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Are there any good things about Windows??

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ShawnD1:
Windows has lots of good stuff

1. Easier to network than any other OS.

2. Easier to get support when you need it. Linux users will yell at you to RTFM, and Mac users will turn your question into a list of reasons why you are still better off using a Mac instead of a PC.

3. Better driver support. Buy an ATI video card, benchmark it in Windows (with a game like RTCW), then benchmark it in Linux. You'll find that the game will run significantly slower in Linux.

4. The Windows swap file is part of the same partition as your data which means the swapfile's size can be changed on the fly. Linux's swap file is a different partition all together, so if you want to increase the size of the swap file, you have to delete the swap partition as well as a data partition. If you only created 2 partitions on your Linux machine, / and swap, you have to format the entire hard drive.

5. Windows has the settings in a more logical location. For example, if I want to change the resolution of my monitor in Windows, I can do it by right clicking on the desktop, click on properties, then go to the settings tab. In Mandrake 8.0 with KDE, you can't change the resolution by clicking the right or middle mouse buttons on the desktop; you have to go into the mandrake control panel.

6. Windows users don't need to run around downloading dependencies just so they can compile a program they want to use. Try compiling WINE on Mandrake 8.0 and you'll see what a nightmare dependencies can be. There are at least 10 different dependencies you need to track down before you can even try to compile WINE, and even then it's kind of tricky.

7. Games. Having to emulate Windows in Linux just to play a DirectX based game is ridiculous.

8. I'm not sure if this is still true, but in the past Linux would have problems trying to use integrated hardware. Windows doesn't have problems with integrated hardware.

9. In Windows, everything is GUI. In Linux, most things are still console. Having to compile every piece of software is all console. Changing user passwords is console. Changing user access to files and folders is console. If you really know how to use the console, the console can be quick, but if you're an average user who sort of knows some of the commands, constantly going back to Linux In A Nutshell to check the command syntax can be very time consuming. In Windows, if you don't know what you are doing, you can still poke around in the GUI to try to accomplish something. In the Linux console, you either know it or you don't. You don't just magically think of the command "chroot" then continue on with whatever you were trying to do.

10. Windows can uninstall things. In Linux, you can only uninstall things that were installed through RPM. Programs installed by compiling a source cannot be uninstalled unless you just happen to save the source, but then again, who saves the source to every program they compile??


Criticism is welcome  ;)

bedouin:

quote:Originally posted by ShawnD1:
1. Easier to network than any other OS.
--- End quote ---


How is it any easier than OS X, that uses Rendezvous?  And easier is such a relative description; give actual examples.  Many of us consider Microsoft's networking wizards much more difficult to deal with than anything Linux has to offer.

Say I'm near an open wireless connection.  In OS X my computer automatically joins and configures itself to use it, with no intervention on my part.  No wizards; no steps.  It just works, whether I just woke it from sleep or had it open for 2 hours.

The last time I used a Linux distribution I saw GUIs for configuring Samba, network adapters, etc.  I'm not sure what would make networking in Windows radically easier.

 
quote:2. Easier to get support when you need it. Linux users will yell at you to RTFM, and Mac users will turn your question into a list of reasons why you are still better off using a Mac instead of a PC.
--- End quote ---


Join a Windows support channel sometime, packed with individuals who are supposedly 'certified' to deal with its problems.  If the problem isn't beyond the realm of a simple fix, they will either ignore you or suggest a reinstall (usually the later).

Linux users on the other hand will generally tell you what's wrong, and are actually able to identify what an error means (assuming you can't on your own -- since they're not that cryptic).  After the problem has been diagnosed, they may expect you to have enough initiative to repair it on your own, and with Google that's not very difficult.  

