Answer: Answer That is a question that has many different answers, depending on what aspect of Windows or Linux you

want to know about. Both are what are known as Operating Sy stems, and in this case, both are designed to work on the same type of hardware -- PCs, otherwise known as IBM Compatibles. There are enormous differences in th e way that they behave at a technical level, but I suspect what you really want to know is how they differ from the perspective of an end user. This makes any a nswer I give somewhat subjective (users have different preferences and expectati ons of their computers), but I will do my best to give an answer that is general ly accepted by the IT community. Windows was introduced by Microsoft in 1983, and has been the dominant Operating System available for the PC since the early-nineties. As such, Microsoft has en joyed great financial success, and Windows has had many years and incredible fis cal resources to evolve to meet the demands of the mass-market. There is an stag geringly rich set of features here, from very explicit, step-by-step user interf aces for the first time computer user, to powerful interfaces for the computer p rofessional, and everything in between. By contrast, Linux achieved notoriety a bit later, in the mid-nineties, with a distribution known as Redhat, and althoug h Linux was built on more mature, stable underpinnings (Unix), it did not enjoy nearly the same marketing or development budget that Microsoft threw behind Wind ows. In fact, the developers of Linux are commonly credited as founding the Open Source Software movement, which is the idea that software can be made better th rough the free sharing of its source code. In this philosophy, programmers often volunteer their time to develop software for free, as was done with Linux, and Linux is still available for free in its more basic forms. Companies like Redhat only make money by "packaging" Linux with printed documentation, extra software utilities, and setup wizards designed to make the installation of Linux and its subsequent software packages easier. Even so, the amount of money they are able to generate this way is paltry compared to the wealth of Microsoft (which makes most company's financials look paltry). Because of this, the marketing behind L inux has been miniscule compared to that of Windows, and its lack of acceptance among less technical users reflects this. A large reason is because Windows has established a very deeply-ingrained (and some have argued unfairly controlling) relationship with PC hardware manufacturers, ensuring that almost every new PC s hips with Windows installed from day one. Given that they must satisfy the deman ds (though perhaps less than perfectly) of the majority of novice computer users , and add to that the amount of time and money that Windows has enjoyed to make itself accessible to these users, and it is easy to see why Windows is generally regarded as superior to Linux in the area of accessibility to novices. There ar e graphic user interfaces (abbreviated as GUI) present for almost everything you could want to do, and there is almost always more than one way to do it. In fac t, one common criticism of Windows is that so many features have been layered on top of one another over the years, that it has become an overly-complicated, al most labyrinthine user experience. By contrast, some may find Linux to be more s treamlined; however, there are still many equivalent features in Windows for whi ch Linux does not provide a GUI, and the user is forced to type textual instruct ions into a command-line interface, or shell. While many power users consider th is a plus, it is unrealistic to demand this of novice computer users, and novice users should bear this strongly in mind. All this being said, Linux still shine s brilliantly in some areas that Windows seems to consistently flounder. Because the underlying architecture of Linux is more mature, stable, and secure than Wi ndows, Linux "crashes" and "freezes" significantly less often, and can run conti nuously without problems for months or even years without being "rebooted". In a ddition, Linux does not suffer from the same security flaws as Windows, and your chances of contracting a virus, a worm, or some other form of predatory softwar e is much lower. On an more subjective note, I suspect that given the same time and monetary advantages as Windows, Linux might have easily developed into a sup erior operating system in every regard.

