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

Misfit138 · 2009-06-17 13:38:36

Fumbles and Iphitus are exactly correct.
Partially functioning alpha or beta-quality alternatives are not an alternative in a business/production environment. Cinerela and Kdenlive are slowly improving, but not even close to the quality/stability of tools like Adobe Premier, Final Cut or even iMovie.

Tyriel · 2009-06-17 13:43:23

Between Crossover, Cedega and Wine can't we basically run most windows software now? If so it would address many of the programs people miss from windows.

Themaister · 2009-06-17 13:52:27

Wine doesn't always work that well with programs that require sophisticated functionality from hardware. :\ F.ex.: ASIO in Windows emulated through ALSA won't really work that well (I think...)

ngoonee · 2009-06-17 14:05:37

I think I got office working in wine, but yes non-full functionality just made me drop the whole idea for a VM. Latest I heard office 2007 wouldn't even install in the latest wine release due to a regression, you have to downgrade about 7 versions to actually install, then upgrade again to get the actual functionality working.

So yes, office is a big thing. Another one is interoperability with non-PC accessories. Bluetooth headphones just got much easier recently, I believe, but things like PDAs are hit and miss, and when they DO hit (like Palms have for ages) the functionality is limited as compared to in Windows. I am STILL not able to use evolutions Palm sync reliably, it syncs just fine but doesn't support birthdays and messes up addresses. J-Pilot works good, but its standalone, and I can't maintain just ONE PIM database automatically.

For stuff where devs have focused, though, I think Linux far outshines windows. I could never imagine living without my offlineimap, my compiz (sorry, not a fan of minimalism obviously) functionality (on-demand transparency and cube, most importantly), and all the simple scripts which make life easier.

Tyriel · 2009-06-17 14:12:00

Yes I can see how that would be the case. I guess certain specialised software is bound to be better on Windows or Mac OS because millions of dollars and thousands of man hours have been invested in them. Only if they wrote it to work under Linux as well I personally would be happy to pay.

However this all said, Linux has so many applications that I believe are far superior than the windows or mac alternatives.

Obi-Lan · 2009-06-17 20:13:37

Nobody mentioned Active Directory... If you have hundreds of clueless users at corporate enviroment, you just want those workstations do things as automatically as possible, installing automatically printers, network shares, e-mail accounts (works with exchange 2007+outlook 2007) etc. Just basic file share with AD, I just don't how things could be done as easily with NFS. Then there are Group Policies with you can use to turn on/off pretty much every feature on groups of Windows workstations,

ngoonee · 2009-06-17 22:33:02

Concerning AD, doesn't Samba provide AD membership in v3 and soon-to-be AD server with v4?

broch · 2009-06-17 23:47:37

he, he
this thread title:

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

still some users answer as if OP wanted a list of linux over windws stuff.

what windows has and linux does not?

professional quality software:
Adobe products
Office
enerprise products (group/calendar/email - Novell does not cut)
support for the older products

software for plenty of pocked devices: (e.g. full support for blackberry, iphone, symbian), camera, etc

support for older software (years back)

specialized software:
in my case molecular biology, for my wife, medicine related,

development? That would depend on your target.

Ranguvar · 2009-06-18 02:09:25

Themaister wrote:

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.

-1, Ardour kicks ass

Also, to the post saying proprietary software is necessary, I disagree very much. Support from big business _is_ nice, and is likely necessary for a lot of projects, but this doesn't mean proprietary. Remember, according to GKH, 75% of kernel development is paid for. Also, the open-source PiTiVi editor is now sponsored by Collabora. Etc.

GNU/Linux has a lot of really good stuff. Ardour is definitely a serious competitor in the pro audio field, and Blender can give Maya a run for its money in 3D modeling. OpenOffice, AbiWord, and GNUmeric can all give their MS Office competitors a run for their money -- for the average home user definitely, my Mom still doesn't understand she's not using Office besides that she must chose .doc output when she wants to send something to someone else, for the business it's a little while off. Usability? I would venture to say that Ubuntu is _easier_ than WinXP. There, I said it. What remains is waiting for people to try Ubuntu, like it, and tell their friends about it (and help them use it). Think about it. Ubuntu has fantastic online support, but most people don't go online for support. They have a "computer guy". Once all the "computer guys" are using GNU/Linux, there's the foot in the door, and we can overcome the "used to Windoze" factor. Ubuntu may be easier than Windows, but it's harder because people are used to Windows quirks.

