comparing Vista and Ubuntu

I recently bought a laptop for my daughter. It came with Microsoft Vista pre-installed. I paid for this in the form of a compulsary Vista license (the infamous Microsoft tax). I carved out some harddisk space and installed Ubuntu Linux as a second option. Ubuntu is free.

This provides a perfect setting to compare the initial Vista and Ubuntu experiences.

Which is faster up-and-running?
Which is sponsored by spammy advertisements?
Which contains more software?

pop quiz

Now, let's consider the following questions:

Q: Which is faster up-and-running? Pre-installed Vista or Ubuntu installer DVD?
A: Ubuntu Linux.

Even though Vista is pre-installed, it is so paranoid about illegal copies that it has some weird self-destructing installer routine which requires you to burn quite a volume of recovery DVD's on first startup. Ubuntu, in contrast, is not DRM-crippled: you can just download the install/recovery DVD from the web. Note that the installer is the recovery DVD for Ubuntu. As a result, installing + booting Ubuntu takes less time than the first Vista boot.

Q: Which system is full of spammy commercial offerings and fishy pop-up screens? The paid one (Vista), or the free one (Ubuntu)?
A: Vista.

This one completely blew my mind. Here we have the flagship operating system of the world's dominant software supplier, for which I paid significant money, and out of the box it smells like spammy spyware-infested crap. Is this some perverse way of training users so they won't even notice the difference when their machine is actually infected?

You'd think the free software would need to make up for it's lack of cash by selling some advertisements on the desktop. But the reality is the other way around. The monopoly cash-cow is squeezed for some more cash by chocked-in advertisements, The free Ubuntu system offers a clean, aesthetic, quiet desktop.

Q: Which contains more software? The commercial system or the free system?
A: The free system of course.

The Ubuntu Synaptic software manager offers instant access to almost 25.000 software packages that can be configured by single mouse-click, for free. Oh, and fully automated upgrades are included for free also.

Even after 12+ years of daily Linux use, I am still astonished by the miracle that such high-value tools are available at a mouse click. For free!

PS. Given this dual-boot system that lets my daughter choose between Vista and Ubuntu, she consistently chooses to work in Ubuntu Linux. Experiment successful.

Posted by Guido Stevens in themirrorpalace at 07:30 | Permalink | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Defined tags for this entry: abundance

, defectivebydesign

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, linux

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Guido A.J. Stevens is internet entrepreneur. He holds an MBA and is co-founder and managing director of NFG Net Facilities Group: innovative open source internet solutions.

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