After watching this thread grow it seems a perfect time to return to
the original subject, "how does it compare to XP?"
GUI:
KDE is both easier to use and far more customizable than the Windows GUI.
You have to add a 3rd party app like WindowsBlinds to get the customization
that KDE provides, get in many ways, you still get less control than KDE
gives you. Talk about a resource hog...Windowsblinds will tax your
machine's resources.
Gnome is the favorit GUI for the enterprise desktop, mainly because
administrators can restrict your customization attempts more easily.
There's a war between the Gnome camp and the KDE kamp, but it's very usable
and very customizable. The best thing about Gnome is that there are
multiple window managers that it can use. It comes with Metacity, but you
can use Sawfish, Enlightenment, and others instead. It's hard to explain,
but they make a big difference in the GUI experience for Gnome.
That's one of the stregths of Linux. People argue that it's not consistent,
but it's easily customized to your liking. There are still other
environments you can be in like IceWM, AfterStep, etc. that are less
robust, but tax your resources much less. Many like their stripped down
perfromance better.
Organization:
Without a doubt, Linux is far more organized. Everthing the user does is
based on the /home directory. When a user installs software for his use
(apps that allow it), it's installed in the /home directory, unaffecting
the rest of the system. He does not have access to the other directories in
the system. Only the root user has access - therefore your kids can't screw
your computer up. The rest of the system is divided into multiple folders
for various reasons. At first they seem crazy, but there there for a
reason. For instance, /opt is for KDE, Gnome, and other non-essential stuff
that's sytem wide. Everything else has it's own place, separately.
Configuration settings:
A long time ago, MS decided that .inf files were a bad thing. They developed
a crude central database they called the Registry. This was the worst idea
they ever came up with. Not only is it cryptic, it's poorly organized and
make a mistake, your computer will lock up.
No such problem under Linux. Every app, every system component has a config
or .rc file. They are located where the component is or in the home
directory of the user. Screw up, delete the file and it'll get rebuilt for
you automatically. You then reconfigure and go on. And the files are almost
plain english! Here's an excerpt of the X86Config file:
Section "InputDevice"
Driver "mouse"
Identifier "Mouse[1]"
Option "ButtonNumber" "2"
Option "Device" "/dev/mouse"
Option "Name" "Autodetection"
Option "Protocol" "ExplorerPS/2"
Option "Vendor" "Sysp"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection
Not hard to decipher is it? Try looking in your registry...
Installation:
With Windows, you first install the OS, which takes about an hour. Then you
have to install 3rd party drivers. The time can vary based on how many you
have to install and how much headache the installation is. Some of your
hardware may still be listed in your Device Manager as unknown and it'll
rack your brain trying to figure it out. Then, you have to install all of
your software. That can take some time.
With Linux, you install everything at once. You pick out your packages, the
installer autodetects your hardware for the most part, and everything is
finished in about and hour. You may still have to install 3rd party drivers
like nVidia or Ati drivers to get full use of 3D video (some distros you
don't). However, it's far less painfull. Now, if you have the very latest
bleeding edge hardware, You might have to wait 6 months to a year for it to
be supported in Linux. nVidia supports their latest video cards with their
drivers, so video is not a problem if you use one of their cards. Ati has
been slightly behind.
This could get rather lengthy, but I'll stop there. Linus definitely has
many advantages as an OS over Windows. The single biggest problem to me, is
the lack of polish many of the apps have compared to Windows conterparts.
However, I paid $79 for everything. I've paid $100+ for a single app in
Windows. If you're willing to do a little more work installing and
configuring, there are free versions of Linux out there as well.
--
Big Daddy Ruel Smith
My SuSE Linux machine uptime:
10:02am up 9 days 0:37, 2 users, load average: 0.20, 0.20, 0.14
My Windows XP machine uptime:
Something less...