Is Windows 7 the end of Linux?
One of the oldest rivalries in computer industry has always been between Linux and Windows; they have fought for decades and continue to fight too. Now the stakes are higher than ever before for Windows, as they are losing substantial market share to Linux and Mac.
After the release of Microsoft Vista, everything looked bad for Microsoft. Hardware companies like DELL, HP, and Lenovo started shipping netbooks with pre-installed Linux, customers were nervous to buy Vista because of hardware incompatibilities and inability of Vista to work on low-end computers were some of the problems Microsoft was facing. So Linux was a perfect replacement for Windows Vista, Linux could work in low end machines like netbooks, laptops and mobile devices, Linux was already using that momentum to jump over to desktop market.
Now after the announcement of Windows 7 at PDC last week and after seeing the screenshots and reviews, it looks like Windows 7 is going to be the end of Linux on low-end netbooks and laptops. Some of the very important reasons have to be, Windows 7 is working flawlessly with 512 MB RAM and low end processors, usability has been improved substantially and now it is leaner unlike Vista which is too hefty with too many unwanted features.
Linux has done very well because of its security and safety, but Windows 7 surely promises to be equal to Linux if not much better than Linux in this area. Most of the netbooks and laptops will start shipping with Windows 7 in 2009 and if we consider what Asus CEO Jerry Shen had said, it looks like they will be very aggressive in selling their netbooks with pre-installed Windows 7 rather than Linux. Other vendors would likely follow suit and do the same. ASUS Eee PC is selling like hot-cakes in the netbook market and the market for netbooks is going to be huge if not already. Windows 7 has been designed to run well on low-end netbooks and laptops. So it is no wonder that, it will end the reign of Linux on netbooks. I am pretty much sure Microsoft is going to sell Windows 7 at an affordable price to regain the lost market. So in my words, Linux is going to be hardly used or shipped in netbooks and laptops after the release of Windows 7. What do you think; would you buy a pre-installed Windows 7 computer or a Linux computer?
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Tags: asus, Linux, microsoft, netbooks, windows 7, windows7
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11 Responses to “Is Windows 7 the end of Linux?”
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I think I would rather run Linux on my eee pc. Even if windows could match the performance and boot times, I don’t want to worry about malware. My eee pc would just drag on and on if I had to run Norton or McAfee. All my Windows machines seem to reach a point after a few months where they just slow down (i’m guessing it is because of this) and I really like being able to squeeze every bit of performance out of it. Also I would rather have Linux for wardriving. Net stumbler is kinda cool, but I just have much better results with kismet and this is something that I use frequently.
Does Linux require reformatting? I’ve been using Windows since forever and you’re right. With 98 I had to reformat every quarter or half, XP was every half or every year, for Vista I just formatted and it has been an entire year and a half, which is a record
Linux never just gets slow for no reason (at least for me), but I do reformat for other reasons like to try out new distributions. By the way, that’s impressive that you have run Vista for that long without reinstalling. My sister uses Vista and it’s starting to slow down after about 8 months.
Ya. I run CCleaner and Spyware checkers a lot, and defragment quite a bit. Maybe it’s just that my computer is so fast compared to my last one that I didn’t notice the decrease in speed (I’m running a c2d 2.66GhZ) I’m thinking of giving Ubuntu a try, any suggestions? How’d you find out about w7c btw?
And I got my debian server running for over 3 years without formatting it. That means I have done major upgrades two times so Im using the latest state of the art OS. It is so refreshing coming from Windows where you have to re-install every other year.
Ubuntu is what I run currently. If you were thinking about playing around with it, you should make sure to try out the latest release, Intrepid Ibex. Installing software seems really weird at first (using a package manager) but it grew on me and now I never want to click a .exe/.msi again. It’s not for everyone, but I enjoy it. I found windows7center when I was looking for more information on the latest leaked beta of Windows 7. I was curious if 6933 was available. I saw the site and thought that it looked like a good source of information about Windows 7 and subscribed to the RSS feed. And by the way, to save some effort defraging, there is something called jkdefrag that is an open source defragmenting tool for windows and it can be run as a screensaver. I install it on all of my Windows computers and it really helps (and you never have to manually open defraging software). http://www.kessels.com/Jkdefrag/
Vista and Win7 auto defrag.
[...] Is Windows 7 the end of Linux? One of the oldest rivalries in computer industry has always been between Linux and Windows;… [...]
If you have to re-format any Windows machine since Windows 2000… you are doing something wrong (like running Limewire as admin), if you are getting Mal-ware on Vista/7 (or even bother running anti-virus software)… you are doing something wrong (UAC for the Win).
I personally would like to run Linux on everything, but the bottom line is that it is just not up the same level of support.
No .exe=no go
[...] Is Windows 7 the end of Linux? One of the oldest rivalries in computer industry has always been between Linux and Windows;… [...]
All you hear is windows 7 hype, its so great no viruses hhmmmmmmm.
Sure it is, Microsoft said, windows 7 just a cleaned up Vista.
Vista never got viruses, adware,spyware antivirus programs defragmenting and crashes from the above. If linux had all the games you say it was the best. The problem is, “not linux but microsoft,” If a maker of games went linux they would be told you will be out of the loop no windows no directX no profit period. I think in time it still can rock the PC world. It’s built on a solid foundation unlike windows. It has come a long way in the short time that its on the desktop the best is yet to come.