Can you guys help me list of what windows has over linux.

generic_ · 2009-06-16 23:23:09

Im debating with my web design teacher, she says Linux still has short comings to be seriously used for for a wide range development OS. HEr argument is that though some things Linux can do well widows can still do some things it cant. This is not a "Why linux is better" thread. Linux has come a LONG way ( and so has Open Source for that matter.) Windows has some software that may be better but Linux usual had a decent alternative. So what is there that linux cannot do at all that windows, can or that really is so horrible its not even usable. Im gonna say some things people are bound to say that linux can't but it infact can.

Linux CAN edit movies and decent well with tools like cinerela.
Linux CAN sync music with the iPod-touch and iPhone via ssh.

Thats off the top of my head, but what is there that linux has simply not alternative for?

fukawi2 · 2009-06-17 01:15:26

Market share...

arkay · 2009-06-17 01:17:13

Bsods.

Ghost1227 · 2009-06-17 01:19:11

let's see...
1. bsod
2. M$ Works (no it doesn't)
3. Frontpage
4. a price tag
5. nonexistant support
6. limited customization potential
7. Slick Willy

Nezmer · 2009-06-17 01:22:13

1) Support for IE-only websites .
2) IIS .

Last edited by Nezmer (2009-06-17 01:24:42)

generic_ · 2009-06-17 01:23:44

Hmm this is gonna be tougher than I though. I'm seriously thinking of sending her Ghost1227's list but I want her to say I'm right at the end of the discussion

lucke · 2009-06-17 01:28:11

Linux even has Vigor!

cardinals_fan · 2009-06-17 01:33:06

This is an impossible topic. Every user has their own individual needs and desires, and there is no right or wrong OS for everyone.

ozar · 2009-06-17 01:37:16

Windows has millions and millions of clueless users, and perhaps not entirely their own fault.

I could be wrong but in my opinion your average Linux user is far more competent on computers than the average Windows user.

fumbles · 2009-06-17 02:13:49

Almost all propriety software works with Windows, Linux support is rare.
Almost all hardware for end users have Windows drivers, Linux support is rare.

For both you have to wait until someone find someway of hacking together some partial support. Not everyone wants to spend time trying to get some device working. Apple's are more expensive then a PC + a WinOS yet people still buy them!

for a wide range development OS

What does she mean by that? What sort of development is she talking about? Last time I check all you needed was a text editor and a compiler!

Windows has some software that may be better but Linux usual had a decent alternative.

I think once you get out of School you will find 'alternatives' don't cut it.

iphitus · 2009-06-17 02:15:42

Linux CAN edit movies and decent well with tools like cinerela.

Have you actually tried to use cinelerra? Sure linux can 'sort of' edit video, but it's more an exercise in frustration. It's nowhere near the class of the tools available for OSX/Windows in both ease of use and capabilities.

Windows has a greater range of games, and has all the good flight sims, MSFS and X-Plane. While Linux has X-Plane, more addons work under windows and X-Plane Linux handle's joysticks terribly. Flightgear doesnt compare. Horrible terrain, weather, no ATC, low detail models, low detail systems... etc.

Most major CAD software is also available on windows only. Solidworks, CATIA, Autocad, etc.

So Windows is easily better for some things. Computers are a tool, use the most appropriate software for the task.

Fumbles is right. Once you get out of school and into the real world, depending on where you go there's a good chance you'll be required to use Windows. In some industries there's a significant amount of Windows only software used in the industry, or when it's cross platform, there's only Windows licenses available. Using another version or a supposedly compatible yet half capable open source alternative simply is not an option in these areas. Look up the Airbus A380 Wiring Harness for an example

Last edited by iphitus (2009-06-17 02:25:52)

Square · 2009-06-17 02:28:46

I think you'd be better off turning this around on her end by asking for her to provide examples to support her claim, considering she should have some substantial reason to make such a claim in the first place. I'd guess that most of her support could be quickly debunked.

The only real shortcoming I can see is not supporting (natively) common proprietary software, such as commercial games and Microsoft products. The alternatives in some cases aren't exactly up to par at the moment.

1LordAnubis · 2009-06-17 02:30:06

Hmm... this is a tough one.

For one, I would say there are a few "internet explorer" add on required websites.. also DRM.. for stuff like that I just fire up vbox.
Also, there are a few games that you can't get to run on linux.. and there are some specialized windows programs that you may be required to use because A) that person doesn't know any different, or B) there is no alternative. I can't remember anything off the top of my head, so hopefully someone will list some stuff.

I have heard that linux lacks in the area of music development software, however.

Some manufactures unfortunately only develop drivers for windows, and if opensource drivers ever exist, they are slow to progress. (this is rare but does happen, but then again, windows doesn't have all required drivers on disc- you have to manually search for all your drivers, and they don't always work properly, don't forget that they may not work on all windows versions)I've seen this happen with a few printers...

