Battle of the Operating Systems

Transcription

1 UNIVERSITY-COLLEGE LEUVEN LIMBURG ACADEMIC YEAR Battle of the Operating Systems Author: Matthias DESARD Number: R April 26, 2015

2 Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 A small comparison My experience Installing the operating system Customizing the operating system Installing updates Year of the Linux desktop Games Phones Conclusion 14 References 15 1

3 1 Introduction As much as the title may scream about the ongoing war of the operating systems, this thesis is really a shout-out to Linux/UNIX-based systems. In the world of servers they are already taking up a great portion of the operating systems. Linux is used by roughly 35.6% of all websites [1]. The Linux desktop marketshare lies a little lower at 1.5% [2]. This is due to the vast popularity of Windows, because of good marketing strategies they have over 91% of the desktop operating system marketshare. When people read this, they are almost instantly convinced that Windows is the superior operating system. I can assure that anyone with an unbiased opinion who reads through this thesis will start their fresh install of a Linux-based operating system. You will read about all aspects an operating system has to offer and why Linux does them better. 2

4 2 A small comparison Any paper on comparing things must have an pros and cons, this paper is no different. Linux Advantages Low cost: Almost all Linux based operating systems are free of charge and most software available is free because it falls under the GNU General Public License. This means no trial versions, no demos, no limitations. Performance: Linux provides high performance on a large range of computers and are very fast on older hardware that will not run another operating system. Supporting multiple users at the same time are also commonplace. Stability: The Linux kernel makes it possible for you to keep your system running for prolonged periods and can often run for months without needing to reboot and loss of performance. Security: Linux is not free of viruses, but there are very few and the firewall comes preloaded with all essential settings so that anti-virus software is obsolete. Choice: Perhaps the greatest advantage of all time is choice. Linux offers the users power over everything. A user can change just about anything about the operating system. Disadvantages Learning: In order to become familiar with most of the powertools available you will have to invest some time learning them. Software: Even though great software is available, some suites are limited to Windows. Windows Advantages Easy: Using Windows is very easy and most of it is very straightforward. Software: Because of its popularity there is much more software available. This is also applicable to games, although a great shift is happening (more at subsection Games). Hardware: The popularity also ensures a broader spectrum of hardware support and sometimes better hardware support. 3

5 Disadvantages Price: Windows 8.1 pricing ranges from $70 for students to $200 for the professional version. Windows Server 2012 costs $1215, Ubuntu Server is free. [3] Stability: Windows will prompt and force users to reboot when changes occur, whether it is systems updates or software installation. Software cost: Even though a lot of software is free, most popular suites will cost over $200. 4

6 2.1 My experience All these comparisons aside, some reality checks have to be made. For over 5 years I have used Ubuntu as my main operating system and while I must admit that in its early stages it was pretty bad compared to Windows, it now reigns supreme. Have some of my experiences to back that up Installing the operating system Installing an operating system seems to be a very essential step in choosing the system because we like to reinstall them so much for a clean and fast experience. Instead of upgrading each version of Windows from the last, I wiped my computer clean and installed it from scratch. The same strategy is used for Ubuntu and this is where my frustration about Windows begins. Windows 8 (and higher) force you to use a Microsoft account to create a user account (image 1). You can bypass this, but an inexperienced user will have trouble to do so. I like choice and I choose not to use a Microsoft account, thus I want to be able to avoid it alltoghether. Figure 1: Creating a new user on Windows 8.1 [4] Customizing the operating system What is the first thing everybody does when they boot up their freshly installed operating system? That is right, customize it! Windows offers a great deal of customization right out of the box: change wallpaper, change theme color (one or two colors can be chosen) and set a lockscreen wallpaper. The more advanced user will find his or her way into the smaller and more detailed settings: change title label color/shadow/... Just because these options are available, they do not make it easy to configure your Windows system to your liking. Again this is where Linux comes out best, a couple simple 5