Anyways, that was getting off topic.... I think we are seeing GNU/Linux as a very viable alternative to Windows now, except in a few highly specific areas where it falls flat on its face. Image editing is ok-ish with Inkscape and the GIMP, but they could be improved a lot. If Adobe ports its software to Linux, that would rock MS's house, so-to-speak (although this would hurt Free Software alternatives to Adobe's stuff). Web development software would be nice. We also need something by the way of AutoCAD, etc....

An interesting thing to look at will be Wine as it progresses. As the remaining non-Linux software becomes more and more the specialized scenarios like broch mentioned, we will need Wine to deal with the remnants. Wine isn't a solution for most "I need this special software to survive" situations, but it needs to be able to handle "I need this random _small_ app to work for a little bit". I think a good way to improve Wine would be to really document it well, and ask that devs working on Win32 projects develop using Wine, not native Windows. They can then report any stumbling blocks to the Wine devs.

fumbles · 2009-06-18 03:02:09

Obi-Lan wrote:

Nobody mentioned Active Directory... If you have hundreds of clueless users at corporate enviroment, you just want those workstations do things as automatically as possible, installing automatically printers, network shares, e-mail accounts (works with exchange 2007+outlook 2007) etc. Just basic file share with AD, I just don't how things could be done as easily with NFS. Then there are Group Policies with you can use to turn on/off pretty much every feature on groups of Windows workstations,

I was going to meantion that, but I wasn't sure about what level of support Novell's SuSe got with MS products. But your 100% right AFAIK.

Themaister · 2009-06-18 06:26:06

Ranguvar wrote:

Themaister wrote:
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.
-1, Ardour kicks ass

Well, I'm sure it's okay for hobby projects where you do not work with any softsynths (as it doesn't support it at all >_>. I only work with softsynths :<)

Last edited by Themaister (2009-06-18 06:28:19)

bwh1969 · 2009-06-18 21:32:32

cardinals_fan wrote:

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

I agree. I think Linux, especially for people who like tinkering has it's allure. Linux could also be great if someone just surfed the net and that was their only thing, and it could be set up by someone else for them ;-)

On the other hand, hate it or not, it is an MS world and there are many things I can only seem to accomplish with that OS, mostly because someone out there used an MS App to create a file that I need to manipulate. I can't for the life of me seem to be able to play a wma on Linux. I am surprised wmv played on my box with no tinkering. I don't hate windows per say, but it is very slow and clunky to boot on the same machine. Arch to desktop is about 45 seconds. It is easily close to 3 minutes for XP to settle down so I can actually do something. The desktop comes up in a minute, but by the time the firewall (zonealarm) and antivirus (avg) activate and update, well, it is entirely too long. Then the HD will just start going at some later time when I am not doing anything. Really? Why?

I think the thing that bugs me most about XP is its incessant need to update. That stupid little yellow shield appears and I get annoyed. Sometimes it just reboots the computer. Why, why can I not finish what I am doing?

KDE 4.2 is really stable and gives a very MacOS feel that is adaptable to any Window's user that has computer aptitude.

It is said that Linux is more secure. Part of this is true because one needs root access before doing anything major, but I feel if it want "big" it would be targeted more, so I think those of us who love it should protect is as the "best kept secret."

ConnorBehan · 2009-06-19 17:09:05

Are there tasks that the whole of open source and proprietary Windows software can accomplish that cannot be accomplished using open source Linux software? I think so. Are there tasks that the whole of open source and proprietary Windows software can accomplish that cannot be accomplished using open soure AND proprietary Linux software? Hardly.

I think Autodesk and Pirahna have already been mentioned for premium Linux video editing if you don't like Cinelerra. Houdini, Softimage and Lightwave are also out there for those who don't like Blender. There is plenty of proprietary CAD/CAM software for Linux and just about every "cutting edge" hardware company supports it (very expensive 3D printers, very expensive stereocameras, very expensive signaling equipment, very expensive megapixel video output).