As it stands today, they each have pros and cons. Windows is widely accepted eve rywhere, boasts an enormous plethora of GUIs, and has millions of software packa ges that run under it. But it is buggier, less secure, and sometimes feels caver nous. Linux is solid and smooth running, and feels more stream-lined to many. Bu t what technical users call stream-lined, novices may interpret as spare, and so metimes barren or just plain missin. There are also fewer software packages avai lable for it currently, though many of those that are available are free. As tim e goes by, and the Open Software Community develops more for Linux, these differ ences will shrink, but until there is financially powerful, unifying force (comp any) behind Linux, this author thinks it is doubtful they will go away all toget her. Answer there are many differences, one being that all versions of Linux are not the sam e, with the many distributions about, they all look the same but run a little di fferencetly, such as the way that the software is installed, one some, they use RPM packages which, with a package manager, install them selves when u ask them, others you would have to unpack the souce code, build the program and then inst all it... i personally use Gentoo (kinda new to it but loving it) its install sy stem is called portage, with simple commands.. it has an online package database that stores all of the current applications and plugins that the portage people know of (mostly notified by the developers that it exists). To install somethin g, say you wanted to have an mp3 player, you could type in the console emerge -S mp3.... this would search the database for mp3 in the package description and t ell u a list of packages that the string was found in, you could tell it to pret end to install it and so on.... there is more information about this on www.gent oo.com I personally swapped to Linux because of all the problems i had with wind ows, even with a fresh install i was having different problems to what i had in a previous install. Another thing to point out is that the Linux developers deve lop Linux not for money but as a hobby, making the code great is what they enjoy , creating usefull items wanted by the public. There is a vast network of forums and irc channels dedicated to Linux and you can find the solution to almost any problem there. I will say that it takes longer to set Linux up than windows, bu t if you look at the time spent maintaining the two OS, you will see that that t ime is swiftly made up. :D Answer FYI regarding viruses. There's an old joke that asks "why do people rob banks,.. ans: that's where the money is!"....the reason why Microsoft gets dinged so much is that windows is probably running on >95% of all consumer desktop computers. Many feel that if Linux ever competes, it will garner the attention of virus hac kers, and also be plagued by viruses, worms, trojans, etc. Even now, there are w ebsites (albeit not well known) that track the development of Linux viruses...ak a www.viruslibrary.com for instance. Another reason WHY Linux is not affected by viruses, is that its code has been o pen source for more than a decade, tested by people all around the world, and no t by a single development team like in the case of Windows. I mean to say that, probability of finding (and thus fixing) exploitable holes in Linux is very high . So there is extremely enhanced security and lesser chances of exploits. Again, theres one more good reason. Linux was originally meant to be a multi-use r OS. Windows was meant for the end-user. After a few years, Microsoft realised the fact and tried to change their primary design goal. After building two floor s, if you try to replace bricks, you would end up with high instability. This is what Windows is experiencing. Answer Windows and Linux are two different operating systems. The purpose of an operati ng system is to: 1. control all the hardware components that are part of your co mputer. 2. manage a computer's ability to do several things at once 3. provide a base set of services to programs to keep software manufacturers from have to re invent the wheel a million times for the same thing.

The Linux operating system was developed from a base of Unix (another operating system) after the Unix systems stopped being free. The Linux people believe in f ree and open software, and so they "reinvented" Unix, and improved it slightly t o make Linux. Windows is a proprietary operating system owned by Microsoft. It was developed i ndependently from Unix, and its internal details are much different. They should perform the same tasks, however at the deepest levels, details differ, and so a program written to run on Windows will not run on Linux, and vice versa. Widows comes in several "flavors", like Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP , all of which are slightly different, but share enough in common that programs written for one flavor will run on the others 99.9% of the time. Answer Linux is a open-source OS. It's build by "amateurs". people can change code and add programs which will help to use your computer better. It's designed as a rea ction on the monopoly position of windows. you can't change any thing in windows . you can't even see which processes do what and build your onw extension. Linux wants the programmers to extend and redesign it's OS time after time, so it bea ts Windows or at least is as good as windows, but whit open-source, so you can s ee what happens and you can edit the OS Answer Difference Between Linux and Windows 1) Linux is a open-source OS.People can cha nge code and add programs which will help to use your computer better. It's desi gned as a reaction on the monopoly position of windows. you can't change any thi ng in windows. you can't even see which processes do what and build your onw ext ension. Linux wants the programmers to extend and redesign it's OS time after ti me, so it beats Windows or at least is as good as windows, but whit open-source, so you can see what happens and you can edit the OS 2) All the flavors of Windows come from Microsoft, the various distributions of Linux come from different companies (i.e LIndows , Lycoris, Red Hat, SuSe, Mandr ake, Knopping, Slackware). 