Is there anything Windows is superior in.

[Amablue]

Right now I'm falling in love with Ubuntu. At my dad's advice, I have my computer dual booting so that I could have Windows for most of my important stuff (Despite being a programmer himself, I don't think he realizes how much stuff Ubuntu has going for it). I had reformatted my computer anyway, so I took the oppurtunity to put Ubuntu on my computer.

It's been far easier to get Ubuntu up than it has been for Windows. I've jsut about got my Wifi configured for Ubuntu, and I'm still not even able to get a wired connection to the internet with Windows. Anyway, is there anything Ubuntu lacks, or that windows would be better for? I'm really considering just wiping my windows partition and freeing up the additional 40 gigs for Ubuntu.

I mostly use my computer for internet browsing, programming (I'm a just beginning as a CS major), watching videos and listening to music. I can tell already that there are quite a few options for programming (Inclusing Eclipse, which is what I've been using for the past semster, so that's a plus). The music player looks like it'll need some configurating, but other than that it seems fine.

So is there any reason to keep windows at all? Anything I'll end up missing or maybe needing later?

[apollyonis]

Even with the bugs in Dapper, Windows is still pretty superior in that department.
Honestly with what you say you're going to do with your computer, you shouldn't need Windows in any sense. The big name software makers still favor Windows because of the sheer amount of desktops that it is on, but will probably change more and more into the near future. There is more hardware support coming down the pipeline, especially with the new kernels, and the vendors may catch on as well.

Bottom line : Internet browsing, programming, watching videos and listening to music are all very doable in Ubuntu with a lot less legal hassle and other headaches that come with Windows. ](*,)

[bvanaerde]

The problem is that when you're used to one system, the alternative seems difficult, and may feel unnatural (windows to linux and vice versa).
You just have to take some time to get used to it.

If it comes out that you'll still need Windows for some programs, you can always install VMWare...

I'd say, go for it! :mrgreen:

[Mahmoud]

As a CS student, You might be asked to develop windows applications.
You can run Windows in a Virtual Machine using VMware. That way you can use Windows whenever you need without rebooting too.

[damianubuntu]

The only reason that I keep a windows partition on one of my machines is for occasional use of an unsupported Canon scanner. Initially I kept it for my wife's use of MS publisher but that works fine with Crossover office now.
If you don't miss anything on windows now, chances are you're not going to in the future.

[Amablue]

Well, if there are no objectsions...

Whats the fastest way to do this? I'm thinking just restart, boot of my Ubuntu disk, and get to the partitioning step of setup, then just letting Ubuntu take all of it. Or is there a program I can grab that'll let me unpartition my stuff easier?

[hotbrainz]

I made the jump to Ubuntu 2 months back and having been used to windows for many years it was a bit difficult initially but now i absolutely love Ubuntu and happy to have made the switch.

Better dont dual boot. This will give you an oppurtunity to learn linux faster. The issues you may face ( as i did ) was the use of some software. As most users are on ******* you may need certain stuff which needs to be taken out to other systems and edited ( for example: Microsoft Access databases ). Open source office is good but not always compatible with MS office.

But as mentioned before by other people here, ther is always VMWARE to run on Ubuntu if the need arises. All the best in any case dude.

Welcome to Ubuntu. Let's have some Coffee... :)

[jrev]

Believe it or not I find windows superior when I need to record a conversation with a microphone.
I could never make the sound recorder work properly on Hoary or Breezy
the level of registration is much too low on playback

could not find the proper address to help me out of this bug...:-|

[CompShrink]

Make sure you backed up any text/music/browser bookmarks/etc you have on windows, then install gparted, and you can use that to whipe the Windows off.

System > Administration > Synaptic Package manager (if you're using ubuntu not using kubuntu), or just copy and paste this line into a terminal (aka command line)

sudo apt-get install gparted

[robins_web]

"Is there anything Windows is superior in."

Quite a few things. First, it is superior at requiring frequent updates to patch security holes. These are generally caused by previous updates to patch security holes.

Windows also excels at making my machine run slower and slower after each update.

While Linux is catching up with Windows in terms of available software, Windows still excels at requiring anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

Windows is superior at requiring very long startup and shutdown times. My Windows laptop takes more than 5 minutes to boot up. My Linux laptop takes less than 2.