Then you could go through a massive list similar to ghost's post... but watch this video instead

---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOh6Nh8w6f8

drelyn86 · 2009-06-17 04:08:30

Windows has a large userbase that will be happy with whatever desktop environment, sound system, window manager, libraries, etc. that Microsoft throws at them... they don't have as much preference as we do. Therefore, coding something for a freshly installed Windows Vista 32-bit will pretty much work on every other Windows Vista 32-bit machine out there.
Try doing that with Arch.
In all honesty - I don't want that "one size fits all" mentality in Linux... if that happened, I feel like I couldn't call it Linux anymore... I'd have to call it something like "Ubuntu".

Ranguvar · 2009-06-17 04:49:56

generic_ wrote:

development OS

Linux all the way for development, even over *BSD/OpenSolaris/etc. The only things it lacks are really good .NET support (there is Mono though) and massive IDEs like Visual Studio or XCode, but there are good IDEs that work if you want one. Linux beats the crap out of Windoze and the Mac too, pretty much, for development, especially cross-development. IMHO.

Anyways, you shouldn't need to justify anything yet, she made the argument that Linux "can't do some things", so she needs to cite examples for that first

BTW, on the video editing, I (unfortunately) disagree. Linux video editing _sucks_. Cinelerra is... weird. Buggy, and looks like crap, but sort of powerful... kind of. Like I said, it's weird. And then among all the other editors, I haven't found one that's even as good as Movie Maker. Sorry, it's the truth. Some can do stuff Movie Maker can't, but they aren't solid. I do all my editing with Sony Vegas in a VM (though I'm not so unfair as to compare fledgling projects with Vegas ). With a bit of luck, this will change soon, what with Collabora funding PiTiVi now.

EDIT: Wait... woah... if you can pay for / obtain it, there is good Linux video software. It's being used on Hollywood movies, even. Can't believe I haven't heard of it.
http://www.vfxtalk.com/forum/over-100-a … t9664.html

Last edited by Ranguvar (2009-06-17 05:03:37)

markisthejob · 2009-06-17 05:55:59

I think the only thing I really missed when I left windows was being able to play games.Not all work on wine/cedega etc.

fuse · 2009-06-17 06:14:46

I am not an advocate of Linux or OSS but Arch has been my primary desktop for awhile / years. The real question is what can you do in Linux you can't do in Windows? 99% of the reasons I left Windows in the first place have been fixed. I can not honestly say that about Linux. Sound is still garbage after all these years and it keeps getting worse (ALSA, PULSE etc), we have had maybe 3 BIG commercial games over the years and there is a plethora of software there is no alternative for on Linux.

Dreamweaver
After Effects
Basicly go to Adobe.com

Hell even iMovie is better than Cinelerra.

I don't hate Linux far from it and I do believe it has a future, just see what Apple did with OSX.

the_isz · 2009-06-17 07:00:22

In my eyes, the only thing window$ really has got that linux is missing and has no appropriate substitute of is DirectX. DirectX supplies developers with a single interface to almost all hardware a
program might possibly use, which is absolutely fabulous, especially for programming games. Of course, Linux can use OpenGL, OpenML and similar toolkits, but they are not as comprehensive as
DirectX.

And as micro$oft has developed DirectX since such a long time now, hardware vendors immediately test their drivers against them being usable by DirectX, thus maintaining the usability of it. This is
something that Linux (unfortunately) will not have soon...

Themaister · 2009-06-17 07:20:14

Linux lacks great music production software, which is the reason I need to have a Windows-partition (and some games, but hey). Although, it's just a matter of porting for me, as jack works really well with very low latency (can't hear it), and my MIDI-keyboard just works.

Zeist · 2009-06-17 07:23:15

fuse wrote:

I am not an advocate of Linux or OSS but Arch has been my primary desktop for awhile / years. The real question is what can you do in Linux you can't do in Windows?

Besides from run Linux software and access to a text-based shell? Nothing. The problem is that efficiency level I have on Windows is only a fraction of my efficiency level on Linux though. On Linux I don't have to spend hours on working around problems I have with things on the system, but rather everything is quite easily fixable. I never have any issues on Windows XP these days that mean a complete dead end, but a lot of issues that slow me down and cause unnecessary frustration.

fuse wrote:

99% of the reasons I left Windows in the first place have been fixed. I can not honestly say that about Linux.

