Once and for all...

[Lorence]

So once and for all, can anyone confirm that Linux is better than windows? In what aspect? Can anyone of you guys share pros and cons, comparative differences, etc.. based on experience. This is a great forum site, by the way. So glad I found this.

[v0id]

From a programmer's view is Linux a really nice platform. Not only because most software and libraries are open source, but because most libraries are made and meant to be for Linux, this especially include many programming utilities, like debuggers, compilers, interpreters, and so on. All this makes it much easier to develop on the Linux-platform, compared to the Windows-platform. There's many other aspects on this topic than I can cover here in this post, but I can say as much as I love the way Linux is working when it comes to programming, and I'm not planning to return to Windows again.
The only disadvantage regarding Linux, Windows and programming is that most commercial applications, games, and other software is being made for Windows, so it can be harder to get a job in the programming-world if you've specialized yourself in Linux. But it's not much of a big problem: if you've been programming for a long time, it's easy to move to another platform and learn the basics very fast - and there is also existing Linux and Unix-alike jobs, so it's not like it's impossible to get such job.

From a gamer's view is Linux a bad thing. Or, it's not actually Linux' fault, but rather the manufacturers of the games. Most games are made for Windows, as they've had most users through the time, and many users who are buying a game is meaning lots of money for the manufacturer of the game.
Most commercial games will not work on Linux without some tweaking and emulation, but it doesn't mean that you can't get any native games for Linux at all. There's tons of them. Most of them are however private, open source project, so most of the games will not be as advanced as the big commercial games.

From a designer's view can Linux both be a good and a bad thing. Linux has some great software for designers, like GIMP. But many people are unfortunately not giving GIMP a chance, and sticks to the good ol' Photoshop. It's possible to get Photoshop on Linux too, but again, you must use emulation in order to do so.
More advanced designing, like heavy 3D modelling, is not possible on Linux, AFAIK, as Linux doesn't have any equivelants to big commercial applications like 3Ds Max, etc., and I haven't heard about anyone who has got it to emulate properly.

From a normal user's view is Linux as good as Windows, and probably better. Most Linux distributions will contain various feed readers, e-mail clients, instant messenger clients, browsers, widgets for your desktop, notebooks, audio and movie software, applications for burning onto CDs, DVDs, and so on. Everything you can dream of.
Most of the software (especially clients, multimedia, etc.) will often have supports for more formats than Windows has, and the security will normally also be higher.
Most Linux distributions are also very configurable and updatable, so the user will not have to mess with all sorts of weird settings, like one normally has to do in Windows. Most distributions will also come with daily updates, upgrades, and if not daily, then weekly, or similar. It's not only updates and upgrades to the system (like Windows only does) but also to the software installed on the system. This means that you won't ever have to update your browser manually again (unless you want to do so).

[Jordan]

Wow! Excellent post v0id!

In short it depends on what you are doing with Linux. As v0id states, if you are a gamer it may not be an ideal operating system. If you Develop (websites, desktop applications, etc) Linux is a paradise.

From a designer point of view I'd have to say Gimp lacks. BUT you can install Photoshop CS2 on Linux. I've written a tutorial here: TotalPenguin - More Linux than Kernel 2.6 - Installing PhotoShop CS2 on Linux

Normal user: Linux is much better! Most of the applications are free, the operating system is free, and you can do anything on it that you can on Windows (except play some games).

[Tor]

Using Wine and Cedega Linux isn't a bad gaming OS! You can also just boot into Windows when you need to play a game....

[v0id]

Linux is still bad for gaming using various emulators.

Wine
- Meant for applications, not games.
- Games are running slower, as they're getting emulated.
- Does not have full support for DirectX, or alike.

Cedega
- Meant for games.
- And is better than Wine on this area.
- But is still slow, as it's also getting emulated.