Quote Originally Posted by TheFu View Post
That may be true today, but historically Windows has not be anywhere near as stable as Linux for most people that get it running.

For the 1st year I had Windows 7, it wouldn't stay running more than 7-10 days at a time. Linux routinely stays up until I reboot it (due to a new kernel) - often 60+ days. In the old days around 2001, I had a Linux system up over 400 days without a reboot. Back then, Windows2000 wouldn't stay up more than a month at a time.

Stability is good news for everyone regardless of OS even if the end users don't make use of the added stability.

Just for fun, here's a quick 'uptime' list (I patch weekly):

  • up 75 days, 17:57,
  • up 28 days, 16 min,
  • up 5 days, 17:22,
  • up 6 days, 13 min,
  • up 6 days, 1:01,
  • up 2:37,
  • up 5 days, 20:28,
  • up 6 days, 9 min,
  • up 9 days, 23:09,
  • up 94 days, 16:30,

These are different Ubuntu desktop/server machines with many running inside either KVM or Xen or VirtualBox virtual machine environments. Some are 8.04, 10.04 and a few are 12.04. I don't do non-LTS releases.

A few windows7 PCs here have been

  • up 10 days, 18:50 min. (laptop)
  • up 16 days, 01:42 min. (7 media center running inside a VM)

I don't expect either to crash before I reboot to make a monthly image backup. Stability is good.

If you are seeing stability issues, perhaps there is something wrong with the hardware? I think that MS-Windows will put up with HW failures that Linux will fail over. Linux GUI environments also reduce system stability. X/Windows definitely does IME. A server that I don't run X/Windows on will stay up until I reboot it (over90+ days), but if I login on the head and use X/windows without any regard, it will crash in 7-14 days. The same box, same kernel, same base programs - just running GUI programs on X/Windows makes it crash. BTW the machine with 94 days uptime - that is the server of which I speak.

Just an opinion.
I have Win7 installed from the time it came out and is still running with no crashes or errors to report from day 1. I love my Linux and had little problems with it over the years but it hasn't been as sweet as Win7 for been bug free. I prefer Linux but I do not slam Win7 as a OS that has been great to say the least. Maybe a deck of cards maybe more your style.