FIVE REASONS TO TRY UBUNTU LINUX OPERATING SYSTEM

Okay, I'm a Linux guy maybe you already know that and I'm going to come down in favor of Ubuntu 13.04.  But, I actually like Windows 8 as well. Which lead me to the question, why do I still prefer Linux? 

1.         Security

Windows 8 is no more secure than Windows has ever been. Is it better than Windows 7? Sure. Does it run a ton of popular applications? You bet it. But is Windows 8 still prone to an endless array of malware programs and stuck being with a pre-activated model? Yes, it is. 

Meanwhile I'm able to keep a Windows PC safe. I run my own Windows PCs and servers and also help some friends. While I'm good at computers, I'm sure anyone who's reasonably smart can manage it as well. But I'm lazy: I don't want to always be keeping my eye on Windows threats; I don't want to worry about being hacked while trying to shop online; and I don't want to be careful about avoiding clicking on a crooked link in yet another malicious e-mail letter. 

With Linux, I can be lazy and safe. 

2.         Cheap

I might sometimes be cheap. I use older computers until they fall apart. I have the recently release Ubuntu 13.04 working great on a 1.8GHz Dual Core LG E510 laptop with 2GB of RAM - a machine I got back in 2008. 

But forget about the hardware: let's talk upgrade prices. You can get Windows 8 a bit cheap, for example, Windows 8 Pro goes for N6,000 as an upgrade, but you can do a clean install for N18,000. Or maybe with some tethering by a Windows freak, you can get a "Crack Version" of Windows 8 install for you and you end up parting with a less amount of money. Compare that to Ubuntu, where the price is... uh... zero. 

3.         Easy Install/upgrade

This is how I upgraded Ubuntu: I downloaded and burned a DVD, booted up my Ubuntu system with it, and installed the new version. I was done. Total time was less than thirty minutes.

Beside I didn’t have to bother about going online to buy a product key or pay a certain amount for a ‘cracked version’ as it is the case in Windows 8. I only connect online and downloaded the necessary apps and plug-ins – all free of charge. Besides, I did not have to spend money securing an antivirus to install before going online as it should be when using Windows O/S.

4.         Hardware compatibility

There is a persistent delusion that Linux only supports a limited set of peripherals. Wrong. Ubuntu Linux supports pretty much every piece of hardware out there. Yes, there are some items, especially graphic cards and chipsets, for which you may have to download the driver to get the most out of your graphics. 

5.         Applications

Conventional wisdom is that Windows has the software advantage because it has more polished applications than Linux does. And it does. But how many of those do you actually use? Sure, if nothing but Adobe Photoshop will do, then you're not going to want to run Linux. Of course, my question to you then is why aren't you running Snow Leopard on a Mac but that's neither here nor there. 

But, with the exception of games, I don't see any reason to favor Windows. Ubuntu Linux comes with a free office suite, OpenOffice. If you want an office suite for Windows 8, you're going to be paying extra for it. Want an e-mail program? Outlook Express doesn't come with Windows anymore. Ubuntu has Thunderbird, the best e-mail client on the planet as far as I'm concerned. Need to back up your system? Both can do that, but only Ubuntu has its own online back-up service, Ubuntu One, with 5GB of storage. 

Want a program that doesn't come with the operating system? Easy. use the Ubuntu Software Center, Ubuntu's new one stop application "store." I put store in quotes because it's all free. With Windows, you know the drill. Go to your Windows 8 App Store, poke around what's available: games songs apps etc, etc. Just be sure to have your credit card ready since a good deal of Windows software isn't open source or free. 

 

Meanwhile, I don't really expect to convince any Windows fans out there to switch. What I do hope for though is to give you some food for thought. Give Ubuntu a try; there are many easy ways to try Linux without changing anything on your Windows PC. You may just fine that Ubuntu or another desktop Linux distribution will do everything you want to do on a computer with a lot less trouble and money.

  

Follow this link to download a version of Ubuntu Linux: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current

TOP TEN: WINDOWS 8 ENTERPRISE FEATURES

See how Windows 8 meets the needs of large organizations

A lot has been made and said about how Windows 8, with its new touch interface, is oriented more toward consumers than toward businesses. I think it's clear that Microsoft's primary push behind Windows 8 has been toward the consumer, but that doesn't mean Window 8 features for enterprises are any less compelling. Here are the top 10 Windows 8 features for large organizations.

