Re: Why Linux on a Laptop?
tuukkat@ees2.oulu.fi said:
> >I'm wondering what everyone's motivation is for using Linux on a
> laptop >instead of Cygwin + Windows. The way I see it, a laptop is
> basically a giant
> Well, running windows is just too tricky. One has to be very careful
> not to break the system (did you know that the "dir" command in
> windows may completely destroy floppy disks? I didn't before it did
> that, at the very first time I tried to use windows)
Well, I believe that the newer Windows versions, for example Win2000 are quite
stable. They are also quite easy to install and come with most of the drivers
already on the CD. So many of the arguments I keep hearing about the advantage
of Linux are not really standing out (any more), and one should not compare a
brand new version of Linux with a 5 year old version of Windows.
If you use Debian, stable it may actually still be a bit more stable than even
the newer Windows versions, but the differences are small. Win2000 was
certainly more stable than Mandrake 8.0 for example.
Now for the real reasons to use GNU/Debian:
1. you may use the software as you see fit, you are not limited by the license
terms.
2. you may inspect the source code and learn from it as it pleases you.
3. you may change the software and adapt it to your needs
4. you are allowed and encouraged to share the changed or unchanged software
with whomever you want.
In other words: this is free software.
On top of it GNU/Linux comes with a lot of useful applications. For Windows
you have to get most of them separately, but you may actually be able to buy
some you can't get (yet) for Linux.
Well that's how I see it - Josef
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