by Mike Stanley

Created on: August 17, 2009

The age old question of Windows or Linux has sparked many debates among the tech savvy. More and more you see less technical users arguing over it as well. With the economy in decline, people began to think more closely about how much to spend on computers. But is Linux really a cheaper way to go?

The decision behind which OS you use is more about personal choice than anything. There are pros and cons to both OS, and functionally they will both do the same thing. The main difference is price, and ease of use. Linux is cheaper, but Windows tends to be easier to use, and more people are familiar with it. We will have a look at Linux first.

Linux has a main advantage of being cheaper, often times free. This is a big draw for a lot of people, however with Linux, drivers might not always be easy to find. The kernel, or the core of the Linux OS has a lot of built in support for many hardware nowadays, but some devices just aren't fully supported if at all. In some cases, getting some hardware to work with Linux might require the user to be technically adept in order to install the device driver. True GNU/Linux distributions often suffer from this more, as the focus of these Linux versions are to promote only 100% free software. Many proprietary hardware vendors refuse to allow the GNU/Linux developers access to their closed source code, and unless the code is open source, they are not supposed to be used in true GNU/Linux. Also, Linux is a different world than Windows, so even many advanced Windows users may find Linux to have a bit of a steep learning curve.That said though, Linux is not as bad as many believe it to be, and with some patience to learn it, Linux can provide a stable, cheap OS that is fully functional.

The main thing to keep in mind on deciding on Linux is that Windows programs do not install natively in Linux. Some Windows programs can be run through a program called Wine, but support is flakey and there is no guarantee they will run well or at all. So if you require a program that is only available on Windows, you may be limited by that. There are many alternatives to Windows software, and many are comparable in functionality. However, the individual's needs ultimately should decide if it is feasible to switch, keeping in mind that some Linux native software can interface with Windows native software, but often they don't or with limited function.

On the other side of the argument is Windows. The Windows operating system is well known throughout

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