Fundamental Differences Between Ubuntu And Windows

Well, I've been using Ubuntu for a year or so, and I've been using it full-time since April. And I've come across many fundamental differences between Ubuntu and Windows XP/Vista. I used XP for more than 6 years and Vista for 9 months...and none of them really filled my expectations. Ubuntu did almost instantly! And I'm gonna do a little comparison here.

• No viruses or spyware! A big difference between both OSes. Most people claim Windows has more programs and applications...sure it has! If you count the multiple and useless virus/malware scanners and removers!

• Faster and more reliable! Ok, careful now. This is relative to the use you have for your computer. Ubuntu has an awesome fylesystem which doesn't need to be "defragmented" or "error checked" every week, like in Windows. Although it has a great filesystem, if you don't know how to install certain packages and binaries or if you don't know how to compile code...you'll end up with a mess in your computer, making it a lot slower. But don't worry, installing and compiling is not that hard. Uninstalling compiled programs it's a little harder, but it's not impossible either.

• Totally free of charge and totally free to modify! Remember when I told you you can make Ubuntu look like XP, Vista or Mac?...Well actually you can make it look however you want! There are tons of themes, gadgets and apps for making Ubuntu your own personal playground. Think of it as decorating your room...you can do whatever you want because it's yours! You'll never have to pay a cent for downloading and using Ubuntu and almost all of it's programs. (There are some people selling programs for Linux-based systems though).

• Aero?...pfff! Yeah right! Vista was launched as a "You Can Personalize It" OS....well...THEY'RE WRONG! Vista has a nice looking interface, with some "new" transparency effects...which only eat up like 25% out of a 2GB RAM (Aero and the needed OS processes only) without counting all the other programs you open up...So you'll end up wasting valuable memory on a crappy effect...Hence most people deactivate Aero completely. In Ubuntu you can install Compiz-Fusion which is the most comprehensive and cool collection of 3D desktop effects there is! And even with tons of effects in use it uses around 7-15mbs of RAM... wha..? YES it's very memory-friendly...allowing you to use your valuable RAM for useful things, while having tons of pimping effects in your desktop and taskbars...including that nifty cube everyone is talking about ;-)! And everything inside Ubuntu is customizable in one way or another!

• Open-Source! Like I said it's free! But there's always someone who says "OMG but open-source it's dangerous! They can hack your system!" Well...THEY'RE...KINDA... WRONG! All you have to do is be very careful about where you download and install packages from. If you can use only the ones available on the repositories (repos for short) you won't have any problems! Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu's funds for maintenance and support) personally test all the programs in the repos to make sure they're safe and stable. That's why sometimes the repos have old versions of some programs, they test them first!

• Free and Reliable Support! There are lots of people willing to help other people that make neat blogs about support, tips and tricks for Ubuntu (like me) and there's also lots of documentation and forums everywhere...FREE!!! Check the "Awesome Sites" list on the right of this blog. Hit the one that says "Ubuntu Forums" and there you'll find hundreds of threads and topics about help and support for almost everything "Ubuntu-related". But don't forget to come here too!

• Satisfaction Guaranteed! What if you don't like it? That won't happen anyway, but Linux Ubuntu is so versatile that you can run it directly from the CD... That's called a Live CD and it let's you check if everything works before actually installing it on you computer! The best part is, that if you decide not to take the leap of faith from Windows to Ubuntu you can just restart your computer and remove the disc and Ubuntu is gone! No leftovers or trails left behind on your HD!
  Go on and try it!
  

Well this was part one of my "Fundamental Differences" series of posts. Hope you guys enjoyed it! And the best part is, that if you don't want to get rid of Windows completely (I did format my HDD and deleted Windows completely) you can make a double-boot or you can use VMWare or VisturalBox to run Windows inside of Ubuntu. (More about these programs in later posts).