Difference between Linux and Windows

Operating System
Linux vs. Windows has always been one of the most frequently asked
questions related to the operating system. Users often get confused about
which one is better for them. There is diversity between the users as most
users prefer the graphical user interface (GUI) and most command-line
interface (CLI). There are many disagreements and acrimonious behavior
among users, and it seems that it will be forever.

In this section, we will discuss the differences between Linux and Windows
by considering several parameters such as performance, usability,
security, ease of use, and more to clear a picture of using both
operating systems. Further, we will see the advantages of Linux over other
operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS. This will help you to decide
which one is better for you.

To understand the difference between Linux and Windows, let's see a brief
introduction to both operating systems. Later we will talk on their features
and security options.

Windows Operating System

Windows is a graphical operating system developed and marketed
by Microsoft. It is also referred to as Microsoft Windows. Several versions of
Windows have been introduced in the market; the current version
is Windows 10. The first version of Windows was introduced on November
20, 1985, as a graphical operating system for MS-DOS.

Microsoft Windows is a family of various operating systems. It comes with

two versions, i.e., 64 bit and 32 bit. It facilitates both client and server
versions. The latest client version is Windows 10, and the server version is
Windows server 2019.

Windows is a straight forward and simple to use. Generally, it is designed

for users having no programming knowledge. So, mostly it is used for
business and alternative industrial purposes.

o Windows is a collection of many proprietary graphical OS families

marketed and developed by Microsoft.
o All families cater to a specific computing industry sector. For instance,
Windows IoT for embedded systems, Windows Server for servers, and
Windows NT for consumers.
o Vanished Windows families include Windows Phone, Windows Mobile,
and Windows 9X.
o Windows is the most famous desktop OS in the world, along with 75%
market share as of April 2022, according to StatCounter.
o Although, windows is not the most utilized operating system if
including both desktop and mobile operating systems due to the
message growth of Android.

The most recent release of Windows is Windows 11 for consumer tablets and
PCs, Windows Server 2022 for servers, and Windows 11 Enterprise for
corporations as of September 2022.

Generations of Microsoft Windows

By marketing role

Microsoft has registered many trademarks, all of which represent the

Windows operating system families that target a particular computing
industry sector. The below Windows families were being developed as of
2014:
 o Windows NT: Initiated as an OS family with Windows NT 3.1 and OS
for workstations and server computers. Now, it is composed of three
OS subfamilies that are published almost at a similar time and share a
similar kernel:
o Windows: The OS for tablets and mainstream personal
computers. The latest release is Windows 11. The primary
competitor for this family is macOS, developed by Apple for
personal computers and Android and iPadOS for tablets.
o Windows Server: The OS for server computers. The latest
release is Windows Server 2022. The primary competitor for this
family is Linux.
o Windows PE: It is a lightweight release of its Windows sibling,
which means to implement as a live OS, used to install Windows
over bare-metal computers, troubleshooting, and recovery
purposes. The latest release is Windows PE 10.
o Windows IoT: Microsoft initially developed Windows CE as a basic
operating system for all devices that were very resource-limited to be
known as full-fledged computers. Although Windows CE was retitled
Windows Embedded Compact and folded upon the Windows Compact
trademark, which was composed of Windows Embedded Automotive,
Windows Embedded Handheld, Windows Embedded Standard,
Windows Embedded Professional, and Windows Embedded Industry.

Windows OS Features
Several features of Windows OS are listed and explained below:

