Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by robert f (noobusinglinux) on November 3, 2009 at 5:08pm

Linux is my favorite operating system. mainly because its community supported, its free , its very flexible meaning you can change everything its pretty secure (most Linux systems come standard with SE Linux you can find a description on wikipiedia: "any security software that is not made for the operating system it runs on is a fortress built on sand" ) when, you update the system for bugs all the software on the system gets updated rather than updating one program at a time, it doesn't use a slow and outdated file system that needs constant maintenance, programs that are more open source are allot less competitive so when someone comes out with a program or component it can be used by other developers so users and major companies get the most out of there programs i don't think that software should be sold as a product i think a any of software is knowledge that is free and should be given away ,but that doesn't mean that you cant charge for service to it if the user wants service and the user should always be able to chose not to have to pay for software, biz men are always charging a hilarious amount of money for things that they can see, touch or hear even if theres enough to go round,

but the best answer to your question can be found in this video on Google

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3498228245415745977&ei...
and theres a major company thats involved with developing Linux for commercial use its called red Hat who don't need to protect there softwares source code cause there biz is based mostly on subscriptions to red hat
this is there site try clicking the value of red hat
http://www.redhat.com/videos/

Permalink Reply by robert f (noobusinglinux) on November 3, 2009 at 7:22pm

also you can try out linux without event modifing you boot sequence
install linux ubuntu in windows as an application

http://wubi-installer.org/

Permalink Reply by Knightjp on November 3, 2009 at 7:26pm

Windows for life - as the username probably suggests, I'm guessing you haven't tried out other operating systems much.
Frankly, as good and as wide-spread Windows is, its not the best OS out there. When you hear about people talking about the amount of different OS's out there, they usually talking about Unix, Linux... in all its forms.

To understand Linux, you first need to know a bit about Unix. That statement might sound confusing, but you'll see it in the end.
Unix is an operating system that has been around for a long time... even longer than DOS. Like DOS it is a command line based OS. Although it is almost unheard of today, it is actually very stable and extremely reliable. This makes it perfect for Servers and server based applications. From its origins, Unix has always been an operating system with a highly customizable kernel; which means that people can take the basic OS and tweak it to suit their individual needs. As a result of this, many companies have done the same and made their own.... HP-UX, Solaris and even now.. Mac OS X. Although Unix is that way, it usually isn't free, nor completely open-sourced. The OS can be tweaked up to a point.
Linux is a basically a copy of Unix made by a computer student. What he did was copy the entire kernel (base), re-write the code and kept it open so that it is completely open-sourced. In other words, there is really no end to how much you can tweak the kernel to suit your needs. He placed it for free - download on the net. Because it is based on Unix, other programs that are Unix based are somewhat able to run on it.
What about the different types?
Essentially a basic operating system like Windows or mac isn't actually just the operating system. There are alot of programs that are installed long with it, chief of which will be the GUI (graphic user interface).
Linux and Unix as themselves are actually more like DOS. If you do install them and you do need a GUI, etc, you'll need to install and configure it yourself. It remains one major important reason, Linux isn't as popular as Windows is...
So to fix this problem, certain companies have compiled distributions of Linux with a built in GUI and other programs to make using Linux easy. These include Redhat, Ubuntu, etc,....
This by no means makes these versions less open-sourced than the normal Linux and while you may have to pay for some versions, it only means you are paying for the support and updates or upgrades. There are no licenses...
For someone looking for a free version that is easy to use... look no further than Ubuntu. It is the best version for a new user to linux and makes the transition a lot easier.

Hope this answers it.

Permalink Reply by windows for life on November 3, 2009 at 7:36pm

hey, great answer. thanks alot. its great help. so, basically its a whole new OS that you mainly build on your own terms? correct me if I'm wrong. now im guessing this all works through command prompt and commands you make, right? and, will ubantu help teach me how to use linux and hard ones like that?

Permalink Reply by Mikux on November 3, 2009 at 9:29pm

There are plenty of tutorials out there, but major releases such as Ubuntu have headed more towards a full blown GUI, and you could really get a running system without ever having to use terminal.

Permalink Reply by windows for life on November 3, 2009 at 9:45pm

ok. thanks for the info. any other comments from other people?