The geeks on this list know why Linux is better than Windows. But here are three reasons why Linux is better for the non-geek. Reason #3 is the one that is both little talked about and very important.
- Stability
Non-geeks need stability as well as geeks. I've not tried XP, but I've heard that it is very stable. But at least until XP, stability is a reason non-geeks should use Linux.
- Full Hard Disk
I posted on this before. Most people don't know about this one because they never fill up their hard disks. When the hard disk gets full, Windows goes south in a very big way. With 200 megs left on a 4.5 partition, Windows becomes more unstable. With 150 megs left is becomes virtually unusable. Linux on the other had runs flawlessly until the point that you get error messages that the disk is full and can't be written to.
- Printing Multitasking
I'm really surprised that I haven't heard people talking about this one. Windows may multitask, but it sure doesn't like to. If I have a big print job in Windows, my computer effectively shuts down for all other purposes. If I give up trying to work while it is printing, I can barely play Solitaire waiting for the print job to end. So, I don't play. Linux multitasks flawlessly when I have a large print job running.
When I first noticed this difference two and a half years ago I didn't think much of it because I had a winprinter and a linux compatible printer both hooked up to a dual boot. Since the winprinter, by design, runs more off of the computer's cpu I figured that it was natural that it would drain off more computer resources so that I couldn't do anything else while the print job was on. But on my new Sunset Systems (Rod Roark built) dual boot, I've got the same printer for both Windows and Linux. And still I can't work in Windows when I'm printing, but I can in Linux.