All of the computer systems at work are run on old sun systems, and i realize there is a lot you can do with unix, but i honestly prefer windows hands down no contest. i dont see any reason why i should switch my os. a friend of mine was talking to me about this the other day. just kind of sparked my curiosity. im a pretty seasoned windows user, and only midly delved into the unix world. just wondering if you had any good input on this. i get tired of the canned answers "unix is more powerful", or "windows isnt as stable", as far as i can tell, its great for specific function pc's, and the price is very nice, but i like a well rounded pc. so my main question is- what, in unix, can you do that you cant do with windows? sorry this is so long.. waiting on my new parts to come in and ive got the day off....yay flash games and forums..
Some might contest the following, but it is my personal opinion based on 8+ years of professional Windows/IT experience and 18+ years of overall computer experience: ___________________________________ Situations where Windows excels: Single-user environments Isolated (or non-networked) environments Environments with little or no change in the long-term nature of usage Ubiquitous vendor support (software, hardware, tech-support) Situations where Windows does poorly: Multi-user environments Environments with high network exposure Environments where software is added and removed regularly Circumstances which necessitate long-term uptime Remote administration Automation Scalability Low-level customization Long-term stability ___________________________________ As a contrast, here's what my experiences with Linux and other Unix-like systems have shown me: ___________________________________ Situations where Linux/UNIX excels: Multi-user environments Environments with high network exposure Environments where software is added and removed regularly Circumstances which necessitate long-term uptime Remote administration Automation Scalability Low-level customization Long-term stability Situations where Linux/UNIX does poorly: Vendor support (mostly specialty software) Exotic hardware support Proprietary (Windows-only) software ___________________________________ As far as I'm concerned, technologically speaking Linux (or any UNIX system) is vastly technologically superior to any version of Winows. Tack on the fact that Linux is free and open source, it resists virii by nature and offers the capability for an overwelming level of customization and I find it difficult to recommend Windows. I use only Linux at home, as does my wife and even our firewall runs it. You are of course free to use whatever you want, but you asked the question, and I've tried to answer it as thoroughly and accurately as possible. Hope this helps, -AT
