Throughout the course of this semester, we’ve studied many aspects of unix, linux, and ubuntu.  There are alot of defining aspects that one can easily see but we’ve never really defined the actual difference between linux and Windows.  It’s obvious to see that Ubuntu and Windows are completely different, but it seems like many of the main differences are hidden and skipped over completely.  One can clearly see that the entire GUI layout is different in a linux environment, but what if someone simply added a GUI layer onto Windows and added aliases for the commands? Would Linux and Windows then be the exact same thing? Obviously not.

Almost all Windows instances these days run the NTFS file system while some older systems still probably run FAT32.  Linux instances, on the other hand, usually run on a version of the EXT file system.  What exactly are the differences between the two?

Additionally, another obvious difference is the boot up and run speeds of the two operating systems.  Windows usually takes my laptop about a minute or two to boot up fully while linux requires only a couple seconds.  A simple explanation would be that Windows runs alot more services and programs on startup but I don’t think this is the only reason.  The difference is so dramatic that I think there must be some architectural difference that causes this.

A study of the mechanisms of actions between the two operating system would be a really stimulating subject.  Linux and Windows are so different that I feel they need to be placed in perspective and compared to truly understand the differences and how each accomplishes the same task.  In the end, both operating systems still get the job done and it may come down to personal preference.  Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each would really be helpful in certain situations.