3) Linux is customizable in a way that Windows is not. For example,NASlite is a version of Linux that runs off a single floppy disk and converts an old computer into a file server. This ultra small edition of Linux is capable of networking, file sharing and being a web server. 4) For desktop or home use, Linux is very cheap or free, Windows is expensive. F or server use, Linux is very cheap compared to Windows. Microsoft allows a singl e copy of Windows to be used on only one computer. Starting with Windows XP, the y use software to enforce this rule (activation). In contrast, once you have pur chased Linux, you can run it on any number of computers for no additional charge . 5) You have to log on to Linux with a userid and password. This is not true of Windows. Typically Windows 9x does not ask for a userid/password at boot time a nd, even if it does, this can be easily bypassed. In general, Windows NT, 2000 a nd XP do require a userid/password to log on. However Windows 2000 and XP can be configured with a default userid and password so they boot directly to the Wind ows desktop. Windows XP, 2000 and Linux all support different types of users. Wi ndows XP Home Edition supports Administrator class users that have full and tota l access to the system and restricted users that, among other restrictions, can' t install software. Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 support additional levels of users and there are groups of system privileges that can be assigned to a parti cular user. In Linux, the user with full and total access is called root, everyo ne else is a normal user. The options for Linux security privileges don't seem t o me to be as robust as in Windows 2000 and XP Pro, they are focused on files an d directories (can you read, update and execute files). Linux has a concept of a group of users that Windows does not, but again the privileges associated with a group are all file/directory related. 6) Linux has a reputation for fewer bugs than Windows 7) Windows must boot from a primary partition. Linux can boot from either a primary partition or a logical partition inside an extended partition. Windows must boot from the first hard disk. Linux can boot from any hard disk i n the computer. 8) Windows uses a hidden file for its swap file. Typically this file resides in the same partition as the OS (advanced users can opt to put the

file in another partition). Linux uses a dedicated partition for its swap file ( advanced users can opt to implement the swap file as a file in the same partitio n as the OS). 9) Windows uses FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and/or NTFS with NTFS almost a lways being the best choice. Linux also has a number of its own native file syst ems. The default file systeAll the file systems use directories and subdirectori es. Windows separates directories with a back slash, Linux uses a normal forward slash. Windows file names are not case sensitive. Linux file names are. For exa mple "abc" and "aBC" are different files in Linux, whereas in Windows it would r efer to the same file. Case sensitivity has been a problem for this very web pag e, the name of which is "Linux.vs.Windows.HTML". At times, people have tried to get to this page using "Linux.vs.windows.HTML" (all lower case) which resulted i n a Page Not Found error. Eventually, I created a new web page with the name in all lower case and this new page simply re-directs you to the real page, the one you are reading now (with a capital L and W). m for Linux used to be ext2, now it is typically ext3. 10) Windows and Linux use different concepts for their fil e hierarchy. Windows uses a volume-based file hierarchy, Linux uses a unified sc heme. Windows uses letters of the alphabet to represent different devices and di fferent hard disk partitions. Under Windows, you need to know what volume (C:, D :,...) a file resides on to select it, the file's physical location is part of i t's name. In Linux all directories are attached to the root directory, which is identified by a forward-slash, "/". For example, below are some second-level dir ectories: /bin/ ---- system binaries, user programs with normal user permissions /sbin --- executables that need root permission /data/ --- a user defined direc tory /dev/ ---- system device tree /etc/ ---- system configuration /home/ --- us ers' subdirectories /home/{username} akin to the Windows My Documents folder /tm p/ ---- system temporary files /usr/ ---- applications software /usr/bin - execu tables for programs with user permission /var/ ---- system variables /lib --- li braries needed for installed programs to run 11) Both support the concept of hid den files, which are files that, by default, are not shown to the user when list ing files in a directory. Linux implements this with a filename that starts with a period. Windows tracks this as a file attribute in the file metadata (along w ith things like the last update date). In both OSs the user can over-ride the de fault behavior and force the system to list hidden files. 12) Windows started wi th BAT files (a combination of OS commands and optionally its own language) and then progressed to Windows Scripting Host (WSH) which supports two languages, Ja vaScript and VB Script. Linux, like all Unix variants, provides multiple scripti ng languages, referred to as shell scripts. In general, the Linux scripting lang uages are older and cruder than WSH but much more powerful than BAT files. They tend to use special characters instead of English commands and don't support obj ects (this only matters to programmers). One scripting language that can run on both Linux and Windows is PHP. It always has to be installed under Windows, it m ay have to be installed under Linux. PHP is typically found running on Linux bas ed web servers in combination with Apache, but it is capable of running "client side" (on your computer). 