Notice the theme? To truly beat Windows in every way you must spend a LOT of money on Linux. Windows has a great selection of mid-range proprietary software that can allow you to get things done more quickly and painlessly than on Linux (though it might not be "technically" as powerful).

Other posts here really haven't been about specific tasks that can or cannot be accomplished... they're about specific apps. For Linux to fulfill production video needs, there just has to be one production quality NLE and there is at least one. For linux to fulfill production audio needs, there just has to be one production quality sequencer and there is at least one. Is the same true for games? No, people want lots of games, so despite the fact that there are a few great games for Linux, people still consider it defficient in this way. I'm sorry that Halflife never got ported. Complain to Valve not Linus.

Now for my personal baseless assertions...
Most companies that stick to windows software do so because they are afraid of change... not because windows is truly the only option for what they're doing. Re-educating all their non-self-directed employees is too expensive and it makes sense to stick to what you're used to. They even have problems admitting that Linux software is good because they fall into their old habbits. They complain that OO doesn't have File > Page Setup because it's really called Format > Page.

I have never had to use M$ to read office formats. Between OO, abiword and gnumeric, I have gotten by just fine, if not perfectly. I think I *once* had to email my friend and tell him to send me his document without ridiculously bloated non-standard features. OO can open old .docs that M$ word can't even open. And for new .docx files, this is becoming a non-issue as they use Open XML. I've even made my own docx using raw XML just for fun.

I have also never needed to use Windows for video editing. The videos I make are amateur and probably wouldn't cut it if I made them for a living, but I honestly don't know what I'm missing. The first time I used an NLE was on Linux so I'm not constantly comparing them to Windows NLEs... I just think they are good pieces of software on their own.

Unfortunately Wine is not for everyone. Yes you can get alot of apps working if you copy over the DLLs they need but that defeats the purpose. Once you copy a DLL from windows, you have a piece of windows in there. A NON-cleanroom implementation. And to get games working you sometimes have to use dependency walker / mingw's objdump -p and get the noCD crack. Even if you're successful with all your Wine forays, you will get a bloated system very quickly since windows has virtually no concept of "shared libraries are supposed to be shared."

So anyway... Windows has software in a medium price range that sometimes makes me twitch and wish there was an open source "equal". But in every other way, the perceived advantages to Windows are really a matter of preference and I think any argument to actually prove that they're better would fall flat on its face.

gazj · 2009-06-19 18:00:20

iphitus wrote:

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

I can back this up, even in small electrical buisness we are talking 3 workstations and a small server. We have to use windows for our PAT (portable appliance testing) software. Any software written for a certain trade or special niche always come for windows only, the sage HR software is another that springs to mind.

pogeymanz · 2009-06-19 18:59:14

Windows does have several advantages.

Multiple monitors. Setting up two screens is a pain in Linux and seems shaky even when you get it. And have you ever tried three or more monitors?! I'm almost sure it's impossible unless you buy some super-expensive device.

Like everyone else said, software is a big deal. Especially drivers and such. I honestly believe that Windows XP is better for older machines that "average" people want to use. Let me elaborate:

Yes, I can install the Linux kernel on a toaster, but by the time you add on all the nice stuff like a GUI, easy WM, HAL, Thunar+volume management, etc then we're getting similar performance to XP on sub 256MB memory computers. Then, on every old Dell I've tried, Flash is terrible, among other things that you just "have to deal with." These things don't bother me, but to someone else, Linux will perform worse on moderately old machines than WinXP. It's only when we get to sub 128MB memory computers than Linux is the better option again, IMO.

chuckychuck · 2009-06-19 21:35:52

some proprietary softwares only available on windows :
- most of video games
- many "professional" softwares ( Adobe for example), video&sound editing, CAD softwares, that often don't have "true" linux alternatives

imho it's the main disadvantage of using linux, though it is not intrisic to linux itself but to its tiny market share

ConnorBehan · 2009-06-19 22:35:41

pogeymanz wrote:

And have you ever tried three or more monitors?! I'm almost sure it's impossible unless you buy some super-expensive device.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but http://www.instructables.com/files/deri … MEDIUM.jpg

In fact I'll tell you how my experience goes. I will have a third monitor by October and naturally I will try to get it working with Xorg.