The only reason I still have Windows on one of my machines is that I have a printer that isn't supported by Linux. My Linux machine has no proprietary software whatsoever.

[richbarna]

Amablue :- Right now I'm falling in love with Ubuntu

I feel the same about Ubuntu, just like other people I kept Windows for my Canon printer.
At the moment I feel that Windows has nothing better than Linux apart from proprietry drivers, so that's a Canon PROBLEM, not a Windows Good Thing.
As it happens I have saved on ink and electricity as I now only print things that are necessary, and this I do at work.

Dad :- (Despite being a programmer himself, I don't think he realizes how much stuff Ubuntu has going for it)

This is so true for many people. Take a look at my 'sig', I am working on a small Ubuntu Blog that will provide "Basic" information to make people aware of the possibilities.

[u.b.u.n.t.u]

I made the switch today. I had a play with the release candidate for a few days and the community here basically made it happen. The only thing Ubuntu can't do for me, is games, but each person has their own requirements. I like that we will get another new operating system, 6.10 in October, while windows are still working on one. Good luck to them, but Vista the resource glutton isn't for me. :-k

[Daremo]

Being as CS major, you may find Windows development tools more abundant and "polished" than Linux tools. If you enjoy the Drag-n-Drop of objects in an IDE to build forms and such then you'll want to keep Windows around.

[dvarsam]

Hello!

1. I feel Windows is Superior in Networking...
Sorry to say, but Networking in Ubuntu (even though it exists), seems Non-existant!!! (there is NO "Network Places" icon you could open to SEE the whole picture of your Company/Home Network). There is NO way Ubuntu can hit the Enterprise Market without this!!!
Networking in Ubuntu is Feasible (e.g SSH), bun NON-Practical... and "Practicality" matters!

2. Color Printing: needs improvement. I managed to get a nice "Red" from my Canon i550 Color Printer (with Ubuntu v6.06), but Blue & Yellow colors come out "faded-out".

3. Games: You can NOT find many games in Ubuntu.
(IF I did find - in my Country - I would purchase a lot of them... even for presents to other people!)

4. Programs: Some programs created for Ubuntu sometimes have bugs.

5. Backup: Nothing is Comparable to "Norton Ghost"!

Conclusion:
Do NOT get dissapointed here, the Pros of Ubuntu are many!!!
1. Most important: IT IS FREE (you do NOT pay any money - if you want donate!)
2. No Antivirus, Firewalls needed. No Viruses are out there yet.
3. There is this Forum, which is fantastic for help.
4. Native languages are now supported by Ubuntu v6.06 (this is going to be a great punch to MS in my country!)
5. Except the above #1 problem (Networking), for the rest of the problems you can not blame the Ubuntu OS - it is other companies that do NOT create Software for Linux.

My experience & knowledge in Computers has increased a lot after I joined the Ubuntu OS.
Things will get better as the community increases!

Have Fun & Welcome!

[Jose Catre-Vandis]

1. I feel Windows is Superior in Networking...
Sorry to say, but Networking in Ubuntu (even though it exists), seems Non-existant!!! (there is NO "Network Places" icon you could open to SEE the whole picture of your Company/Home Network). There is NO way Ubuntu can hit the Enterprise Market without this!!!
Networking in Ubuntu is Feasible (e.g SSH), bun NON-Practical... and "Practicality" matters!


I tend to agree with you in terms of PNP and accessibility, but have you tried "Places -> Network Servers". This gives you your network and everything on it. Of course, just as in windows, you have to be sharing it to see it.

Actual not feasible :-)

[dvarsam]

Dear "Jose Catre-Vandis",

Thanks for your reply!


I tend to agree with you in terms of PNP and accessibility, but have you tried "Places -> Network Servers".

Yes I went as you suggested!

I have a 4 port DSL-Router & 2 Ubuntu v6.06 computers are connected to it...

So, I select "Places/Network Servers...

So, where in the heck is the other Ubuntu PC, on the right side of my "Network" window?

Where is its icon?

That is what I am looking for...!!!

The way the "Network" window looks, is AS IF there are NO PC's connected to the Network!!!

Cause IF THERE WERE, there would be (at least) an ICON in there, showing that some Networked PC's EXIST!!!