o Start Menu: As its name implies, it is the part in which the user
initiates his actions after switching on the system. The start menu
includes a list of every application, recently used application, and
pinned application. We can search several applications and files with
the help of the search bar.
Also, there is an option for switching the user and turning
 sleep/restart/off mode options. Basically, it is a place in which user can
start their work by selecting the place to initiate their task.
o File Explorer: We keep each of our documents in a single place and
separate them based on their need and usage in real life. Similarly, it is
implemented by the file explorer in Windows. It saves each of our files
in a single place based on the location that we give. Every location is
shown here with the pen drives and removable disks that we insert.
Also, we can manage several files and implement operations on them,
such as grouping, deleting, renaming, inserting files, creating
shortcuts, etc. It makes the search process easier with the search
function. Also, we can search for the recent files that we've used inside
file explorer.
o Control Panel: As its name implies, it configures and controls the
applications and resources on our computer. There are several
functions that can be implemented based on the user's requirements.
o Cortana: Cortana is an essential aspect of the Windows operating
system. It is an AI-operated voice assistant aspect that acts based on
our commands and supports us in performing actions like playing
music, opening a document, etc.
o Browser (Edge): Microsoft Edge is the default browser for the
Windows operating system. We can find information about anything
with the help of the browser.
o MS Paint: As its name implies, it's used for painting, like coloring,
paintings, creating drawings, etc. It is a blank canvas with several
shapes, pens, and inks. Now, an improved MS Paint version is available
called Paint-3D, which provides more integrated features.
o Task Manager: It is used to manage every running task currently. We
can also force stop operations that are running currently and get
information on which operations are active in the background. The
option, i.e., 'End Task', allows us to force stop the foreground and
background running applications. Also, we get information about the
usage of the memory, RAM, and CPU that are utilized by several
system resources.
Linux Operating System
Linux is an open-source operating system. As it is open-source, it is special
and different from other operating systems, which means that you can
customize it by editing source code. It provides programming as well as a
graphical user interface. Linux is built by Linux Torvalds because he
wanted to create a free operating system kernel that anyone can use.

Linux is a collection of operating systems that are based on Linux kernel.

The first version of Linux was released in the year 1991. The Linux system
is most commonly used for servers; however, it is available in desktop
versions as well.

Ubuntu, Devian, and Fedora are some popular Linux distributions. Also,
we have SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) and RedHat
Enterprise Linux for the commercial distribution of Linux. As it is open-
source, we can modify the source code and make variations in the operating
system.

Let's discuss some features and parameters to understand the difference

between both operating systems:

o File System

Windows uses different drives such as C, D, E, and more, having some

folders to store files.
But Linux uses a tree structure to store and organize files. Linux file
structure starts from the root directory, and it is considered as a start point
of the file system. It is represented by a forward slash (/). In
Linux, everything (Directories, devices, and files) is considered a file.

There are three types of files available in a Linux system.

o General files
o Directory files
o Device files

The general file system of Unix is as follows:

General files: General files or ordinary files are files that contain images,
text, or a program. These files are in ASCII text or Binary format. The General
files are the most common in any Linux system.

Directory files: Directory files are the depository for other files. A directory
can have a subdirectory file within it. For Windows, we can understand them
as folders.

Device files: Windows represents the external devices (Pendrives, hard

drives, and CD-ROM) as letters such as E: F: But, Linux represents devices as
files, such as the hard drive's partitions are represented as dev/sda1,
dev/sda2, and more (depends upon the number of partitions). All the device
files take place within the directory /dev.

o Naming Conventions for file

Linux files are case sensitive; therefore, we can have two files having the
same name; one in upper case and other in lower case. Comparatively, the
Windows files are not case sensitive; we cannot have two files with the same
name.

o Users

Windows supports four types of users:

o Administrator
o Standard
o Child
o Guest

Comparatively, Linux supports three types of users:

o Regular
o Administrative(root)
o Service

Regular User

In Linux, when we install ubuntu on our system, a regular account user is

created. By default, all our files are saved in the home directory (/home/). A
regular user cannot access the other user's directories.

Root User

Apart from the regular user account, a root user account is also created
during installation. The root account is also called as superuser as it can
access the restricted files, install the software and other utility, and has
administrative rights. For installing the software or editing the system files or
any other administrative task, we need the root access. For general tasks
such as creating files, playing games, browsing the internet, we don't need
the root access.

