A Comparison of Linux vs. Windows Bhargav A. Sorathiya B.E. 4 th C.E. Roll no:6456

What is an Operating System? An operating system (OS) is a program that allows you to interact with the computer -- all of the software and hardware on your computer.

LINUX

Linux was created by Linus Torvalds (hence, the name) in Helsinki, Finland. He was in his early years of university studies in Computer Science, when he created this operating system. Linux was created by Linus Torvalds (hence, the name) in Helsinki, Finland. He was in his early years of university studies in Computer Science, when he created this operating system.

Richard Stallman

Founder of the Free Software Foundation in 1985, for the GNU Project. Wrote the free software license called the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL). His goal was to provide an alternative to proprietary software.

Linux Distributions Corel Linux Debian GNU/Linux OpenLinux (Caldera) Red Hat Slackware SuSE TurboLinux

Companies that run Linux servers include… Visit for a comprehensive list of open source projects and participants.

WINDOWS

 Windows is closed source & proprietary OS.  Windows OS are owned by Microsoft.  Bill Gates is owner of Microsoft.

Copyright © 2003, Gartner Windows HP-UX Other OS/400 zOS & OS/390 Linux $ OS Market $ in Billions NetWare Other Unix AIX Solaris Server Market Share Trends

Linux vs. Windows

Cost

Hardware

Software

OS stability

Security

File System support

Operating Differences

Common Uses of Linux Linux has many uses in the world of computers today. It is used in many applications from tiny embedded systems to supercomputers. Popular for netbooks and servers due to it’s small footprint and being highly configurable. Also used as a low-cost alternative in many desktop machines.

Features Most of the distinguishing features between the two systems have already been covered, but a quick recap: Linux is generally a more powerful system, with fewer requirements. It is highly configurable, flexible, and extremely low cost. However, it is typically more time- consuming and difficult to set up and maintain a Linux system. Windows is less powerful in some aspects and has higher hardware requirements. It is also configurable and flexible, but not nearly as much, and costs quite a bit more. However, Windows systems are generally quite easy to set up and maintain.

Linux Linux was originally built by Linus Torvalds at the University of Helsinki in Linux is a Unix-like, Kernal-based, fully memory- protected, multitasking operating system It runs on a wide range of hardware.

Windows First version of Windows – Windows 3.1 released in 1992 by Microsoft. Windows is a GUI based operating system It has powerful networking capabilities, is multitasking, and extremely user friendly

Reliability OS it must not crash, even under extreme loads. OS should process requests even if the operating system or hardware fails Windows seems to be less stable even though the versions of Windows – 2000 and XP are far more improved than the incredibly buggy Windows 95

Conclusion Not enough test benchmarks for Linux to compare it to Windows Linux technology is used wider ( example php scripts ), and software is ported to Linux more often. User should be comfortable with the OS