Last edited by ConnorBehan (2009-06-19 22:36:21)

sokuban · 2009-06-19 23:32:46

You're taking the argument from the wrong perspective. You need to think "what can Linux do that windows can't", not "what do you think windows can do but Linux can't, and I'll prove Linux can". If you keep that kind of attitude, Linux will always be playing catch up to windows.

(My apologies if I misunderstood your post, but I figured that's what you were trying to do.)

Trent · 2009-06-20 18:17:31

I agree with sokuban, but you should also be asking your teacher for specifics -- lots of people resort to spouting FUD when they don't really have the facts. Vague generalities are difficult to debunk, but ask her to give you specific instances of things Linux is significantly behind Windows in and you will likely have the upper hand.

As far as "development" goes I can't see why she should take that stance. Unless she's referring to the lack of Linux support for MS-specific tools (like, say, ASP.NET) or lack of certain IDEs (to which I say, who cares?). There's no reason why a developer (emphasis added) can't be as productive using tools available for Linux as those available for Windows.

That's not to say that Linux is a drop-in replacement for Windows. For a company with a lot of effort invested in proprietary technologies poorly supported on Linux, it is not. But the question is about its suitability for an abstract purpose (e.g. Web development), not about its usefulness for dealing with any specific tool. (Right?)

eDio · 2009-06-20 19:51:13

Pro-audio
Windows
1) grrrrrreat advantage - a lot of soft synths and effects (VST and VSTi).
2) Melodyne (by Celemony), Elastic Audio (by Magix), etc.
3) support for a wide range of controllers, audio interfaces, etc.
Linux
1) Only jack. Doing same tasks as jack does (I mean, flexible routing between programs), in windows costs some money, as it comes as unique feature of some vendors (f.ex. ESI directwire)

3D
Windows
user-friendly software. Seriously, blender's interface is far-far behind, for example, 3dsmax's.
Linux
render farms. AFAIR it is a unique feature, that is only under *nixes.

Listening to music
Windows
Foobar, that is able to play almost everything, transcode, edit tags and more
Linux
MPD can play almost always, for example, while you restarting X. In windows this is impossible.

Office
I will argue against anyone, who says, that MS Office is better, than OOo. OOo is easier, more flexible and more functional.

Ranguvar · 2009-06-21 03:56:55

chuckychuck wrote:

imho it's the main disadvantage of using linux, though it is not intrisic to linux itself but to its tiny market share

Excellent point

Most of GNU/Linux's disadvantages are due to its small market share, while most of Windows's disadvantages are because Windows is Windows. GNU/Linux's advantages over Windows aren't because of market share (at least mostly); they're because Linux is Free Software, often free as in beer, multi-arch, Unix-like, etc. (Not to say we don't have intrinsic disadvantages too, but most if not all of those can be overcome)... We just need to get IBM, Red Hat, Novell, Canonical, Oracle(/Sun), Google, et al. promoting GNU/Linux more

cliffbreaker · 2009-06-21 13:01:44

Well. The only thing i miss in Linux is good and simple audio and video conversion tool such as CDDA Extractor and Xilisoft Video Converter in Windows. But maybe I lack knowledge and they exist. Besides that Linux is my choice for every need. Simply faster and better and gives me all I need.

ConnorBehan · 2009-06-21 21:12:12

mplayer and ffmpeg can do most any A/V conversion I've ever needed but maybe the syntax for them isn't considered "simple".

ngoonee · 2009-06-21 21:48:01

Actually, its in windows that I feel I lack a good and simple audio/video (and between) conversion tool, since I have never managed to get the ffmpeg windows binary to work. After a bit of use, the ffmpeg commandline syntax is so much more flexible than the GUI driven stuff on Windows like SUPER (which is ffmpeg-based anyway, I think).

ffmpeg is actually one of the reasons I switched from Ubuntu to Arch, cos Ubuntu decided to ship a stripped version of it due to licensing concerns.

iphitus · 2009-06-22 00:00:00

ngoonee: Handbrake works great on Windows.

Arch Linux

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