Linux vs Windows A detailed comparison between Ubuntu And Windows. Linux vs Windows has been a subject of debate since the inception of computers. This article highlights the pros and cons of both the operating systems, given a set of requirements, it also attempts to show you which OS would be best suited for you. I have made an attempt to write this article without much tech laden jargon, so for those of you are not very computer savvy, it will help you make informed decisions. For this article, I will be comparing Windows 7 and Ubuntu 1. The most popular Linux distribution. We will be comparing the operating systems from an average users perspective and not that of a  systems administrator. Let me begin with an introduction of the Linux operating system as I imagine many of you must be pretty new to this. In fact, a common misconception is that Linux is ridiculously complicated. While I admit getting used to Linux may take a while for an average windows user, it is definitely easy to use. Linux comes in various flavours, also known as distributions. Install-Wine-on-Ubuntu-Step-3.png/728px-Install-Wine-on-Ubuntu-Step-3.png' alt='Install Wine Ubuntu Using Terminal' title='Install Wine Ubuntu Using Terminal' />How to Install Flash Player on Ubuntu. Flash is no longer being developed for Linux, and the newest versions are only available builtin to Chrome. If you use the. How to Install Wine on Ubuntu. Ubuntu is gaining more and more ground in the personal desktop use, but there are still a great number of programs which are only. How can I output colored text to the terminal, in Python What is the best Unicode symbol to represent a solid block How can I install applications like Google Chrome on Ubuntu Are there any commands to install an application For beginning Windows users visiting this question. Its never been harder to install Linux on a laptop. No longer a matter of downloading, burning, and hoping for a compatible WiFi card, these laptops, new and old. I know that Ubuntu can be installed on a Mac though Ive never done it, and I would guess that you can set up an external network drive in Ubuntu on a Mac as well. Ubuntu b n t u stylized as ubuntu is an open source operating system for computers. It is a Linux distribution based on the Debian architecture. Windows 10s Anniversary Update offers a big new feature for developers A full, Ubuntubased Bash shell that can run Linux software directly on Windows. This is. The most popular Linux distribution is Ubuntu, pronounced as oo boon tu. You may notice that there are more screenshots of Ubuntu than  Windows 7, since I presume that everyone reading this would already be familiar with Windows 7. So lets being the comparison 1 Look and feel Here is the home screen of  windows 7 and Ubuntu 1. Install Wine Ubuntu Using Terminal' title='Install Wine Ubuntu Using Terminal' />Since the look and feel is a personal choice, I leave it up to you to decide which is better. Personally, I try not to pay attention to the looks of the operating system so much as the functionality and the features. Bundled software Windows 7 by default has very minimal software set, the basic features that we need word processor, spread sheet and a presentation software are not present. Youll have to purchase and install the MS Office suite separately, this is something that should be bundled with the operating system. Typical Cost To Install Kitchen Faucet. The question I ask is What good is an operating system, if it doesnt provide the basic featuresOn the other hand  Ubuntu 1. Libre. Office suite a Microsoft Office Equivalent preinstalled. It also has F spot, an image editing program that and an Instant messaging client called Empathy that has chat provisioning for Facebook, G Talk, Yahoo,MSN and VOIP capabilities all under a single application. Drivers One of the biggest advantages of Linux is its built in driver set, or rather the ability of automatically downloading and installing them. This includes the drivers for your webcam, Wi Fi, Ethernet Card, even your printer or scanner We all know drivers is a big pain that comes when completing a fresh install of Windows 7. With Linux, there is rarely any need to download the drivers manually. Linux also has the ability to download proprietary drivers The ones from Nvidia and ATI, unlike windows where we have to manually download and install a driver for everything. Media Windows comes with Windows media player, which is pretty much useless without codecs, as majority of the videosmovies that we watch require codecs like Xvid. So there is a need to download a codec pack before Windows media player becomes fully functional. Ubuntu is bundled with Movie Player, and also requires downloading codecs. However, in both the operating systems, it is very easy to watch videos by simply installing VLC media player. Installing third party software When it comes to installing third party software, the steps required to install a software in Ubuntu is considerably less. An illustration is shown here of installing software in Ubuntu. Ubuntu has a utility called Ubuntu software centre. This is one of the most loved features by Ubuntu users. It is as simple as installing an app in your phone from i. Tunes store or Android Market now rebranded to Google Play. Just select the software that you need, hit install, and the software is ready to use. It is clear from the screen shots, that installing software in Ubuntu is a lot simpler than it is in windows. Moreover, Ubuntu will check for any dependencies that the software needs and it will be installed automatically. However, an argument can be made for computers that dont have internet access, ease of installing software in Windows outmatches as that of Ubuntu, as it is viewed a very complicated process that includes the terminal command line interface. Although, it is very unlikely that someone will be without internet access these days. Minimum Requirements Windows 7 requires a minimum of 1. Mhz processor with 1. GB of RAM, while Ubuntu requires a minimum of 7. Mhz processor with 3. MB RAM. While these are the official requirements, in practice, the requirements are considerably higher. From my experience, If you install both the operating systems on identical hardware, Ubuntus performance is significantly higher than that of Windows 7. In fact, if you were to pull out a 7 year old computer from a junkyard, Ubuntu will work flawlessly. Moreover, the boot time of Ubuntu is considerably less than its Windows 7 counterpart. Ever wondered why the worlds fastest computer runs Linux and not Windows Security I have been using Windows since windows the days of Windows 9. I can tell you that Windows 7 has some pretty good security features that, if implemented properly, can give you quite a secure system to work with. Its firewall has advanced features that you can configure. However, there are many who believe that Windows still remains a weak operating system from a security standpoint. Linux on the other hand, has always been a secure operating system since the early days. It has often been the subject of debate that an open source operating system cannot be as secure as a proprietary one, but Linux has proved  that belief to be untrue. Overall, I believe that Linux offers much more security by default. Access Privileges    Linux by default does not run as a root the Windows administrator equivalent This ensures that any automated program or script cannot make changes to the system without explicit privileges from the user. Although Windows has implemented a similar mechanism called User Account Control or UAC, Which does provide good protection although not as robust as Linux does. Viruses Viruses and other malware continue to be a constant headache for windows users. Combating viruses is not only time consuming, but also expensive when we talk about using Windows in a large scale production environment. Moreover, there is always a need to purchase expensive antivirus software with yearly subscriptions, punching additional holes in your pocket. Linux on the other hand has significantly less number of viruses, so you are considerable less likely to get infected. In fact, I am yet to hear this from a friend or a fellow systems administrator, that they are using Linux, and that it has been infected Overall Security Overall,  I believe that Linux will always be much more secure than Windows operating system given the fact that its open source. It would interest you to know that there is something called as the Linus Law named after the creator of the Linux kernel Linus Torvalds, which states given enough eyeballs, all bugs are shallow. In simple terms it means given a large number of developers and beta testers, every problem will be identified quickly and that the solution of that problem will be obvious to someone. I completely agree with this.