7 commands give you access to a ton of different desktop environments and window managers. You can change everything, ranging from: removing window borders to changing entire icon themes. Unity Ubuntu comes preloaded with Unity, its default desktop manager. On the left is the task bar with some default applications and the different drives, on the top the status bar - which doubles as a menu bar - with the clock, connections and settings (image 2). Another handy tool that is preloaded in Unity is the ability to search the menus (e.g. image 3) for some option that might be hard to find when you have to check every single menu. While Unity can not be customized as much as the other desktop environments it is very beautiful and intuitive out of the box. [5] Figure 2: Unity desktop environment. 6

8 Figure 3: Unity application launcher, application detail and option searching. Gnome A very popular alternative for a lot of Linux users is Gnome. Gnome 2 used to be the most popular desktop environment once, but when Gnome 3 was released it had lost of a lot of its functionality. People found it to be too simple and stripped-down in terms of options and features. Today a lot of extensions are available to regain the features you would want and it offers a plethora of visual effects for the user (transitions,...). [6] 7

9 Figure 4: Gnomes fullscreen application launcher (similar to Windows, but more transparant and more functional). [7] Figure 5: Gnomes notifications, alerts and calendar. [7] 8

10 Figure 6: Some Gnome applications (notice the borderless windows and neatly integrated buttons). [7] KDE Plasma KDE, or K(DE - Desktop Environment), is based on the popular Qt-framework. Once Gnome and KDE were the two most used desktop environments, but it was always more complex. It offers a lot of configuration options and can be configured to your liking (at the cost of some complexity). KDE is a special case because it can actually be installed on Windows and Mac as well, which is nice. It comes with widgets as well (other DEs do not invest much into widgets) [8]. Image 7 shows the basic KDE Plasma 5 look, while image 8 displays that everything can be changed. You might want to go online and install a new theme from a file or just fully customize your own theme, the choice is yours. Figure 7: The basic KDE Plasma 5 look. [8] 9

11 Figure 8: A heavily themed KDE Plasma 4 theme to show the possibilities. [9] Others Unfortunately this is not a thesis on window managers and desktop environments, so I can not discuss every single one that exists out there. Here are some of the other DEs that are out there (keep in mind they are no less popular than the ones I discussed): Cinnamon: A fork of the Gnome shell which comes standard in Linux Mint. Xfce: A lightweight DE which focuses on performance and cleanliness. MATE: Another fork of the Gnome shell, which aims to keep the Gnome 2 modern. LXDE: For people who thought Xfce is not lightweight enough. Pantheon: The default DE of Elementary OS which resembles Mac OS X a lot and is very beautiful. Xmonad: A DE which uses a tiling window manager. This is fundamentally different from the others, as you can not move windows around with your mouse but you tile and split them using your keyboard Installing updates This is a very important part of any operating system as it keeps it stable, secure and fast. As an end user you would like to see updates as fast as possible. Windows has been known to force the user to reboot the computer when updates are being installed. This varies from rebooting without the users knowledge to just continuously prompting the user to reboot (image 9). If you allow Windows to reboot your computer the fun begins, then the system performs the actual update (see image 10) and another time when it is starting up again. While in most cases this is not such a big issue, it can prove a real hassle when you are in a hurry or when you are actually working on your computer. 10

12 On my Ubuntu system the update cycle is a lot cleaner, once per day - if updates are available - the system prompts the user to optionally install these updates. There you can see what the system is actually updating and what the changes are going to be. When the update is going on you can just continue whatever you were doing and when they are done you just have to click the prompt away. See image 11 Right now when critical updates occur (kernel updates) the system will have to reboot to be able to use the changes. In that case the last prompt on image 11 will have a "Restart now" and "Restart later" button instead of "OK". In no way the user is forced to reboot as the system remains fully functional. This is changing however, from Linux 4.0 (the kernel), the user will be able to apply these critical kernel updates without rebooting [10]. This update has a huge impact on Linux servers as they now have to reboot and actually stop their services causing downtime for the websites it runs. The workaround is to have multiple servers to redirect traffic to, but that will be a thing of the past. Figure 9: Windows forcing shutdown on updates Figure 10: Windows interrupting the shutdown for updates. 11

