13 reasons why Linux should be on your desktop - [Stumbles via StumbleUpon]

The guys over at desktoplinux.com have put together a list of 13 reasons that linux should be on your desktop. I used to be a big supporter of Linux, and thought that it was the way of the future. About a year ago I switched to Linux completely. 6 months later, I was right back to windows. I'm not saying that someday Linux won't be the operating system of choice, but for now it's still a windows world. So, I would like to sort of "debunk" their list of 13 reasons why Linux should be on your desktop.

1. Cost -- Linux is free, and that includes all the apps. Microsoft is greedy. Vista Home Premium and Ultimate cost hundreds of dollars, even when upgrading from Windows XP. Moving up to Office 2007 involves handing over another bundle of dollars.

Sure Linux is free, but most computers today come with Windows pre-installed. Maybe if I had a choice between which operating system was installed on my computer, and that choice was between a computer that was $200 cheaper with Linux and one that had Windows installed; then it would make a difference.

2. Resources -- Even the most lavishly equipped Linux distros demand no more resources than Windows XP. Vista is greedy: a single-user PC operating system that needs 2GB of RAM to run at acceptable speed, and 15GB of hard disk space, is grossly obese.

The average user is not going to notice this. We live in a web enabled world. For most people as long as they can run a browser, the amount of resources that they are using isn't even going to cross their mind.

3. Performance -- Linux worked faster on my Dell Inspiron Core Duo than XP, at least the way XP worked out of the box. After cleaning out the bloatware and trading McAfee's Abrams Tank for the lightweight NOD32, XP and Linux (with Guarddog and Clam-AV) perform at similar speed.

What? Isn't this basically the same as #2? Linux is faster, we know. Let's move on.

4. No bloatware -- Linux is free from adware, trialware, shovelware, and bloatware. Running Linux is like watching the public TV network.

It's free of bloatware now. Let's see what happens when it does become a mainstream operating system. Spammers will find a way to infiltrate it as they always do.

5. Security -- Last year, 48,000 new virus signatures were documented for Windows, compared to 40 for Linux. Still, most distros come with firewalls and antivirus (AV) software. Programs like Guarddog and Clam-AV are free, of course.

I have never had a virus problem with Windows, ever. Then again, I don't download questionable software, my firewall is fairly tight, and I run Firefox with a few ad-blocking plugins. This is your average Linux junkie trying to get you to switch to Linux by way of fear-mongering.

6. Dual booting -- The best Linux distros make dual booting a simple affair, along with the required disk partitioning (so you don't need to buy partitioning software). Windows on my Dell laptop is still intact after installing and uninstalling a dozen distros.

Wait a second... You are telling me that it's easy to dual boot Windows and Linux? I would say in total I spent about 7 hours trying to get this to work. Just do a search for dual booting Linux and Windows and see how many step by step tutorials come up. Read through one of them just to see how complicated it really is.

7. Installation -- Anyone who's done it once knows that installing Windows from scratch takes hours or even days by the time you get all your apps up and running. With Linux, it can take as little as half an hour to install the operating system, utilities, and a full set of applications. No registration or activation is required, no paperwork, and no excruciating pack drill.

For one, as I mentioned before most computers come with Windows already installed. Secondly, Linux takes just as long if not longer to install. Sure you can get the operating system installed fairly quickly, but you still have to go through and download all the packages and programs that you need to actually use it.

8. Reinstalling the OS -- You can't just download an updated version of Windows. You have to use the CD that came with your PC and download all the patches Microsoft has issued since the CD was made. With Linux, you simply download the latest version of your distro (no questions asked) and, assuming your data files live in a separate disk partition, there's no need to reinstall them. You only need to re-install the extra programs you added to the ones that came with the distro.

If you need to reinstall the OS then something is wrong. That means that you more than likely aren't going to be able to download the newest version of Linux. Also, after the first time I installed Linux I immediately had to do about 30 updates. Point being, that Linux is the same as Windows in this respect.

9. Keeping track of software -- Like most Windows users, I have a shelf full of software CDs and keep a little book with serial numbers under my bed in case I have to reinstall the lot. With Linux, there are no serial numbers or passwords to lose or worry about. Not a single one.

Ok, no serial numbers. That's great. But... If you do have a catastrophic crash, are you going to remember every package you had installed on your Linux box so that you can download them all again? How long is it going to take you to get back to where you were on a Linux box vs. a Windows box where you would have all of your software on various CDs?

10. Updating software -- Linux updates all the software on your system whenever updates are available online, including all applications programs. Microsoft does that for Windows software but you have to update each program you've added from other sources. That's about 60 on each of my PCs. More icing on the Linux cake is that it doesn't ask you to reboot after updates. XP nags you every ten minutes until you curse and reboot your machine. If you choose "custom install" to select only the updates you want, XP hounds you like a mangy neighborhood dog until you give in.

Linux tracks what updates you need, but most Windows software tracks it's own updates. HTML Kit (one of my favorite HMTL editors) for example; will tell me when I need to update it. Also, I do not need to be doing something on my computer every second that I am sitting in front of it. I can spare 4 minutes to reboot it after an update. Furthermore, let's be honest. How often do we really need to worry about updates. This is a very minor point in the grand scheme of things. I think I have to reboot my Windows machine about once a month for an update.

11. More security -- These days, operating systems are less vulnerable than the applications that run on them. Therefore a vital aspect of PC security is keeping your apps up-to-date with the latest security patches. That's hard manual labor in Windows, but with Linux it's automatic.

*Sigh* We already talked about security in #5. Yes, we know that Linux is more secure. Let's get the shovel out so we can dig up the dead horse and beat it.

12. No need to defrag disks -- Linux uses different file systems that don't need defragging. NTFS was going to be replaced in Vista, but Microsoft's new file system didn't make the final cut. Instead, Vista does scheduled disk defragging by default, but the defrag utility is a sad affair.

I'm beginning to wonder if this is a list about why Linux should be your desktop OS, or if it's just another opportunity for a Linux fanboy to rip on Windows. First of all, who gives a shit about defragging? I don't. I know that Windows automatically does it for me, but I don't lose sleep at night wondering if my hard drive is fragmented or not. Secondly, the defrag utility is a sad affair? Why? I've never had a problem with it. Finally, and possibly a different subject, why doesn't Linux like NTFS? It's like pulling teeth trying to get Linux to recognize NTFS.

13. A wealth of built-in utilities -- The utilities supplied with Windows are pretty ordinary on the whole, that's why so many small software firms have made a nice living writing better ones. Linux programs are comparable with the best Windows freeware, from CD burners to photo managers, memory monitors and disk utilities. PDF conversion is built-in, both into OpenOffice Writer and into the DTP application Scribus. All you do is click a button on the task bar.

Ok, this is a list about ripping on Windows. Why does every "switch to Linux" article need to be a comparison to Windows?