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Indeed, some advantages I can think of with Linux. * Containers (LXC, systemd-nspawn, Docker, etc. and native virtualization with QEMU/KVM), Apple doesn't even

Indeed, some advantages I can think of with Linux. * Containers (LXC, systemd-nspawn, Docker, etc. and native virtualization with QEMU/KVM), Apple doesn't even come close here. * Use the WM/DE of your choice. * Superior package management (pacman, apt, dnf, flatpak, etc). * Use the distro of your choice. * Use the latest GNU software unlike some crippled bash version like in Mac. * Decide if you want bleeding edge or not. * Use any hardware you want (older or new, Linux doesn't care and it will still perform well even with older hardware). * Get more performance with Linux.[1][2] * Freedom.[3] * Privacy, security and transparency. * Peace of mind, never be forced to upgrade your hardware or software. Your hardware is yours and you can use it until it literally breaks. You control your computer and not the other way around. IMO, GNOME 3 and i3/sway are way nicer than the GUI on macOS, and you can use all the same development tools and editors on Linux today, tmux, Vim/Neovim, Emacs, Atom, VS Code, Sublime Text, etc. There are so many other reasons.[4] Feel free to mention your reasons too. I don't see what's the appeal with Mac at all, it seems like you are just paying for a logo. [1] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=macos-sierra-ubuntu&num=1 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=macos-sie... [2] http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=macos-10125-linux&num=1 http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=macos-101... [3] https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html [4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH3v41JmyIg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH3v41JmyIg

willtim 9y ago
Great summary. I'd like to add the nix package manager to your list. It allows non-destructive updates, rollbacks, parallel installs of different app/library versions, development environments and much more.
majkinetor 9y ago
Most of that is supported on Windows * Docker is supported and it will get better. Nano server supports it otb. * Chocolatey is a great package manager. Others also exist. * You can use most GNU tools. * You can use any hardware you want * Performance is good on Windows * Freedom, i.e. FOSS is ubiquitous on Windows too (not as much as on Linux for sure tho). * Privacy and security is good on Windows 10. Linux desktops are honestly not that safe. Things not supported on Windows are: * WM/DE - this is not a thing on Windows * There is only 1 distro of Windows, but you can basically create your own with package manager, its just there aren't currently any OTB. There are things Windows has better: * Powershell is way better shell then anything Linux has to offer. * Games still work better and there are more supported. * More commercial tools are available for Windows. Honestly, the only difference now is the culture around it. Although I use Windows as my desktop (which is irrelevant as I live in the shell and browser 24/7, so any OS will do), i prefer Linux engineers. Server side ofc. you can't really bit the fact that linux servers are mostly free of charge. Windows Enterprise is terribly expensive.
- openplatypus 9y ago
  Honest question Did they solve long file/path name issue? Remember Windows 7 slow FS with large file count and npm/js breaking everything due to long, nested paths.
- dorian-graph 9y ago
  > Honestly, the only difference now is the culture around it. .. and: * Freedom.[3] * Privacy, security and transparency. * Peace of mind, never be forced to upgrade your hardware or software. Your hardware is yours and you can use it until it literally breaks. You control your computer and not the other way around. ? Some things may exist (e.g. Chocolatey), but why not use a better package manager?
- Ecksian 9y ago
  This is asking out of honest ignorance, but what makes PowerShell so much better than other shells?
- grover_hartmann 9y ago
  > Docker is supported and it will get better. Nano server supports it otb. Docker on Windows is not native, it runs on a VM and uses Linux under the hood. > Chocolatey is a great package manager. Others also exist. Chocolatey is a step in the right direction, but it probably doesn't integrate as well as apt or dnf, you still have the Windows Store to update separately, and the Windows Store is what Microsoft wants you to use. Chocolatey is more like a bandaid solution that was made by the community to deal with the limitations of software installation on Windows. So I think Linux does package management much better than Windows, but this isn't to say that Chocolatey is bad, it's just that Microsoft has total control over everything on Windows. I also like how Linux distros share a common file system hierarchy and share libraries between programs, while minimizing disk space and reducing security issues. > You can use most GNU tools. Yes, that's because those GNU programs are cross platform, which is good. Free software also allows others to port programs to other platforms, which is also a very good thing. > You can use any hardware you want This isn't completely true, you cannot take your existing Windows drive and just plug it into another computer and expect everything to work, but you can do this just fine with Linux. An existing Windows install and its license is associated to the machine where you have it installed. Also, Windows won't run on other architectures other than x86 and I think ARM? Linux is known to work with ~20 different architectures or more. Another advantage with Linux is that the drivers are built into the Linux kernel, so when a driver is added to the Linux kernel, it will be maintained and improved as part of the kernel, so your hardware will be supported for a very long time / forever. This is unlike Windows where hardware vendors will release a blob for Windows and won't provide updates after the hardware is EOLed or for the next version of Windows. I still have old printers that still work fine with Linux but the same printer doesn't have drivers for the current version of Windows anymore. Linux is the only OS kernel with more hardware support than any other OS out there. > Performance is good on Windows Performance tends to vary depending on what you are doing and what you are comparing against. So this is debatable, and one would need to run benchmarks to be sure. That said, I find Windows to always be slower than Linux, running Linux on the same machine tends to be faster for the things I do, and Windows tends to slow over time whereas Linux doesn't. > Freedom, i.e. FOSS is ubiquitous on Windows too (not as much as on Linux for sure tho). You don't have freedom with Windows, you cannot give a copy of Windows to your friends, and you cannot inspect the Windows source code to learn and/or to modify it or fix anything in it. > Privacy and security is good on Windows 10. Linux desktops are honestly not that safe. [citation needed] Do you have any sources to back this claim? There are a lot of security/privacy concerns with Windows 10, especially with the likes of telemetry and backdoors. > Powershell is way better shell then anything Linux has to offer. How is PowerShell better than the many different shells we have on Linux? I don't think this is true. There is also PowerShell on Linux. > Games still work better and there are more supported. Linux has Steam now and many games are being released with Linux support every day, Vulkan is also taking off on Linux. > More commercial tools are available for Windows. There are many commercial tools coming out for Linux too, and this is only going to increase. > Honestly, the only difference now is the culture around it. It's not just about the culture, GNU/Linux and Windows are different operating systems with different ideas, purposes and design. Windows is merely a company's product. GNU/Linux is about freedom.