10. Windows 8 Enterprise Edition—Windows 8 Enterprise is the edition that's focused on the needs of larger organizations. All the features listed in this column are available in Windows 8 Enterprise. If you're interested in a more complete breakdown of the features in the different Windows 8 editions, check out this excellent article "Windows 8 Secrets, Beyond the Book: Guide to Product Editions."

 9. DirectAccess—First introduced in Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7, DirectAccess lets remote users access resources inside your corporate network without having to launch a separate VPN. DirectAccess makes it easier for users to connect to corporate networks and for IT departments to keep remote systems in compliance with the latest policies and software updates. In Windows 8,  DirectAccess can be deployed with an IPv4 infrastructure.

8. BranchCache—BranchCache, introduced with Windows 7, essentially lets branch office servers or local PCs cache files and other content from remote servers so subsequent file access can come faster from the local copy. The Windows 8 implementation of BranchCache streamlines the deployment process and optimizes bandwidth over WAN connections.

7. AppLocker—Another Windows 7 enterprise feature that made its way into Windows 8, AppLocker lets you specify which users or groups can run particular applications in your organization based on unique identities of files. When you use AppLocker, you create rules to allow or deny applications from running. Windows 8 AppLocker can restrict Windows 8 apps (formerly called Metro-style apps) and regular desktop applications.

6. RemoteFX—RemoteFX in Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 provides support for remote touch and USB devices. RemoteFX provides host-side rendering of graphics-intensive workloads and is important for supporting rich virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environments. Windows 8 RemoteFX multi-touch lets you run Windows 8 desktops in a VDI environment with complete support for the new touch-enabled UI.

5. Secure Boot—The Windows 8 Secure Boot feature prevents unsecured operating systems from loading during the start-up process. The Secure Boot feature takes advantage of the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) to store certificates that identify secure operating systems that can load during the boot process, preventing malware such as rootkits from loading when the system boots up.

4. BitLocker—BitLocker was introduced with Windows Vista, but it was restricted to the Enterprise edition and above. With Windows 8, BitLocker support is now in both the Windows 8 Professional and Enterprise editions. The new version can protect system drives and removable drives, as well as Cluster Shared Volumes and SAN storage. You can find more detailed information about the new Windows 8 BitLocker features in "BitLocker Changes in Windows 8."

3. Windows To Go—All new with Windows 8, the Windows To Go workspaces feature lets you create a bootable and fully manageable Windows 8 desktop on a USB drive. Windows To Go requires the Windows 8 Enterprise edition. When you boot a system with a Windows To Go USB drive, that system's internal hard disks are taken offline—any Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is not used, hibernate is disabled, and the Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE) is not available. You can enable BitLocker protection for a Windows To Go workspace. You can learn more about Windows To Go from the Microsoft TechNet article "Windows To Go: Feature Overview."

2. Scalability—Windows 8 supports maximum memory configurations that were formerly available only in the realm of servers. Windows 8 Core supports up to 128GB of RAM on the x64 platform. Windows 8 Professional and Windows 8 Enterprise both support up to 512GB on the x64 platform. The x86 versions of Windows 8 support a maximum of 4GB of RAM. Windows 8 supports a maximum of two physical CPUs, but the number of logical processors or cores varies based on the processor architecture. A maximum of 32 cores is supported in 32-bit versions of Windows 8, whereas up to 256 cores are supported in the 64-bit versions.

1. Client Hyper-V—Apart from the UI changes, the most significant enhancement in Windows 8 is its support for Client Hyper-V. The Windows 8 Professional and Enterprise editions provide the same hypervisor technology that's in Server 2012. Client Hyper-V requires a minimum of 4GB of RAM and support for Second Level Address Translation (SLAT). With Client Hyper-V, you can move VMs between Server 2012 and Windows 8 Hyper-V. Windows 8 Client Hyper-V is also laptop-friendly: Closing the lid to your laptop and putting it to sleep causes Client Hyper-V to save the state of all your running VMs. You can get more details about Client Hyper-V from the Microsoft TechNet article "Client Hyper-V."