Linux.. A Toy For Geeks

[Cyclone 10]

Ermm, I'm not sure that your argument is all that great.

Under windows or unix there are plenty of free software development tools. If you couldn't find GCC and an IDE for free under windows then you probably didn't look very hard. VB has always had a free community edition of it's IDE.

[richard 10]

I'm talking over 10 years ago when google were still in their garage.

[Kthebean 10]

I like using Ubuntu and I am not a computer geek, I will tell you why I like it:

 

1. There is no internet explorer on it

2. It doesn't make that STUPID STUPID STUPID microsoft noise when your computer goes on/off

3. No danger of the Paper Clip appearing.

[Greybeard 10]

None of which are obligatory.

 

Reading through this thread I get the impression the main attraction of Linux is desktop bling. Now if there were a Linux desktop that could be made to look like Win XP...a simple background with taskbar with pop-up menu application launcher I might be tempted to try it - provided I didn't have to resort to the command line to set it up.

 

I'm also a bit suspicious about the claim that Linux is immune to malware. There have been a few reports in The Register that the bad boys are taking an increasing interest in Linux. With Win XP I have never had any kind of malware infection, but if I did catch something nasty I can re-install the systen partition in about ten minutes from an Acronis image.

 

And not every distro is Free - some of them seem seem quite expensive.

[swarfendor437 14]

None of which are obligatory.

 

Reading through this thread I get the impression the main attraction of Linux is desktop bling. Now if there were a Linux desktop that could be made to look like Win XP...a simple background with taskbar with pop-up menu application launcher I might be tempted to try it - provided I didn't have to resort to the command line to set it up.

 

I'm also a bit suspicious about the claim that Linux is immune to malware. There have been a few reports in The Register that the bad boys are taking an increasing interest in Linux. With Win XP I have never had any kind of malware infection, but if I did catch something nasty I can re-install the systen partition in about ten minutes from an Acronis image.

 

And not every distro is Free - some of them seem seem quite expensive.

 

Well, it's not just the bling, it's also the fact that you don't have to have Microsoft if you don't want to - we are spoon fed Microsoft as the best thing for PC's - Linux was looking far more like the OS for the 21st Century before Windows 7 was even conceived! As far as Windows type desktops go, yes, you can install 'Themes' that give it the look and feel to fool Windows users they are at an XP desk for instance (until of course they click on the 'Start' button or such like! As for malware, there is a danger of rootkits - Linux provides chrootkit to cope with this, but by and large viruses are things that do not affect Linux, nor malware - again it will depend on what the user is allowed to do compared to 'root' (administrator in windows speak). Having said that I understand Linus Torvalds has 'released' a non-platform lurgy to see whether Linux could be affected! I am sure I read it in one of the Linux Mags some months ago! I understand that there were a couple of malwares on Linux towards the end of the 90's but cannot substantiate whether this is truth or the other kind of virus - the non-virus called a hoax - everyone gets so uptight they delete a file which is crucial to the system because they receive some spam mail saying - look out for this! People should always check that any advice they receive comes from an official source that will have a Verisign piece of validation software to prove it has come from a valid source.

 

If you have acronis Disk Director you can use its OS selector to choose between Windows and Linux but I for one prefer GRUB. Linux is also capable of one click back up and restore - or at least about to. If you are looking at expensive Linux then it is not just the distro you are paying for - it is usually 90 days of support if you are having difficulty in installing the software on your main machine for which it was purchased - but unlike Windows, your paid for copy of Linux (or free one) can be installed on as many desktops/laptos/netbooks as you wish. Most distros have a 'free' version or a 'community fork' of the main release. For Mandriva - Paid for is PowerPack - free is One, Open SuSE - Paid for has the same name but you will get little extras like Video Authoring thrown in which would cost you $100 if you went for the free community download version. Red Hat don't do a paid for distribution (that I am aware of - they were supposed to be coming back to the individual market - they mainly provide Server Software for large organisations - their community project is Fedora - but that IS for geeks!

To get an idea of what a distro is capable suggest you first go to distrowatch.com find the name of a leading distro then do a search on you tube and so on - there are also videos on

.

 

Best regards to all

Edited October 14, 2009 by swarfendor43

[adaline 10]

The beauty of linux is that if you want it to be your geek toy - it can! And if you want it to be a rock solid work horse, it can be that too

[Cyclone 10]

malware exists for linux, the main reason that there is less of it than for windows is that windows is far more popular.

 

The weak point for both systems is the user, either system can be compromised by a stupid user, and most users are stupid.

[zongamin 10]

Cyclone - even a very stupid and reckless user would have a hard job getting malware on Linux or OS X.

 

On Windows they would have a hard job NOT getting one.

Edited October 16, 2009 by zongamin

[evildrneil 14]

If you think that linux is difficult to use for the home user then you may be using an older version. I run windows and linux and find Linux probably easier to use - and get installed - than windows or even OSX. It's obviously personal choice as to the OS you prefer but I find Linux faster, easier and more flexible than windows. Of course that may change with Windows 7 which I haven't seen yet.

 

Oh and as for your title when I want to do any real work 90+% of the time this means working on a Linux or other Unix-ish box which for me at least makes windows the toy!

Edited October 16, 2009 by evildrneil

[Cyclone 10]

Cyclone - even a very stupid and reckless user would have a hard job getting malware on Linux or OS X.

 

On Windows they would have a hard job NOT getting one.

 

Not really, unless they scrutinise the source code of everything they download they can't be sure that any application they've installed isn't doing something untoward.

And once running on the local machine linux has exploits to upgrade privileges to root and it's possible to root kit it in a way that's extremely difficult to detect.

 

It's less likely, but that's mainly because linux users are a little bit more technically adapt than windows users.

[splodgeyAl 10]

malware exists for linux, the main reason that there is less of it than for windows is that windows is far more popular.

 

The weak point for both systems is the user, either system can be compromised by a stupid user, and most users are stupid.

 

There are more linux boxes on the internet than windows, and if someone where to write some linux malware, it'd be unlikely to be reading your emails - it's way more likely to be trying to find out if there was any interesting information in any databases that the box is running or can access.

[Kthebean 10]

None of which are obligatory.

 

Well, in theory, but have you tried to get rid of them?