AND then, I could double-click their icon, type just the Password & access the PCs... OR even Right-click the icon to set the Connection Type (SSH or FTP or whatever) & the Access Rights (Read, Write, Execute)!!!

Note: I do NOT want to Create the Connection by MYSELF, by creating a "Remote Connection to Server", cause that is TRULLY REMOTE!!!
The Connections (e.g. ICON) should ALREADY be there...
And I would only have to play around with the settings & parameters of the connection!!!
I want something that looks "Native", something that makes me feel like I am connecting to a HOME NETWORK & NOT TO ANOTHER PLANET!!!
I want to feel like I am at HOME!!!

And what about a WIZARD?

Where is its ICON in the "Network" window?

A WIZARD that can help me share a Folder in the Network!
And hopefully that WIZARD will then add the appropriate line in my "fstab" file, so that I can share a directory in the Network!

[quote]This gives you your network & everything on it.
Of course, just as in windows, you have to be sharing it to see it.
Actual not feasible

So, show me how can I do what I want/need?

This is what I expected from the Ubuntu Programming Team!!!

I understand that there are many improvements to many fields, but NOTHING relating to REAL/ACTUAL/EASY Networking!!!

How the "heck" are we going to move to the "Enterprise" Edition (for large Organizations) if we can NOT offer the plain/basics?

You are implying that somebody MUST create 100 separate SSH connections, for his company's computers to SEE each other?
AND that these 100 separate SSH connections be made to EACH & EVERY Networked PC?
Conclusion: 100 (SSH possible connections) x 100 (networked PC's)= 10.000 icons/connections?
Who the "heck" is going to create these many connections?
In such a case, in the BEST possible schenario, you are going to need to visit the "shrink"!!!

Thanks.

P.S.> If you Really know how to do what I am looking for, please tell me!:(

[Solidad]

i too love exploring ubuntu. but i use a winmodem. so i have to wait for awhile ang get a DSL connection. to make things easier for me. for now i have to stick to windows. and i have to since. this is a family PC. and they dont' have that much understanging in computer unlike i.

[tom56]

...

And what about a WIZARD?

Where is its ICON in the "Network" window?

A WIZARD that can help me share a Folder in the Network!
And hopefully that WIZARD will then add the appropriate line in my "fstab" file, so that I can share a directory in the Network!

First of all you'll find that you'll probably get more help with less attitude. All you need to do is right click the folder you want to share and click "Share folder", it's fairly self-explanatory from there.

[bongobonga]

I am going to be a bit of a heritic here and say that there are quite a few things that windows is superior in. The first and most important is that under windows most hardware sortof works, most of the time. With linux, most hardware does not work most of the time; although it is usually possible to get most hardware to work with linux, it can take a lot of tinkering and numerious recompiles of the kernel to do so. This is a real problem with linux, hardware simply is not easy to get working a lot of the time.

The second thing that is better in windows, is ms office. There is nothing in the linux world that is as good as office, eventhough koffice and openoffice come close. Okay, 'word' is a piece of junk, but excel and powerpoint actually do work well, probably better than anything else available.

[RudolfMDLT]

First of all you'll find that you'll probably get more help with less attitude. All you need to do is right click the folder you want to share and click "Share folder", it's fairly self-explanatory from there.

Ditto!

=> dvarsam
OK... just breath.:) Just kidding! Everybody found out within the first 30min of migrating from a MS environment that Ubuntu is not going to be a fiasco of manic clicking, and the problem goes away. You actually need to understand a little bit of what you are doing.

If your looking for a simple solution to sharing files, all you need is Samba. It works with Unix/Linux machines as well as Windows machines. It's practically just point and click, except when you need to add users, but in reallity, adding users in the terminal(believe me or not) is a lot faster than doing it through a GUI. If you need help with samba or networking here are a couple of links to check out!

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=184210
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=180844
http://ubuntuguide.org/#networking

Cheers and hope you get sorted!

[dvarsam]

First of all you'll find that you'll probably get more help with less attitude. All you need to do is right click the folder you want to share and click "Share folder", it's fairly self-explanatory from there.

