Windows Vista vs. Ubuntu GNU/Linux 8.10: a surprising winner?
Something worth reading on crn.com, a news site mainly focused on providing system and tech resellers with product and company newsflashes: On a three-page article there’s a fairly verbose comparison of Windows Vista to Ubuntu GNU/Linux 8.10, focusing on various aspects including system security, software and vendor support, application availability or (unavoidable, it seems…) installation, and in the end the paper comes to a “bottom line” which seems surprising in some ways:
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Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition easily ranks higher than any other Linux desktop OS we’ve looked at in the Test Center. Head to head, Ubuntu simply beats Vista on so many important points that Windows is no longer the simple, reflexive default. We’re calling this one for Ubuntu, plain and simple, because it’s a beautifully done operating system, it functions as advertised, it’s easier on the client side to get up and running and it costs less. Application support is still a big deal working against it.
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One point to remember is that the Test Center doesn’t dislike Windows Vista. It works fine (with enough CPU strength and 4 GB of memory installed). It just works less fine than Ubuntu 8.10.
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Windows no longer being the simple, reflexive default? No matter whether 2009 will be the year of widespread GNU/Linux desktop adoption (or even domination), it seems this is a pretty good starting point after all…