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TIME
TO MOVE FROM WINDOWS TO LINUX? 
Why Micro$oft is bad for you!
Did you know that...
* Microsoft Windows is the most popular operating system in the world,
running
on 95% of all desktop computers.
* The popularity of Windows is not due to any virtues of the product
itself,
but to nefarious business practices, many of which have since been declared illegal
by US and European courts. These practices include preventing
legitimate
competitors from producing Windows-compatible products, and
incorporating features
that make it harder for users to switch to other operating systems
(resulting
in so-called 'lock-in').
* The very features that curtail free competition and underpin
Microsoft's
monopoly of the operating system market also make Windows a badly
flawed product.
In particular, Windows is riddled with
programming
flaws that make it prone to
crashing and vulnerable to viruses, Trojan Horses and other digital
pathogens.
* Over the years, Microsoft has deliberately added more and more
features into
Windows in such a way that no end user could easily remove them.
This has
led to unacceptable levels of complexity, in direct contradiction of
the most
basic tenet of computer security, which states that simpler systems
are more
secure.
* There is a growing
consensus within the computer security community that the
present 'software monoculture', in which a single, dominant operating
system runs
on almost all the world's desktops is inherently dangerous to society,
since it
means that our IT infrastructure could be disrupted by a single
blow. For this
reason, some governments
and businesses are trying to wean themselves from
their exclusive reliance on Microsoft.
* Many people are not even aware that alternative operating systems
exist. Some of these alternatives, such as Linux, are completely
free. They
are also more secure, less likely to crash, and virus-free. These
virtues
are all due to the crucial fact that Linux
is 'Open
Source', which means that
the underlying code is made available for anyone to examine, alter and
distribute
free of charge.
Click
here for an outline of the 'Smashing Windows' talk I gave at the
'Business Breakfast' slot at the Cheltenham
Science Festival on Friday 11 June
2004.
Click
here for a list of links to Open-Source websites: perfect for
the beginner who wants to switch from Micro$oft to Open Source!
Join the
penguin, and smash Windows!
This page was last updated: 19 June 2004.
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