Ok, I tried what you said:

1. Right-click in a folder & select "Share Folder".

2. I select: Install NFS (since I am trying to share a folder in 2 Ubuntu v6.06 Linux Machines)

Note: Next, I also install NFS on the other Ubuntu v6.06 machine!

3. I select "Share with NFS"

4. I click on the Button named "Add Host"

5. Under "Allowed Hosts", I select "Specify IP Address"

6. Under "IP Address", I type "192.168.1.3"

7. I click on "Read Only" text box & click on button named "OK".

8. I switch on the Other Networked Ubuntu PC & from Menu I select "Places/Network Servers"...

So, where is my Shared Folder & why can't I see it/access it?

Thanks.

P.S.> Sorry if you felt I had some type of "attitude": ALL I was trying to do was to pinpoint the problem! By the way, we ALL want our Ubuntu to be the Best, so if I am critisizing it, I only do it, so it gets better - far better than Windows...

[siorai]

The only reason that I keep a windows partition on one of my machines is for occasional use of an unsupported Canon scanner. Initially I kept it for my wife's use of MS publisher but that works fine with Crossover office now.
If you don't miss anything on windows now, chances are you're not going to in the future.

If that's all you're booting into Windows for, why not just install VMWare Player, install Windows into that, and do your scanning from there? That's exactly what I do with my Canon scanner. I have one FAT32 partition so I can easily share the files through samba between Windows and Ubuntu.

[sotonin]

No matter what others may tell you, the only reason i've found so far to keep windows around is gaming.... Sure linux can game. SOMETIMES..... if the stars align and you happen to like a game thats fully supported by cedega and it likes ur hardware.

Me personally. i am NOT impressed with anything game related on linux. I've gone out and purchased a subscription to cedega bought 2 new 6800 SLI video cards and my games play like crap when i can even get them to run. It's bug ridden and a hassle. I'm glad i kept my windows xp on a partition in my machine, now i just have to figure out how to boot to it....

other than games i am quite happy with ubuntu :) wouldnt give it up for the world

[matthew]

Interesting thread...I think the subject is better suited to the Cafe, though, so I'm going to move it there.

[catlett]

http://users.piuha.net/martti/comp/ubuntu/install.html You might want to copy this persons install. It is totally ubuntu but with vmware player installed so windows can run on it in linux for the applications that don't have an alternative or for sites that are internet explorer related.
I would try it if I was you. You are more advanced than the average beginner, being that your in college for programming and your father is a programmer as well. With your major it would be pretty dull if you went into windows. That is the easy way:-D Your a programmer in traing. Get exotic.

[Trab]

the only reason i keep windows on my second 20 gb hdd is for some very few and specific games.
im able to play CS and most of my games in Ubuntu with Cedega, but AoE3 is microsoft made, and wont work on ubuntu (yet) so i keep windows for that.
otherwise, whenever i have to use windows (maybe ive been beta testing stuff in ubuntu and it wont boot, or w.e.) it makes me very sad.

all hail ubuntu.

[Lord Illidan]

the only reason i keep windows on my second 20 gb hdd is for some very few and specific games.
im able to play CS and most of my games in Ubuntu with Cedega, but AoE3 is microsoft made, and wont work on ubuntu (yet) so i keep windows for that.
otherwise, whenever i have to use windows (maybe ive been beta testing stuff in ubuntu and it wont boot, or w.e.) it makes me very sad.

all hail ubuntu.

I only use Windows for games, too... and Turbo Pascal.. as Graph Mode won't work in fpc, it seems.

However, for music, it is straight off to AmaroK, and Ubuntu, hehe.

[joflow]

useability..
easy install process (for apps) - though no one will admit it...its nice to be able to just download a .exe and know its going to work rather then downloading a .deb and crossing your fingers. Of course the well known programs are in the repos..but there are alot of programs I want that aren't and if there is no working deb then the only other option is the dreaded compile from source.

Its also nice to be able to easily update your apps from a .exe. With Ubuntu, you have to wait until its backported or whatever. And some apps never get backported so then some long complicated workaround pops up in the forums eventually (i.e. Firefox 1.5 in breezy) or if its an obsecure app then you'll be forced to compile from source. The only other option is to install the testing version but my experience with dapper testing is that it would break from time to time.

[joflow]

I also think windows is more polished. Ubuntu is working hard on the polish front but isn't there quite yet.