13) Every computer printer ships with drivers for last last few versions of Windows (at the time it was manufactured). Running the pri nter on a very old or too new version of Windows may or may not work. Still, thi s a far better situation than with Linux which does not support as many printers as Windows. In an environment with many Linux users, shared network printers a tech support staff, this should not be an issue as you can limit yourself to wel l supported printers. Home users of Linux however, will no doubt suffer from the relatively poor support for printers. 14) Windows allows programs to store user information (files and settings) anywhere. This makes it impossibly hard to bac kup user data files and settings and to switch to a new computer. In contrast, L inux stores all user data in the home directory making it much easier to migrate from an old computer to a new one. If home directories are segregated in their own partition, you can even upgrade from one version of Linux to another without having to migrate user data and settings. 15) Answer Difference Between Linux and Windows 1) Linux is a open-source OS.People can cha nge code and add programs which will help to use your computer better. It's desi

gned as a reaction on the monopoly position of windows. you can't change any thi ng in windows. you can't even see which processes do what and build your onw ext ension. Linux wants the programmers to extend and redesign it's OS time after ti me, so it beats Windows or at least is as good as windows, but whit open-source, so you can see what happens and you can edit the OS 2) All the flavors of Windows come from Microsoft, the various distributions of Linux come from different companies (i.e LIndows , Lycoris, Red Hat, SuSe, Mandr ake, Knopping, Slackware). 3) Linux is customizable in a way that Windows is not. For example,NASlite is a version of Linux that runs off a single floppy disk and converts an old computer into a file server. This ultra small edition of Linux is capable of networking, file sharing and being a web server. 4) For desktop or home use, Linux is very cheap or free, Windows is expensive. F or server use, Linux is very cheap compared to Windows. Microsoft allows a singl e copy of Windows to be used on only one computer. Starting with Windows XP, the y use software to enforce this rule (activation). In contrast, once you have pur chased Linux, you can run it on any number of computers for no additional charge . 5) You have to log on to Linux with a userid and password. This is not true of Windows. Typically Windows 9x does not ask for a userid/password at boot time a nd, even if it does, this can be easily bypassed. In general, Windows NT, 2000 a nd XP do require a userid/password to log on. However Windows 2000 and XP can be configured with a default userid and password so they boot directly to the Wind ows desktop. Windows XP, 2000 and Linux all support different types of users. Wi ndows XP Home Edition supports Administrator class users that have full and tota l access to the system and restricted users that, among other restrictions, can' t install software. Windows XP Pro and Windows 2000 support additional levels of users and there are groups of system privileges that can be assigned to a parti cular user. In Linux, the user with full and total access is called root, everyo ne else is a normal user. The options for Linux security privileges don't seem t o me to be as robust as in Windows 2000 and XP Pro, they are focused on files an d directories (can you read, update and execute files). Linux has a concept of a group of users that Windows does not, but again the privileges associated with a group are all file/directory related. 6) Linux has a reputation for fewer bugs than Windows 7) Windows must boot from a primary partition. Linux can boot from either a primary partition or a logical partition inside an extended partition. Windows must boot from the first hard disk. Linux can boot from any hard disk i n the computer. 8) Windows uses a hidden file for its swap file. Typically this file resides in the same partition as the OS (advanced users can opt to put the file in another partition). Linux uses a dedicated partition for its swap file ( advanced users can opt to implement the swap file as a file in the same partitio n as the OS). 9) Windows uses FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 and/or NTFS with NTFS almost a lways being the best choice. Linux also has a number of its own native file syst ems. The default file systeAll the file systems use directories and subdirectori es. Windows separates directories with a back slash, Linux uses a normal forward slash. Windows file names are not case sensitive. Linux file names are. For exa mple "abc" and "aBC" are different files in Linux, whereas in Windows it would r efer to the same file. Case sensitivity has been a problem for this very web pag e, the name of which is "Linux.vs.Windows.HTML". At times, people have tried to get to this page using "Linux.vs.windows.HTML" (all lower case) which resulted i n a Page Not Found error. Eventually, I created a new web page with the name in all lower case and this new page simply re-directs you to the real page, the one you are reading now (with a capital L and W). m for Linux used to be ext2, now it is typically ext3. 10) Windows and Linux use different concepts for their fil e hierarchy. Windows uses a volume-based file hierarchy, Linux uses a unified sc heme. Windows uses letters of the alphabet to represent different devices and di fferent hard disk partitions. Under Windows, you need to know what volume (C:, D :,...) a file resides on to select it, the file's physical location is part of i t's name. In Linux all directories are attached to the root directory, which is identified by a forward-slash, "/". For example, below are some second-level dir ectories: /bin/ ---- system binaries, user programs with normal user permissions