As far as Mac support is concerned, I've never faced what you describe.  There's plenty of chat rooms, websites, and discussion boards with people who can usually solve your problem.  Then again, my problems have always been minor, which says something about the OS itself.

 
quote:3. Better driver support. Buy an ATI video card, benchmark it in Windows (with a game like RTCW), then benchmark it in Linux. You'll find that the game will run significantly slower in Linux.
--- End quote ---


This was addressed in my last post.  The most popular OS will naturally have more support; that says nothing about the inherent quality of the OS itself, especially when certain manufactures refuse to release specifications for their product that would allow improved driver support to occur.

And besides, if one is a dedicated user of any alternative OS he or she is willing to check compatibility before purchasing hardware.  It's kind of like buying a transmission for a Chevy and expecting it to work fine in your Nissan (possibly a bad analogy, I'm not a car person).

 
quote:4. The Windows swap file is part of the same partition as your data which means the swapfile's size can be changed on the fly. Linux's swap file is a different partition all together, so if you want to increase the size of the swap file, you have to delete the swap partition as well as a data partition.
--- End quote ---


You do realize Linux can be configured to use a swap file as well don't you?  I'd imagine it might take a slight performance hit though, just as Windows does for not implementing a swap partition.

And you do realize swap space can be resized with a partitioning utility right?

OS X has your beloved swap file by the way, and it can also be configured to use a swap partition if one desires.

 
quote:5. Windows has the settings in a more logical location. For example, if I want to change the resolution of my monitor in Windows, I can do it by right clicking on the desktop, click on properties, then go to the settings tab. In Mandrake 8.0 with KDE, you can't change the resolution by clicking the right or middle mouse buttons on the desktop; you have to go into the mandrake control panel.
--- End quote ---


Well, I'm not sure what's illogical about having display settings in the control panel.  In OS X there's a nice little icon in my menu bar that brings up a pull-down menu letting me select the resolution on all of the attached displays, along with some other options.  You seem to be addressing learned connivence more than logic.  A logical person wanting to change his/her display settings is going to look in a control panel before right clicking and searching contextual menus.  Or in the case of OS X -- it's blatantly obvious without doing either.  

 
quote:6. Windows users don't need to run around downloading dependencies just so they can compile a program they want to use. Try compiling WINE on Mandrake 8.0 and you'll see what a nightmare dependencies can be.
--- End quote ---


I tend to agree here, which is one reason I'm not using Linux as a desktop OS.  However, why do you keep referencing a two-year old Linux distribution (Mandrake 8?)  It's at 10 now you know.

 
quote:7. Games. Having to emulate Windows in Linux just to play a DirectX based game is ridiculous.
--- End quote ---


Maybe you should be upset at the game developers who chose to use proprietary tools, not an OS that cannot natively support them.  Do you complain that your Gamecube can't play Xbox games?

 
quote:8. I'm not sure if this is still true, but in the past Linux would have problems trying to use integrated hardware. Windows doesn't have problems with integrated hardware.
--- End quote ---


I'm assuming by integrated hardware you mean stuff like onboard sound cards and video?  See answer to #3.    

 
quote:9. In Windows, everything is GUI. In Linux, most things are still console. Having to compile every piece of software is all console. Changing user passwords is console. Changing user access to files and folders is console . . . In Windows, if you don't know what you are doing, you can still poke around in the GUI to try to accomplish something. In the Linux console, you either know it or you don't.
--- End quote ---


Granted it's been 2 years since I've used Linux as my desktop OS, I vividly remember there being GUI tools to accomplish everything you mention (adding users, file permissions, etc).  I'm only assuming that has improved.

And in Linux if you don't know what you're doing there's man, which tends to tell me more than I need to know.  There's nothing stopping you from poking around in console.

Then again, I'm an OS X user -- so I can accomplish things either way.

 
quote:10. Windows can uninstall things. In Linux, you can only uninstall things that were installed through RPM. Programs installed by compiling a source cannot be uninstalled unless you just happen to save the source, but then again, who saves the source to every program they compile??
--- End quote ---


Uninstalling in Windows would be nice -- if it actually uninstalled everything.  That means cleaning up my registry, and not leaving files or empty folders behind.  Not to mention those instances where the uninstaller malfunctions, and ends up creating more problems.  Or how about those wonderful spyware apps I clean off my friend's computers, that require one to be on-line to uninstall?
 
