. Retrieved on 2008-04-12. 67. ^ Wine Wiki. "Benchmark tests for WINE". http://wiki.winehq.org/BenchMark-0.9.5.

68. ^ Debian. "List of Games for Debian". http://packages.debian.org/stable/games/. 69. ^ VMware. "Enabling Accelerated 3-D for a Virtual Machine". http://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d_e nabling_vm.html. 70. ^ a b InternetNews Realtime IT News Linux Malware On The Rise 71. ^ Dutch Botnet Suspects Ran 1.5 Million Machines - Security Technology News by TechWeb 72. ^ New worm targets Linux systems - CNET News.com 73. ^ Clam AntiVirus 74. ^ "How Do They Do It? A Look Inside the Security Development Lifecycle at Microsoft -- MSDN Magazine, November 2005". http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/05/11/SDL/. 75. ^ "Compare Windows to Red Hat". http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/compare/compare_li nux.mspx. 76. ^ "Microsoft issues Vista security scorecard, gives itself an Aplus". http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do? command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9014080&pageNumber =2. 77. ^ "Flaws Are Detected in Microsoft's Vista". http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/25/technology/25vista.html? ex=1324702800&en=49a6ffcc2da87302&ei=5090. 78. ^ "The Bug". http://metasploit.com/users/hdm/tools/debianopenssl/. 79. ^ Forrester Research. "Forrester Report into relative security of Linux and Windows" (PDF). http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/c/7/9c793b769eec-4081-98ef-f1d0ebfffe9d/LinuxWindowsSecurity.pdf. 80. ^ "Claims Open Source offers a faster and more effective response to security issues". http://searchwinit.techtarget.com/columnItem/0,294698,sid1_ gci1016130,00.html. 81. ^ The Register (2004-10-22). "Security Report: Windows vs Linux (Rebuttal to the Forrester Report)". http://www.theregister.co.uk/security/security_report_windows _vs_linux/. 82. ^ Security on a Linux file system, retrieved January 19, 2007. 83. ^ Red Hat discusses RHEL's inclusion of SELinux: [2] A wiki devoted to SELinux in Fedora:[3] A review of CentOS hosted at linux.com: [4]

84. ^ For instance see this paragraph in Debian Policy [5] (a better citation is welcome) 85. ^ "Managing Authorization and Access Control". Microsoft Technet. http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/bb457115.aspx. 86. ^ Microsoft describes in detail the steps taken to combat this in a TechNet bulletin. [6] 87. ^ Kenny Kerr (2006-09-29). "Windows Vista for Developers Part 4 User Account Control". http://weblogs.asp.net/kennykerr/archive/2006/09/29/Windows -Vista-for-Developers-_1320_-Part-4-_1320_-User-AccountControl.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-03-15. [hide]
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