[SOLVED] What can Linux do which XP can't?

[Google Spider]

"What can Linux do which XP can't?"

---My friend said this when he saw my PC running Linux. I could only show him compiz fusion......:(

OOOOO, don't say 'Free'. He already has a free copy of windows xp.

Anything else?

[h-town]

update all your programs automatically, and often?

run without antivirus/adware?

[swoll1980]

offer distrobution upgrade free of charge so you always have the latest tech

[TBOL3]

Dozens of free (good) applications.
hundreds of free (bad) applications
A desktop choice
A great package manigment system
Less system resorses
Multiple Desktops
Kernel choice
Knowledge of what the code will be made of
A desktop that looks like poo (a cording to my friend who uses suse).
Great support
Better terminal commands
Many more options
For some versions, incredibly cryptic messages

Take your pick

[smartboyathome]

Update without having to restart your computer every day.
Have a repository full of free and open source applications which have been checked to make sure they are secure.
No viruses or malware in the wild.
Able to be customized to look how you want, without having to buy or install anything extra (unless you want something extra, that is ;)).
Thats all from the top of my head.

[FuturePilot]

Scroll an unfocused window. :D
Upgrade my system for free
Keep all my software up to date without having to go and manually find and download the newest version of <insert program here>.

[Google Spider]

offer distrobution upgrade free of charge so you always have the latest tech

I said you don't say 'FREE' !! What's thepiratebay for?

[smartboyathome]

I said you don't say 'FREE' !! What's thepiratebay for?

Catching people who should be fined for pirating. ;)

[Google Spider]

Scroll an unfocused window. :D
Upgrade my system for free


wow how do you do that? Though it will make little or no sense to my friend..

[smartboyathome]

Hover your mouse over the unfocused window and scroll. Its that easy. :D

[smartboyathome]

One more, able to install it on multiple PC architectures.
And, able to be dual-booted with another OS.

[Google Spider]

Hover your mouse over the unfocused window and scroll. Its that easy. :D

Yep thanks

[sharks]

can run quick on a low end pc.

[Google Spider]

He was more interested in stuff like: "See I have an app here in Applications>Internet which can do blah blah blah.......can you do this on windows.....nah!......there's no software available to do this on Windows".....anyone?

[RedPandaFox]

Yet no one has mentioned one of the main points I love about Linux.... FREEDOM! You can do almost anything you want without having so many restrictions like on XP. Need something done, google it, forum it, or do it yourself.
Also the community spirit you get on forums like this one.
It can do anything XP can, via binary emulator or VBox etc, plus anything that people make especially for Linux, where as XP wont run Linux programs, (does that mean that Linux is BACKWARDS compatible?) :P

[NightwishFan]

Get drivers for 64bit by a simple recompile. The unfocused scroll of course. Windows is not free, even if you receive it for free, so I will say, free (as in speech). Update the system and software, of course was said. Also I might add without reboots, until you want to take advantage of something that needs a reboot, and it can be avoided if you wish, in extreme circumstances. Customize OS itself. The ability to share it. Lack of this licensing, your os will revert to an un-usable state until you put in this long predetermined key that may/may not work in any case. Have all your software in predetermined packages for one click download and install. It attempts to find the other OS, and enable you to boot them, rather than completely ignore them. Great choice in distributions and flavors. Want speed, or bloated eye candy? You can do both. Oh yeah and Ubuntuforums, but you do not have to use Linux to post here. :)

I am missing 99.9% of it but I am very lazy, so I will leave the rest to you all.

[PurposeOfReason]

I shouldn't have to go beyond saying "configuration". Themes, xorg.conf (can do so much) DE/WM choice, etc.

[RedPandaFox]

"What can Linux do which XP can't?"
OOOOO, don't say 'Free'. He already has a free copy of windows xp.


Well for one thing XP can do that Linux wont.... Your friend could be fined... you wont :P

[FuturePilot]

He was more interested in stuff like: "See I have an app here in Applications>Internet which can do blah blah blah....and there's no software available to do this on Windows".....anyone?

System→Administration→Synaptic Package Manager

nuff said ;)

[swoll1980]

Catching people who should be fined for pirating. ;)

How about this? How does he know that the "free" xp he has doesn't have a program built into it that feeds all his private info to the person who created it. Thats pretty dumb! Why doesn't he just hand his info out to people

There would be no way to tell. So instead of free I'll say truly free, legal secure

[reyfer]

System→Administration→Synaptic Package Manager

nuff said ;)

QUOTE FOR TRUTH

[cardinals_fan]

I'm surprised that this isn't in Recurring Discussions already. We already have this 229 page thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=57494)...

[sharks]

Most of the hardware drivers are installed in it.