
Linux vs. Windows - ColinWright
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=18309&goback=.gde_65688_member_245070883
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ColinWright
I'm not sure how long this will last, partly because it's humor, and partly
because it may been seen as "Windows bashing" with no actual content.

But it reflects my experience with Windows. What it doesn't do it reflect my
equivalent-but-different experience of Linux. I do feel like I spend endless
hours on sysadmin-like tasks on Linux, and there are days where I get nothing
done because of the Yak-Shaving.

I should write an equivalent article from the other POV. Has anyone done that
already?

~~~
venomsnake
I am moving to Linux as main OS the moment someone tell me a sure Haswell
combination of CPU and MB that can do VGA passtrough so I can visualize one
proper windows for gaming.

~~~
csense
A lot of games run fine under Wine these days.

You can also run Windows as your main OS, but run Linux under Virtualbox or
the like, so you can switch between them without rebooting and have the best
of both worlds (Linux for programming, Windows for gaming)

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unsignedint
"Linux Doesn’t Boot or Shutdown Properly" made me laugh. Considering I've had
countless occasions waiting forever for my Windows machine to shut down (or
even hibernate) while people at Starbucks are eagerly waiting to get rid of
me.

The same (underpowered) machine with Linux, and I never have that problem any
more; and frankly, that aspect alone, makes me happy.

~~~
csense
> waiting forever for my Windows machine to shut down

The worst is when I have 10 updates. (I boot Windows maybe once every couple
months so this is not an uncommon occurrence for me.)

~~~
unsignedint
Oh, yeah, THAT's horrible -- I've in that situation couple of times (not so
often, as I hibernated the machine most of the time, but there were times that
couldn't be helped.)

It's almost gets the point; embarrassing -- while, Starbucks people are
usually nice, it's really awkward when they already have given a word that
they are closing in 10 minutes and my computer's still 4 out of 10 updates
after that 10 minutes...

INHO, actually, that update scheme might have been appropriate if computers
were desktops, but I don't know why they are keep insisting on that. (With the
SAME machine, I can happily work while update is in progress running Ubuntu. I
don't understand why they have to make updating the system so painful with
Windows.)

~~~
csense
> why they have to make updating the system so painful with Windows

I've actually thought about this and I've come up with a pretty decent
explanation.

Most UNIX filesystems have inodes, which essentially represent a filesystem
object's content, and directory entries, which are how user code specifies
which file it wants to access. A directory entry is basically just a name and
a pointer to an inode.

An inode is deleted when it isn't referenced by any directory entries _and_
isn't being used by any programs. One important practical effect of all this
architecture is that deleting files on UNIX-like systems (for example, to
replace them with a newer version) generally doesn't disturb any programs that
are using those files.

Another handy feature of many UNIX filesystems from the perspective of
software updates is that mv'ing one file onto another will result in an atomic
replacement operation if source and destination are on the same filesystem.

Windows filesystems don't have any of this infrastructure, so Windows has to
do updates when nothing but the kernel and updater are running, i.e. during
startup or shutdown.

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nshankar
I get an additional speed in Linux and Linux appears to be honest in file copy
operations than Windows, which appears clever. Windows based activities are no
match in Linux, especially in setting up the system. I spent quite some time
in finding the right location for .vimrc, so I can change some trivial
behavior .

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nnoitra
There is a difference. Windows is an operating system and Linux is an un-
operating system. Therefore, Windows wins.

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fakeer
Seriously?

I never thought humour writing has gone to such lows, both in terms of content
and presentation.

Okay, I first thought it's another "bash them winz" post but I thought give it
a try and I am back with the feeling that it's worse then that. At least those
bashes have content and analysis even though very trite and non-significant.

