{"id":4141,"date":"2013-06-10T15:13:23","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T13:13:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/?p=4141"},"modified":"2016-01-18T15:38:26","modified_gmt":"2016-01-18T13:38:26","slug":"linux-ubuntu-or-windows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/2013\/06\/linux-ubuntu-or-windows\/","title":{"rendered":"Linux Ubuntu or Windows?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

In this article we will look at a few of the common differences between Ubuntu and windows 8. Firstly with any software package before making decisions most people will look at what it would cost me as user to purchase it. With windows 8 you are looking at a retail price of R800 upwards, but of course as a student of Stellenbosch University, it can be purchased for a mere R180-00 from the Student IT Centre. However with Ubuntu, it\u2019s completely free!<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s have a look at how they differ at first glance, Ubuntu brings their Unity look to the platform whereas Windows 8 brings there new metro look to theirs.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu is also a fairly light weight operating system compared to Windows 8 which takes up 16 to 20 GB of hard drive space compared to Ubuntu\u2019s 4.5GB. \u00a0Below is a table of a list of relevant comparisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

Feature\/App<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Linux<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Windows<\/strong><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Cost to end-user<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Free<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

R800 and upwards<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Office application choices<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Libre & Open Office, Google docs, Office Web Apps, Soft maker Office<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Libre & Open Office, Google docs, Office 365 + Web Apps, Microsoft Office suite, Soft maker Office<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Space required for installation<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

OS size 4.5GB<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

OS size is 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Risk of software security threats<\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Almost non existent<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Various malicious software, High risk<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Email clients<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Thunderbird, Evolution, KMail, Opera Mail, Pegasus Mail, Claws Mail<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Thunderbird, Evolution, Opera Mail, Pegasus Mail, Claws Mail, Windows Live Mail, Office Outlook<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Web Browsers<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Google Chrome, Firefox\/Waterfox, Opera, Epiphany, Konqueror<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox\/Waterfox, Opera<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Music\/Video Players<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Rhythmbox, VLC, Songbird, Musique, Clementine, Boxee, Miro<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Windows Media Player, VLC, Winamp, Media Monkey, iTunes, Clementine, Zune Player, Foobar2000, RealPlayer, MPC, Gom Player<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Instant Messaging<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Pidgin, Empathy, Skype, Digsby<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Pidgin, Skype, Google Talk, MXit, Digsby, Yahoo Messenger<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Image Editors<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

GIMP, GimpShop, Inkscape, Picasa<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

GIMP, GimpShop, Inkscape, Picasa, Adobe Photoshop, Paint.net, Adobe Illustrator<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Cloud Storage<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Ubuntu One, Dropbox, Skydrive ( through SME)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Amazon Cloud drive, Google drive, Skydrive, Ubuntu One, Dropbox<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Games services<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Steam, Ubuntu Software market, tons of online stores including GOG, many games through WINE<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Steam, Origin, uPlay, online stores including GOG, Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft Store (Windows 8)<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"With regards to applications, the list is really endless as there are applications available for free or as paid options of software on Windows, so there are fully-featured versions of apps that do the same thing on Linux. Some of them are free, others are paid for.<\/p>\n

The beauty of both operating systems is that you\u2019re not that limited for choice \u2013 just a glance at the table shows that there\u2019s more choice for Windows users than ever before. And if you\u2019re more comfortable with the way Windows works, you can still save money in other areas \u2013 using Libre Office, Thunderbird and GIMP in place of their paid-for counterparts like Office, Outlook and Photoshop.<\/p>\n

Ubuntu and Windows 8 desktops<\/strong><\/p>\n

In terms of user interfaces, both are easy to get used to. I\u2019m not too fond of the way Ubuntu handles maximised applications but that\u2019s okay because you can install any interface you\u2019d prefer. Windows works more or less the same, but there are options, apps and skins to make it look and work the way you want it to.<\/p>\n

As far as driver support goes, though, you may struggle here and there with particular objects. Many peripherals and devices are natively supported in the Linux kernel but some require proprietary software to work properly, as in the case of graphics drivers from NVidia, AMD and Intel. All three do support Linux to some degree, although it\u2019s nothing like the support users enjoy on Windows.<\/p>\n

So to conclude its entirely up to you with which operating system you go with. This comparison guide should assist you in making that decision in deciding which one suits your requirements from what you looking for in an operating system.<\/p>\n

(ARTICLE BY RIYAAD PARKER, IT STUDENT CENTRE)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article we will look at a few of the common differences between Ubuntu and windows 8. Firstly with any software package before making decisions most people will look at what it would cost me as user to purchase it. With windows 8 you are looking at a retail price of R800 upwards, but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-26 17:38:08","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4141"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9373,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4141\/revisions\/9373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.sun.ac.za\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}