/sbin --- executables that need root permission /data/ --- a user defined direc tory /dev/ ---- system device tree /etc/ ---- system configuration /home/ --- us ers' subdirectories /home/{username} akin to the Windows My Documents folder /tm p/ ---- system temporary files /usr/ ---- applications software /usr/bin - execu tables for programs with user permission /var/ ---- system variables /lib --- li braries needed for installed programs to run 11) Both support the concept of hid den files, which are files that, by default, are not shown to the user when list ing files in a directory. Linux implements this with a filename that starts with a period. Windows tracks this as a file attribute in the file metadata (along w ith things like the last update date). In both OSs the user can over-ride the de fault behavior and force the system to list hidden files. 12) Windows started wi th BAT files (a combination of OS commands and optionally its own language) and then progressed to Windows Scripting Host (WSH) which supports two languages, Ja vaScript and VB Script. Linux, like all Unix variants, provides multiple scripti ng languages, referred to as shell scripts. In general, the Linux scripting lang uages are older and cruder than WSH but much more powerful than BAT files. They tend to use special characters instead of English commands and don't support obj ects (this only matters to programmers). One scripting language that can run on both Linux and Windows is PHP. It always has to be installed under Windows, it m ay have to be installed under Linux. PHP is typically found running on Linux bas ed web servers in combination with Apache, but it is capable of running "client side" (on your computer). 13) Every computer printer ships with drivers for last last few versions of Windows (at the time it was manufactured). Running the pri nter on a very old or too new version of Windows may or may not work. Still, thi s a far better situation than with Linux which does not support as many printers as Windows. In an environment with many Linux users, shared network printers a tech support staff, this should not be an issue as you can limit yourself to wel l supported printers. Home users of Linux however, will no doubt suffer from the relatively poor support for printers. 14) Windows allows programs to store user information (files and settings) anywhere. This makes it impossibly hard to bac kup user data files and settings and to switch to a new computer. In contrast, L inux stores all user data in the home directory making it much easier to migrate from an old computer to a new one. If home directories are segregated in their own partition, you can even upgrade from one version of Linux to another without having to migrate user data and settings. Answer Linux is an open source operating system that, until fairly recently, was only u sed on servers. Now it is used on Mac OS X computers, and more people are starti ng to use it on computers that aren't servers. It is very secure, efficient, and flexible. Microsoft Windows is a closed-source operating system created by Bill Gates, sup reme ruler of the earth. It is gradually losing it's grip on the market because it is insecure, slow, and wasteful. Answer Linux is generally free software, while Windows is not. People generally prefer Windows due to it's 'ease' of use. I'd guess it's the most popular OS. As a resu lt it's more prone to security flaws, because hackers will focus on the most pop ular OS. Linux tends to be more secure if set up properly. However, a computer u ser without experience might be scared off by Linux. Some versions of Linux may require command line (like the C:\ prompt) usage. There are many types of Linux out there. A good starter is Ubuntu just to name one. Answer This question is really too broad. The answer could fill a book, and still not b e complete. This question is mostly asked because a "non-techie" wants to know i f he/she can replace one with the other. Either system works very well, and can do the almost same job. The difference is in how they do it, and how much you will pay for any additional software - rath er than if they can or can't do a particular job.

If you are looking for a complete replacement for Windows, there isn't one! Linu x can run many Windows programs right out of the box, but Microsoft won't share certain technical information that will allow ALL Windows programs to run smooth ly. If they did, you probably wouldn't want to pay for Windows when Linux is fre e for use. Conversely, Windows cannot run anything "out of the box" from Linux. There are W indows versions of many programs, though. Linux bundles almost everything you need (word processor, chat, etc) all in one package, but with Windows you must download, or buy each of them separately. I'd try them both, and decide for yourself what works best for your situation and b udget. I hope that's really the answer you wanted. MBA from Sikkim ManipalSmude.edu.in/2012_Admission_OpenedRanked No.1 for Dis tance MBA Learning. Recognized by DEC, UGC! ITIL Certification: Indiawww.iactglobal.in/itilcertificationAPMG Approved. 9 9% Exam Pass Rate! 18Free PDUs from PMI. Price Rs 6742 Download Google Chromewww.Google.com/ChromeThe fast new browser by Google Fa st and Free. Download Now! Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_differences_between_Windows_an d_Linux#ixzz20CzDQou2