I guess I'm not the right person to be saying this since I never actually left Windows. I still run Windows at work every now and then for some projects, and at home I run Windows for gaming once or twice every couple of months. My main reason for not using Windows as a main desktop is quite simply due to a lot of little annoyances piling up on top of each other. Most Windows users I know just shrug the little annoyances of their OS off as "meh, that's just the way it works", but I can't really see myself doing that. Whenever I do find myself using Windows I tend to find that it is about as good as it has always been, it isn't that bad most of the time, but sometimes you run into these really stupid annoying little quirks and when you get a lot of them all at once it is just really frustrating. I do not see why I should put up with these things when there is an alternative.

fuse wrote:

Sound is still garbage after all these years and it keeps getting worse (ALSA, PULSE etc), we have had maybe 3 BIG commercial games over the years and there is a plethora of software there is no alternative for on Linux.
Dreamweaver
After Effects
Basicly go to Adobe.com
Hell even iMovie is better than Cinelerra.
I don't hate Linux far from it and I do believe it has a future, just see what Apple did with OSX.

Of course there is a Linux alternative to Dreamweaver... it's called Vim.

I agree on the lack of video editing tools though, video editing on Linux is a joke compared to Avid or even Final Cut Pro. Autodesk Inferno sounds interesting though.

litemotiv · 2009-06-17 07:37:25

fuse wrote:

I am not an advocate of Linux or OSS but Arch has been my primary desktop for awhile / years. The real question is what can you do in Linux you can't do in Windows? 99% of the reasons I left Windows in the first place have been fixed. I can not honestly say that about Linux. Sound is still garbage after all these years and it keeps getting worse (ALSA, PULSE etc), we have had maybe 3 BIG commercial games over the years and there is a plethora of software there is no alternative for on Linux.
Dreamweaver
After Effects
Basicly go to Adobe.com
Hell even iMovie is better than Cinelerra.
I don't hate Linux far from it and I do believe it has a future, just see what Apple did with OSX.

+1

linux is not the miracle OS that pwns everything else out there, and Open Source is not the golden path to software enlightenment. it's important that both exist, so is diversity, but sometimes you just need hierarchy and commercial interest to get stuff™ done.

Themaister · 2009-06-17 09:06:23

Very true. Commercial (mostly proprietary) software does have its right for life. For huge projects, it's hard to get things done without getting support from companies. However, I think that the fundament of every computing system (in our case GNU/Linux) should always be free software.

ngoonee · 2009-06-17 09:18:42

Microsoft Office. Openoffice just doesn't cut it, sorry to say. This isn't Sun's fault, but office software HAS to be readable-editable the same whichever machine you're using, and microsoft office is on almost all desktops in every university/office. Anyone who's tried to use openoffice exclusively for .doc/.xls/.ppt would know what I mean. For example, the 3.1 series problem with .doc tables....

Themaister · 2009-06-17 10:34:28

Hehe, well, I've used OpenOffice the whole high school at least without compability problems, but we weren't required to use MS formats (even though I did to be safe). But if I look at the situation I have at work, OpenOffice wouldn't cut it. But I mean, free vs. several hundred dollars.

jowilkin · 2009-06-17 12:52:48

I have Windows virtual machines on all my computers I use for work and development; pretty much just to run Office. OpenOffice doesn't cut it. I often have to collaborate with someone else who's using Office and then to ensure compatibility I have to use Windows and Office. The pptx, docx, etc. files are the worst, OpenOffice is terrible with them. Sometimes I have to write papers that need to be put into a Word template that is provided to me and OpenOffice will not render the template correctly forcing me to use Windows. There are also a lot of useful excel plugins (one I've used is Precision Tree: http://www.palisade.com/PrecisionTree/) that can be very elaborate and expensive, but are heavily used by industry.

I messed around with Wine for a while trying to get Office 2007 to work, but could only acheive partial functionality so I gave up.

Also as others said, many games need Windows. This doesn't really matter though if talking about a development machine like you said you were.

Last edited by jowilkin (2009-06-17 12:54:08)

Arch Linux

#1 2009-06-16 23:23:09

Can you guys help me list of what windows has over linux.

#2 2009-06-17 01:15:26

Re: Can you guys help me list of what windows has over linux.

#3 2009-06-17 01:17:13

Re: Can you guys help me list of what windows has over linux.

#4 2009-06-17 01:19:11

Re: Can you guys help me list of what windows has over linux.

#5 2009-06-17 01:22:13

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#6 2009-06-17 01:23:44

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#7 2009-06-17 01:28:11

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#8 2009-06-17 01:33:06

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#9 2009-06-17 01:37:16

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#10 2009-06-17 02:13:49

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#11 2009-06-17 02:15:42

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#12 2009-06-17 02:28:46

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#13 2009-06-17 02:30:06

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#14 2009-06-17 04:08:30

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#15 2009-06-17 04:49:56

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#16 2009-06-17 05:55:59

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#17 2009-06-17 06:14:46

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#18 2009-06-17 07:00:22

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#19 2009-06-17 07:20:14

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#20 2009-06-17 07:23:15

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#21 2009-06-17 07:37:25

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#22 2009-06-17 09:06:23

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#23 2009-06-17 09:18:42

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#24 2009-06-17 10:34:28

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#25 2009-06-17 12:52:48

Re: Can you guys help me list of what windows has over linux.

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