XP was very polished (for its time in 2001) and I'm sure Vista will be very polished as well.

[jacksaff]

The only thing windows is superior in is market share. Unfortunately this means that lots of software gets developed for windows only, even if there are perfectly good cross-platform alternatives ie. activex vs opengl. I've shrunk my win partition down to the minimum required to hold a couple of games and that's all it ever gets booted for now.

[Luffield]

I've been using Ubuntu for 8 months, and in the last 3 months or so I never booted Windows unless I wanted to drive one of my racing simlators. I prefer Ubuntu, I think it's great, but are things that Windows does better IMO.
First, I think MS office is better than OOo, or any other office application I tried. Second, the performance of Win2000 on my machine are consideribly better than Ubuntu's -- but this could be because Win2000 is installed on a 30gb disk with 8gb free, and Ubuntu is on a 3gb disk with 200mb free. It takes ages for Windows to boot and to shut down, but once it's running it's much more responsive than Ubuntu. Third, I think that in most cases the hardware support on Windows is still superior.
Actually Ubuntu impressed me immensely, but after using it for a long time and learning to live with the bugs in Ubuntu (on Dapper since January -- I know I have no-one but myself to blame :???: ) I learned to appreciate the work that the people at MS do. Windows has some serious flaws, the way they run their company is shameful, some of their products are utter crap -- but some are really very good. Overall I prefer Ubuntu by a country mile, but I do have some respect for MS.

To the original poster -- I think what I would do in your situation is resize the Windows partition to 10gb or whatever the minimum required is, format the freed space to FAT32 and use this partition from both Ubuntu and (if needed) Windows. If you already have Windows, I don't think it's a good idea wiping it completely. You may need it some day.

[der_joachim]

About hardware support: I partially upgraded my PC a few weeks ago. My old motherboard died and I had to replace it. I booted Linux, and *everything* was supported out of the box. USB, sound, ethernet, you name it. No reinstall required. Wow!

XP did not even boot. I had to reformat, reinstall and then I had to manually reinstall every driver for every piece of hardware. Just getting an OS and the hardware drivers took me over an hour.

You'll run into hardware problems if you use exotic or very new hardware. Apparently, Ati is still a pain in the bottom. I did conciously not buy any such hardware, so maybe I cheated a bit. :mrgreen:

[Spaceraver]

1. Games.
2. The ability to be as easy on the new user as you can get.. ie. you never open any console to use that os if your a "Aunt Tilly"
3. You can hack the **** out of Regedit to circumvent game and program protection.. (HL2 without net anyone?) and stuff like that..
4. If you maintain it properly it is stable and easy to use.. allthough you need to use cmd sometimes to make everything work..
5. Loads of software to install..

(Sorry guys.. i still boot my main rig as a xp machine due too games.. but i have 3 linux machines in the house too..)

On the other hand...

Linux you can trick and twist almost to death... meaning it's moddable.. and i like to mod stuff... so i have these machines to play with...

[nealklomp]

"Is there anything Windows is superior in."

Quite a few things. First, it is superior at requiring frequent updates to patch security holes. These are generally caused by previous updates to patch security holes.

Windows also excels at making my machine run slower and slower after each update.

While Linux is catching up with Windows in terms of available software, Windows still excels at requiring anti-virus and anti-spyware software.

Windows is superior at requiring very long startup and shutdown times. My Windows laptop takes more than 5 minutes to boot up. My Linux laptop takes less than 2.

The only reason I still have Windows on one of my machines is that I have a printer that isn't supported by Linux. My Linux machine
has no proprietary software whatsoever.

exactly what I was going to say.
Linux & Ubuntu are growing, it is the future of computing.
I made the switch 6 months ago, it was clean and complete, ubuntu is 90% of the time my OS, except when I must interact with the Microsoft world.

[erimar77]

I just threw another drive in my laptop and loaded up windows and counterstrike for a game night last night. It was horrible. I had to install lots of stuff to make this laptop useable. And for some reason windows does not stop attacking the hard drive.. it has litterally not stopped crunching the hard drive since it's been turned on. It's super annoying.

I don't mind supporting windows machines though, I do try to push linux on my users when I can. Slowly dual booting the machines as I redo them when viruses/spyware takeover..