Ubuntu vs. Windows XP/Vista


The chart below will take a look at what you need on either OS to get things done.  I will admit the one area that Linux lacks in is 3D gaming.  Note that both Operating Systems do offer free automatic updates when connected to the internet.

Ubuntu Windows XP/Vista
Price Free Depends on Version:
  1. XP Home - $90
  2. XP Pro - $150
  3. Vista Basic - $150
  4. Vista Premium - $200
  5. Vista Business - $200
  6. Vista Ultimate - $380
Office Suite OpenOffice.org (installed)

You will need Office Professional to match OpenOffice.org features
  1. Purchase Microsoft Office
    • Office Basic - $170
    • Office Professional - $300
  2. Download OpenOffice.org
Text Editor w/syntax highlighting. Gedit (installed)
Kate (package manager)
  1. Download Notepad++
  2. Purchase TextPad
Hex Editing Hex Editor (package manager) Download Notepad++
Software Development gcc/g++ (installed)
mono C# (installed)
Pascal (package manager)
Java SDK (package manager)
Fortran (package manager)
Python (package manager)
gnat ADA (package manager)
Eclipse
Anjuta
  1. Purchase Visual Studio
  2. Download Lcc
  3. Download Java SDK
  4. Download Python
Windows has ZERO high level programming languages installed.
Web Browser Firefox (installed)
  1. Use Internet Explorer (less secure)
  2. Download Firefox (more secure)
PDF Reader Evince (installed)
Acrobat (package manager)
  1. Download Foxit Reader (excellent)
  2. Download Acrobat
PDF Creation cups-pdf (package manager)
Openoffice PDF creation integrated		 Download PDF Creator
HTML Editor Nvu (package manager)
Download Kompozer
Bluefish
  1. Download Nvu or Kompozer
  2. Purchase Frontpage
FTP Client CLI ftp
gFTP (package manager)
FileZilla(package manager)
  1. CLI ftp
  2. Download FileZilla
Email client Evolution (installed)
Thunderbird (package manager)
  1. Outlook Express (insecure)
  2. Download Thunderbird (more secure)
  3. Download Evolution for Windows
  4. Outlook with Office purchase
Compressed Archive Handling File Roller (installed)
Ark (package manager)

Both support .rar and .7z with package manager plugin
  1. Use lousy built in zip management
  2. Download 7-zip, EasyZip
  3. Purchase WinZip, WinRAR
Windows does not handle .tar.gz or other Unix style archives.
CD/DVD burning K3B (package manager)
GnomeBaker (package manager)
  1. Use built in (no DVD support)
  2. Download CDBurnrnerXP Pro
  3. Purchase Nero
  4. Purchase Roxio
MP3 Playback VLC (MP3 playback built in, including VBR MP3)
Audacious		 Windows Media Player (needs plugin for VBR MP3)
Music OrganizationRhythmbox
Amarok		Windows Media Player
MPEG II Playback VLC Windows Media Player (codec install required)
MPEG 4 Playback VLC Windows Media Player (codec install required)
DivX Playback VLC Download DivX Player
CD Ripping to MP3 Sound Juicer (LAME encoder installed from ugly plugin)
  1. Windows Media Player (no support for VBR ripping)
  2. Download LAME and Exact Audio Copy for VBR ripping
CD Ripping to Ogg or FLAC Sound Juicer (ogg and flac ripping supported) Not supported, third party software required
Ogg and FLAC Playback VLC
Audacious		 Not available, 3rd party software required
Quicktime Playback VLC (native support for .mov) Download Quicktime
iPod Management Rhythmbox
Amarok (package manager)		 Download iTunes
Encrypted DVD Playback VLC (after medibuntu codec install) Windows Media Player
DVD Authoring / Video Editing Kino (package manager)
DeVeDe (package manager)		 Windows Movie Maker
DVD Ripping  K9Copy (package manager) Download DVDShrink or DVDDecryptor
Image Editing The GIMP (installed)
  1. Purchase Photoshop
  2. Download The GIMP
Image Slide Show Eye of Gnome (installed) Preview
Firewall All ports are stealthed by default on Ubuntu, but you can get Firestarter firewall manager from package manager for more flexability
  1. Built in
  2. Zone Alarm
  3. Commodo
Bittorrent Support Bittorrent support is built in to Ubuntu, but Ktorrent (package manager) offers more features and control
  1. Download bittorrent
  2. Download utorrent
Personal Finance GnuCash (package manager) Purchase Quicken
Anti-Virus / Anti Spyware Not Needed.  CLAM AV can be installed to protect Windows users you e-mail. Download AVG, Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D and make sure they stay up to date.
Webserver Software Apache (package manager)
  1. Use Windows IIS 5  (only 5 concurrent users allowed)
  2. Purchase Windows Server for IIS 6 (big $$$$$$$)
  3. Download Apache for Windows
Instant Messaging Gaim (installed and does all the major IM clients)
Kopete (package manager)
  1. Download Gaim
  2. Download AIM
  3. Download YIM
  4. Download Trillian
Partition Editing/Sizing GParted (package manager)
LiveCD contains Gparted as well.
  1. Purchase Partition Magic
  2. Download GParted Live CD
  3. Use Ubuntu Live CD

As you can see Windows XP does not have too many features upon initial install.  You figure you just spent over $150 for your OS and you are expected to spend more just to make it useful!!!  What does Microsoft put in that 4 Gig install?  Your options are you can either go to the open source community and install their applications, or purchase expensive applications from Microsoft or other various developers.  Seems to me that Ubuntu can offer one all the functionality of Windows for FREE.  You can spend literally thousands of dollars to get something that Ubuntu and the open source community has for FREE.

Not at anytime did this comparison mention that you had to download untrusted software from unknown websites.  All of the software is either installed by the package manager or through trusted Ubuntu websites.  Security is number one priority for Ubuntu.  I don't understand how Windows can have so many security vulnerabilities out of the box.  You can make Windows more secure with numerous tweaks but why didn't Microsoft do that to begin with?  You paid them $150, right?  One would expect the free OS to be buggy and not secure, it seems the opposite to be true.

It looks like that a Windows user will need the open source community to get excellent software without having to send a lot of $$$$$$$$.
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