In OS X I drag an app to the trash -- bam, it's uninstalled.

flap:

quote:5. Windows has the settings in a more logical location. For example, if I want to change the resolution of my monitor in Windows, I can do it by right clicking on the desktop, click on properties, then go to the settings tab. In Mandrake 8.0 with KDE, you can't change the resolution by clicking the right or middle mouse buttons on the desktop; you have to go into the mandrake control panel.
--- End quote ---


Mandrake has settings in a more logical location. For example, if I want to change the resolution of my monitor in KDE, I can do it by going into the mandrake control panel. In Windows, you can't change the resolution by going into the mandrake control panel, you have to right click on the desktop, click on properties, then go to the settings tab.

 
quote:6. Windows users don't need to run around downloading dependencies just so they can compile a program they want to use.
--- End quote ---


Really, they don't? The last time I tried to compile a program I wanted to use in Windows, I found there wasn't even a compiler, let alone the required libraries/dependencies. What you really mean is that Windows users don't have a hard time compiling programs because they don't have the ability to compile programs in the first place. Or maybe what you really mean is that installing from binary packages is easier than installing from source which, considering the option to install from binaries also exists in UNIX systems, is a non-argument.

And if you use a program like apt-get (installing programs with which is massively less time-consuming than installing programs in windows) it will install all dependencies for you. Of course that won't work if you're compiling from source but, as I said, that's not really a fair comparison to make considering you can't do that out of the box in Windows anyway.

 
quote:9. In Windows, everything is GUI. In Linux, most things are still console.
--- End quote ---


You're citing arguments against Windows, not for it. One of the major reasons why Windows is so unusable, awkward and unstable is that "everything is a GUI". It's easy to build graphical front-ends to console tools, which is why if you use a distribution like Red Hat or Mandrake, you get GUIs to do pretty much everything.

 
quote:10. Windows can uninstall things. In Linux, you can only uninstall things that were installed through RPM. Programs installed by compiling a source cannot be uninstalled unless you just happen to save the source, but then again, who saves the source to every program they compile??
--- End quote ---


See rebuttal to point 6.

Aloone_Jonez:
What do you like about Windows?

I like the folowing things about Windows:

[*] The hardware support, if you buy a digital camera, scanner or printer it usually comes with  windows drivers.  [*] Troubleshooting, the configuration is journalled so if you fuckup the registry or install the wrong device driver, it's easy to revert back to the previous configuration. This is especially useful for graphics drivers, if you set your monitor to a mode it doesn't like you wait for 15 seconds and it reverts back to the previous mode.[*] Easy installation/uninstallation of software, I know this is easy in Linux too, but standards are a problem in Linux as there are so many different package standards, if a package is unavailable for the distro you use, you have to do a manual install. This is also a major fuckup factor with Windows as things don't always uninstall cleanly, and there is often lots of shit left behind to slow your system down. I have a feeling that this is spyware, but friends of mine have said that it's just due to incompetent programmers.[/list]

Edit: USB tags

[ August 24, 2004: Message edited by: Aloone ]

flap:

quote:Troubleshooting, the configuration is journalled so if you fuckup the registry or install the wrong device driver, it's easy to revert back to the previous configuration. This is especially useful for graphics drivers, if you set your monitor to a mode it doesn't like you wait for 15 seconds and it reverts back to the previous mode.
--- End quote ---


The registry is one of the worst things about windows. In UNIX there is nothing so stupid as a single "configuration", so there's no need to journal it. If you change a particular setting and you're concerned about fucking it up, there's nothing stopping you from backing up the config file in question.

And as for troubleshooting in general, it's often impossible in windows due to lack of coherent error messages, and general poor design, over-integration etc.

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