Linux vs. Windows: Why the free operating system wins the challenge

Hey guys, today i wanna talk to you about a topic, that i didn't recently talk about to anywhere outside the IRC-chat-servers that i use... Well, to make it short: I am user of the Linux Ubuntu 12.04 operating system and i'm very proud to do so. What do you think? Why can an open source, free operating system be better than a commercial, proprietary operating system?

My opinion: Because i can design&configure 100% of my Linux as i want it! Windows-users can't do so.

I hope, that can be a nice discussion because i'm really interested what you think about Windows/Linux. Personally, i decided never to use Microsoft products again

So we go with [1] reason that is meant to be PRO Linux

1: Freedom of change&design

My first Unix (Linux? What's Linux) system was USG Generic 3 which ran on a PDP 11/45 in the engineering lab back in 1978. I've been programming for and using Unix ever since. Spent a career with it. I *know* Unix like the back of my hand. It doesn't matter whether it is Debian-based, or RedHat, Solaris, or something else. I know my way around it.

FWIW, I run Ubuntu 10.04 here. I don't like their more recent Unity desktop. But, 10.04 is getting rather long in the tooth (antiquated), and I'm going to have to move to something else soon. Probably Linux Mint, which at least retains many of the features and look-and-feel of Gnome 2.

I have nothing particularly against Windows, but I'm not a power user, don't really understand the finer points of its internals, and I tend to use it only when I need to.

Not that this has anything to do with Lindsey, but you asked...

You can also use other desktops than Unity on Ubuntu. I have Ubuntu 12.04, but use "GNOME Classic (No Effects)" with it. And i never use Unity. And btw: I know that this isn't Lindsey-related. Maybe this is the reason, why i posted this in the area for "Non-Lindsey Topics"?

And, little info: I'm not against Windows users, but i hate Microsoft and Windows. They're my private enemies since they try to fight against every OpenSource community and free communication project.

["Linux? What's Linux"] --> Ubuntu is a Linux, Debian is a Linux, Redhat, ... Linux is a kernel for UNIX-based POSIX-compatible operating systems. There are just two UNIX-operating systems that are NO Linuxes: Mac OS X (Dalwin Kernel) and FreeBSD (pure UNIX-kernel)

I'm sorry, Calisto, when I said "Linux? What's Linux?", I meant it facetiously (humorously). Of course I know what Linux is.

Linux has been around your entire life. To you, it no doubt *is* Unix. But for me it is just another branch of the Unix family tree, albeit one which has become wildly popular today because it is free. There have been many many versions of Unix over the years, and many of these (including Solaris, HPUX, NetBSD, and the ones you've named above) are still in use today.

If you'd really like to learn a bit more about the various flavors of Unix, you might find the following of interest: http://www.levenez.com/unix/unix_a4.pdf

Bis bald!