12 reasons why windows is better than linux for non-techies.

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1) Which distro to use.

As all of us know linux has got tons of distro and this is the first confusing point for non-techies that which distro is best for them.


There's only one distro for non technical users. Ubuntu.



2) Where to get linux.

Linux is not much popular as windows so it is also possible that you won’t find linux CDs on all shops.


windows has a monopoly and is screwing people over left right and center. Therefore you shouldn't try and fight it you should just hand them your credit card and close your eyes and prepare to get it up the (ahem).

Just let them do it. The pain isn't that bad.




3) How to install Linux.

Although linux is not very difficult to install and distro like ubuntu has also provided Wubi install by using which you can easily install ubuntu with linux on NTFS parition.But it is still difficult to install linux for Non-techies.Partitions concept of linux is little difficult for them.


Didn't have to do that for Ubunto. Just pressed a few buttons and it did it all.





4) Configuring desktops and settings.

Desktop,network,control panel and screen saver all the setting is little different as compare to windows so in the first look most of the non-techies get confused on how to configure their desktop.


Desk top was right there when all was said and done at the end of installation. didn't "configure" anything.

You have to play with your air card on windows as well as Ubuntu, you're no farther behind.





5) Installing Software.

This is the most confusing and difficult thing for non-techie because software installation is totally different in linux as compare to windows.We have to install from sources rather than just running a setup files.


Ha ha ha ! You should use windows because anyone else doesn't do it the windows way !!! lol ! These guys crack me up.

Seriously , the argument that Windows Already Rules Everything Don't Try To Change is no argument at all.

In Ubuntu you pull down a menu , select the software you want from a list (it's a big list , you'll spend a lot of time scrolling through it) press a button or two for that one to be installed, and then wait. And reboot. Not exactly rocket science, though it *IS* different from windows.





6) Installing drivers.

Although linux has some driver so some of your devices will work plug and play but it will be real headache for non-techies to install drivers of devices which is not available in linux.


Because we made it illegal for those drivers to run on Linux. So you can't play your games !

(but you can run all the non game stuff just fine)



7) Playing music files.

Most of the peoples have songs or other music files in MP3,WMA or any other format and the thing is that linux by default doesn’t have codecs installed for playing these type of media files.You can also check my post How to play mp3 and other multimedia files in ubuntu



Oh no. You messed this up when Windows introduced DRM (Digital Rights Management) You can't claim ease of use in playing MP3's anymore. Naughty naughty, thats dishonest.

Oh , I dumped some mp3's on my ubuntu box and double clicked on one ? A player came up and started playing right away. It doesn't get any easier than that.


8 : Games
available for linux the difficult point is again the installation of game.


Old crappy games only run under Wine which is a pain to use.

I grant you Linux is not a gaming platform. Get a playstation or something.




9) Softwares availability.

Almost all of the latest softwares are available for windows but not all of them are available for linux.This is also tricky point for non-techies for find the alternatives of the software which are not available in linux.


"latest" software. I like how you qualify that.

There's enough software in the software repositories , if you're not a game fanatic, do do most any usual chore on a computer. Word processeors spread sheets , write code , etc etc.





10) Difficult to get help.

Non-techies prefer to ask from others rather than searching on google as it is little easy for them to understand and if they ask for help from their family members or colleagues very few will be able to help them but if we talk about windows most of the peoples are familar with most of the windows features.


It's very easy to get help from microsoft. Phone them and have your credit card ready, it's 75$ a question.





11) Partitioning

I also mention in reason 1 that partition table of linux is little confusing as compare to windows then partitions of linux looks like.

/hda1/disk8

/hda2/disk4

and if we have a look at windows partitions it looks like.

C:

D:

E:

You can see which one is easier.


Odd thing. I didn't have to do any partitioning at all of any kind when I threw Ubuntu on my old clunker. That was pretty easy , don't you think ?

Oh , and you already said newbies don't do partitioning ,so going on and on about partitioning on one being harder than the other is irrelevant since only techies do that and this article is for newbies.





12) Requires research.

Linux requires little more research as compare to windows and non-techies don’t have time or they don’t wanna research on linux as this is not the part of their job so they prefers windows.

I have tried to posted as much reasons as currently i have in my mind if i have missed any reason please write in comments.




Odd thing, I didn't have to do any research ,I just threw it on an old clunker and it worked first time out.

As for "people prefer spending 3000$ of their hard earned money without doing any research" for a current machine, I think you are wonkers.



In the end , my advice is if you're going to upgrade your computer , get a new windows box (GASPS OF HORROR FROM THE LINUX CROWD !!!! ) But ... this is the kicker. Don't throw away the old box. Throw Ubuntu Linux on it instead and try it out. It's free isn't it ? And if you decide it blows , you still got yourself you're brand spanking new vender lock in have your credit card ready windows box , don't you ?

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Oh. Stay away from vista if you can. major problems there, go for an xp box if possible.





Yeah, thats Ubuntu. All menu's and windows and all the stuff you expect to see on windows. Try not to be too frightenned by it. I personally run windows on one machine and one machine only in my house, and the other two run either Ubuntu (the living room ) or Linpus (lap top). Linpus there's not much to say. It came pre-installed. It works great. Got a word processer , spread sheet , browser, few other gew gaws I'll never use, for a cheap lap top it's got some pretty high end software that bill gates would charge you a fortune for if it were his stuff.

And the browser plays youtube.com video's just fine , he he he, thats mostly what I use it for.

I think one windows machine is all anyone ever needs.