Friday, August 24, 2007

Windows vs Linux!!!

This is an age old question people ask. Is Linux ready??? Many people i know feels linux is far away from reaching the Desktop market. Well, thats the general conception. Now , lets dig a bit deeper and see why people feel that way. First of all, many people, especially non-techies are afraid of changes when it comes to computers. They dont want to meddle that complicated machine. I dont blame them. Many people know computers as a box that has windows as OS built into it. People cannot imagine a computer running without windows. The other day in my office i called up the IS guys to help me fix an ethernet problem at my desk. When they came to know that i run Linux on my laptop they said that was the problem, and i was advised to run windows. I have to boot to windows to prove it to them. This is a common problem most of "outcast people" (People running any other OS other than windows) face. It is interesting to find that most people are not aware of the "actual" expense in running a computer with windows on it. To run a genuine MS Windows with all protection it will cost you a fortune. In India to get a real high end system will cost you about Rs.28,000. Buying a Win Vista/xp OS is about Rs.5000. You need an Anti virus software if you are planning to connect to the internet. Again a genuine AV will cost about Rs.3,000 + 1 year subscription, Renewal charges extra. The common software most of us use is office suit. MS office suit 2007 costs about Rs. 16,999. Thats the basic setup. For other techno savvy people many other softwares costs even more. On the other hand linux comes with firewall (no need of anti- virus), office and lot of other software for free!!! If we are really living in a chocolate candy world where everything is free, then why are people still refusing to grab free candies??? Answer to that is a series of questions , do you trust those candies??? Do they taste good??? Why try another candy when you already used to one?? Thats the same situation as far as OS wars are concerned. The bottom line is , Linux is ready to take on Windows and its only matter of time people realize the need. I urge you all to give it a shot.