Service user

The Linux system is widely used as the server operating system. The
leading service providers such as Apache, Squid, email, and more have their
service accounts to increase security. Linux service user can allow or deny
access to various resources depending on the service type.
Note: The Ubuntu Desktop version does not have a service account, and the regular
accounts are called standard accounts.

o Home Directory

Linux OS has a separate home directory for a user. The files and directories
created by a user are stored under a particular home directory. A user
cannot store the files under any other user's directory, as it is not allowed to
access the other user's directory. For example, the home directory of a
user 'Alex' is automatically created as "/home/alex/" at the time of
installation.

The Windows OS also has different home directories for different users. It is
as "C:\ documents or \settings."

o Other Directories

Linux systems have a tree structure to save the directories; comparatively,

Windows uses different drives to save the directories. In Windows, system
and program files usually take place in C drive. But in Linux, the system and
program files take place in their specific directory such as software files
are stored in /bin, programs and device files are in /dev,and boot
files are stored in /boot directory.

o Kernel

The basic part of any operating system is its kernel. It interacts with
hardware devices and performs other functions such as process
management, file handling, and more. Different operating systems have
different kernels.

Linux and Windows have a different kernel. The Linux kernel is monolithic,
and it consumes more running space. Comparatively, Windows uses the
microkernel, which consumes less running spaces. But, Windows running
efficiency is less than Linux. The key difference between Linux kernel and
Windows kernel is that Windows is a commercial software while Linux
is open-source software.

o Pricing

Linux is an open-source operating system, so almost all the utilities and

libraries are entirely free. The GNU/Linux distribution can be simply
downloaded for free. However, some companies are providing paid support
for their Linux distributions, but the underlying software is still free.
Microsoft Windows licensed copy usually cost between $99.00 and
$199.00. Microsoft currently stops providing support for the earlier versions.
The latest version, Windows 10, is available at $139.

Linux vs. Windows

Let's focus some head to head comparison between Linux and Windows.

Parameter Linux Windows

Access Users can access the source Usually, users cannot access the
code of kernel in Linux and can source code. However, members of
alter the kernel according to some groups can have access to it.
need.

Variety Linux has several distributions Windows have fewer options to

that are highly customizable. customize.

Command- The command line usually Windows also have a command line,
line referred to as Terminal, which but it is not such effective as a
is the most useful tool of the comparison to the Linux terminal.
Linux system. It used for Most users prefer the GUI options for
administration and daily tasks. daily tasks.
For the end-users, it does not
look so effective.

Installatio The Linux installation process is Windows OS is easy to install and

n a bit complicated to set up as it set up on a machine; it requires
requires many user inputs. It fewer user input options during
takes less time than Windows installation. However, it takes more
to install. time to install as compared to Linux.

Ease of The Linux OS is meant to be for Windows comes with simple and rich
use the technical user because you GUI options, so it is easy to use it. It
must have some exposure to can be simply used by technical as
various Linux commands. Users well as non-technical users. The
may take more time to be a troubleshooting process is also
handy user of Linux. The much easy than Linux.
troubleshooting process is also
complicated as compared to
Windows.

Written in Linux is written in assembly Windows is written in C+

language and C. + and assembly language.
Reliability Linux is highly reliable and Windows is not as much reliable as
secure. It has well-established Linux. However, now Windows has
system security, process improved reliability but still has
management, and uptime. some security weaknesses and
system instabilities.

Support Linux has a Windows also provide good support

to its user. It provides free as well as
good support as it has a huge paid support. It has an easily
community of user forums and accessible online forum.
online search.

Update Linux provides full control to its Windows updates are annoying. The
users on updates. A user can updates will come at any time and
install the update whenever take too much time to install.
needed. Also, it takes less time Sometimes, you power on your
to install an update. machine, and updates are
automatically getting started.
Unfortunately, the user does not
have much control over updates.

Security Linux OS is more secure than Windows is less secure than Linux.
Windows. It is hard for the Attackers primarily target the
hackers and attackers to find a Windows for malware and virus.
loophole in it. So, Linux is hard Windows is most vulnerable without
to breakthrough. anti-virus.

License Linux is distributed under Windows is distributed under

the GPL(GNU General Public a Proprietary commercial
License) license. software license.