13 Figure 11: The Ubuntu update cycle. 3 Year of the Linux desktop 3.1 Games The biggest drawback people have to choosing a Linux desktop is games, as most games run on Windows. This however changed in 2014 and will continue to do so. Valve - company behind the popular Steam gaming platform - decided to upgrade to Linux and make their own distribution called SteamOS [11]. Right now Steam offers over games to Linux users and while that might not look like a lot compared to the apps available in total it is growing steadily. The real comparison is when you look at the 100 most popular games on Steam. Of these 100 games, 58 run on Linux as well and that is the real number you should be looking at [12]. Because Steam is the most popular game distribution platform and Valve decides to back up Linux, this means a huge deal to Linux. Game developers are more motivated to also release their game to Linux to increase revenue. 3.2 Phones This year Ubuntu also released its first Ubuntu phone - the BQ Aquaris and it is hugely different than other smartphones. It offers the same cleanliness, intuition and efficiency available on Ubuntu Desktop but all boiled down to the smartphone level. A neat feature is the convergence of the mobile. You can hook the mobile up to a keyboard, mouse and monitor to change the environment to a desktop and use a full-blown Ubuntu Desktop on the go [13]. Windows is also working on something similar with Windows 10 although smaller devices will not get the full desktop experience, unlike Ubuntu Phone (which runs the full Ubuntu OS). The looks of Ubuntu phone are shown in image

14 Figure 12: The Ubuntu phone [13]. 13

15 4 Conclusion Linux is not for everybody. Video and photo editors will want to use the Adobe software suite or any other that is locked to Windows. Keep in mind that this software also runs on Linux, through the PlayOnLinux application you can install virtually any Windows software natively on Linux. The drawback is that it runs on an extra layer of software, reducing the performance a little. I may have skipped some essential elements of Linux such as command-line, application managers and so on, but I intend to convince the regular desktop user to make the switch. Anyone wanting to switch to Linux will have to choose a distribution and my pick would be Ubuntu. It is easy to install, no hassle installing it alongside Windows and it works right out of the box. Anyone who just browses the internet, uses an office suite, prints stuff, develops applications,... will have a better experience using Ubuntu over Windows. Anyone who encounters issues will find that there is a vast community backing Ubuntu and fixes are straightforward and easy to apply. 14

16 References [1] W3Techs. Usage statistics and market share of Linux for websites. Apr URL: com/technologies/details/os-linux/all/all. [2] Netmarketshare. Desktop Operating System Market Share. Mar URL: com/operating-system-market-share.aspx. [3] Microsoft. Windows on the store. Apr URL: Action=DisplayProductSearchResultsPage&Locale=en_US&SiteID=msusa&keywords=windows& sortby=score\%20descending&filters=. [4] Zvonko Tesic. How to install Windows 8.1 without Microsoft account. June URL: http : / / preview- how- to- install- without- microsoftaccount-skip-microsoft-account/. [5] Canonical. Unity. Apr URL: [6] The GNOME Project. Gnome 3. Apr URL: [7] Matthias Clasen. GNOME 3.16 sightings. Apr URL: [8] Matthias Ettrich. KDE Plasma 5. Apr URL: [9] Razvan. KDE Plasma 4 + QTCurve. Apr URL: maniaarch-gnu-linux-kde-4-13-qtcurve/. [10] Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols. No reboot patching comes to Linux 4.0. Mar URL: zdnet.com/article/no-reboot-patching-comes-to-linux-4-0/. [11] Valve. Steam OS. Apr URL: [12] Valve. SteamOS products. Apr URL: [13] Canonical. Ubuntu Phone. Apr URL: 15