willtim 9y ago

Great summary. I'd like to add the nix package manager to your list. It allows non-destructive updates, rollbacks, parallel installs of different app/library versions, development environments and much more.

majkinetor 9y ago

Most of that is supported on Windows * Docker is supported and it will get better. Nano server supports it otb. * Chocolatey is a great package manager. Others also exist. * You can use most GNU tools. * You can use any hardware you want * Performance is good on Windows * Freedom, i.e. FOSS is ubiquitous on Windows too (not as much as on Linux for sure tho). * Privacy and security is good on Windows 10. Linux desktops are honestly not that safe. Things not supported on Windows are: * WM/DE - this is not a thing on Windows * There is only 1 distro of Windows, but you can basically create your own with package manager, its just there aren't currently any OTB. There are things Windows has better: * Powershell is way better shell then anything Linux has to offer. * Games still work better and there are more supported. * More commercial tools are available for Windows. Honestly, the only difference now is the culture around it. Although I use Windows as my desktop (which is irrelevant as I live in the shell and browser 24/7, so any OS will do), i prefer Linux engineers. Server side ofc. you can't really bit the fact that linux servers are mostly free of charge. Windows Enterprise is terribly expensive.

openplatypus 9y ago
Honest question Did they solve long file/path name issue? Remember Windows 7 slow FS with large file count and npm/js breaking everything due to long, nested paths.
dorian-graph 9y ago
> Honestly, the only difference now is the culture around it. .. and: * Freedom.[3] * Privacy, security and transparency. * Peace of mind, never be forced to upgrade your hardware or software. Your hardware is yours and you can use it until it literally breaks. You control your computer and not the other way around. ? Some things may exist (e.g. Chocolatey), but why not use a better package manager?
Ecksian 9y ago
This is asking out of honest ignorance, but what makes PowerShell so much better than other shells?
grover_hartmann 9y ago
> Docker is supported and it will get better. Nano server supports it otb. Docker on Windows is not native, it runs on a VM and uses Linux under the hood. > Chocolatey is a great package manager. Others also exist. Chocolatey is a step in the right direction, but it probably doesn't integrate as well as apt or dnf, you still have the Windows Store to update separately, and the Windows Store is what Microsoft wants you to use. Chocolatey is more like a bandaid solution that was made by the community to deal with the limitations of software installation on Windows. So I think Linux does package management much better than Windows, but this isn't to say that Chocolatey is bad, it's just that Microsoft has total control over everything on Windows. I also like how Linux distros share a common file system hierarchy and share libraries between programs, while minimizing disk space and reducing security issues. > You can use most GNU tools. Yes, that's because those GNU programs are cross platform, which is good. Free software also allows others to port programs to other platforms, which is also a very good thing. > You can use any hardware you want This isn't completely true, you cannot take your existing Windows drive and just plug it into another computer and expect everything to work, but you can do this just fine with Linux. An existing Windows install and its license is associated to the machine where you have it installed. Also, Windows won't run on other architectures other than x86 and I think ARM? Linux is known to work with ~20 different architectures or more. Another advantage with Linux is that the drivers are built into the Linux kernel, so when a driver is added to the Linux kernel, it will be maintained and improved as part of the kernel, so your hardware will be supported for a very long time / forever. This is unlike Windows where hardware vendors will release a blob for Windows and won't provide updates after the hardware is EOLed or for the next version of Windows. I still have old printers that still work fine with Linux but the same printer doesn't have drivers for the current version of Windows anymore. Linux is the only OS kernel with more hardware support than any other OS out there. > Performance is good on Windows Performance tends to vary depending on what you are doing and what you are comparing against. So this is debatable, and one would need to run benchmarks to be sure. That said, I find Windows to always be slower than Linux, running Linux on the same machine tends to be faster for the things I do, and Windows tends to slow over time whereas Linux doesn't. > Freedom, i.e. FOSS is ubiquitous on Windows too (not as much as on Linux for sure tho). You don't have freedom with Windows, you cannot give a copy of Windows to your friends, and you cannot inspect the Windows source code to learn and/or to modify it or fix anything in it. > Privacy and security is good on Windows 10. Linux desktops are honestly not that safe. [citation needed] Do you have any sources to back this claim? There are a lot of security/privacy concerns with Windows 10, especially with the likes of telemetry and backdoors. > Powershell is way better shell then anything Linux has to offer. How is PowerShell better than the many different shells we have on Linux? I don't think this is true. There is also PowerShell on Linux. > Games still work better and there are more supported. Linux has Steam now and many games are being released with Linux support every day, Vulkan is also taking off on Linux. > More commercial tools are available for Windows. There are many commercial tools coming out for Linux too, and this is only going to increase. > Honestly, the only difference now is the culture around it. It's not just about the culture, GNU/Linux and Windows are different operating systems with different ideas, purposes and design. Windows is merely a company's product. GNU/Linux is about freedom.