what's better?

[immortalangel31]

is linux better than windows?

just looking for a general opinion here...

[whcdavid]

It all depends on the purpose. I believe most of the people are familiar with Windows, but I personally like Linux. I would recommend Linux

[[JSH]John]

I find Linux to be better than Windows.

[RH1]

For webhosting anyways Linux is the most popular due to working with PHP and mysql where Windows doesnt. However if your looking to use ASP scripts you need to go with Windows

[Alexandre]

Both windows and Linux have advantages and disadvantages.
I like WIndows XP as a workstation OS but it's easy to administer Linux servers They are easy can be tuned for different purposes.

[HQH.net]

Debian rocks.
Check this resource DistroWatch.com: Debian GNU/Linux
You'll have all your questions answered there.

[SharedLayer]

For webhosting anyways Linux is the most popular due to working with PHP and mysql where Windows doesnt. However if your looking to use ASP scripts you need to go with Windows

Windows does work with PHP and MySQL, we've got several clients running Windows with PHP and MySQL.

[quad3datwork]

Better or worse is based on personal context and preference.

I converted to Linux and Solaris a while back. Since there are good open source application alternatives I can use. I do keep a Windows desktop at home, wife is used to Windows and sometimes I do play games.

Also factor in the learning curve. If you grew up on Windows, it may take few months to get use to Linux/Unix. Sometimes took me few seconds to troubleshoot a Windows box.

[notten]

Windows is just as good as Linux, but it is use friendly and slightly less secure. You have to pay for Windows, so one cannot define how much cheaper Linux is than Windows. Also, for the most part the software that you can use in Linux is free for you to use, but comes without much support. In Windows you usually pay for software that comes with awesome documentation and support. The truth is you can use more or less all of the Opern Source software on Winodws while Linux has its fair share of payware. However you should really consider what is most effective for you. If you think the savings you will get out of buying computers in parts and assembling them yourself and then installing the OS yourself will outweigh the time you spend learning Linux then you should probably go the Linux route. However, I think that calculation makes most sense for IT folks where going with white-label hardware and using a free OS is a good business choice if you're looking to run things on the cheap.Hope this helps you choose!

Regards,

Anthony

[ServerMojo]

Depends on your needs.. for a desktop user who is also a gamer, windows is really the only choice at the moment. Linux is improving for gaming but it still has a long way to go and may never fully catch up as long as publishers prefer to work with windows.

For general desktop use linux is pretty good.. I've used it for many years now and have no complaints. Its rare that I come across an application I need which either wont run on linux or doesnt have a suitable linux alternative although there are still some.. rhino3d comes to mind. But even in those cases you can just install vmware (free) or some other virtualization system and run XP and whatever win apps you need under it.

For a server, linux is of course great as long as it is setup correctly and kept up to date.

So in general, my vote is for linux except for gaming.