| CRITERIA |
WINDOWS |
LINUX |
FREEBSD |
| Reliability |
Windows NT is not very reliable. The blue screen of death is synonymous with NT usage. But Microsoft has been marginally successful in addressing the reliability problem with Win2k. |
Reliability is the main selling plank of Linux. Servers on Linux are known to stay up for years. |
If it can run Yahoo!, it is definable reliable. There are numerous testimonials of servers with uptimes measured in years. The disk I/O is now optimised with the new file system and this OS is ideal for running transaction-based applications like databases. |
Performance |
Windows NT is adequate for routine workstation-like applications, but it is unable to handle heavy network loads. But organisations like Dell are happy with NT, though even Microsoft uses FreeBSD for Hotmail |
Linux performs well for most applications and is excellent as a network server, though it has yet prove its reliability in mission critical application like FreeBSD has. |
FreeBSD is the system of choice for high performance network applications. The world's busiest ftp site ftp.cdrom.com, uses FreeBSD to serve more than 800 GB/day of downloads. FreeBSD is used by Yahoo!, Xoom.com and many other as their main server operationg system. |
Support |
Although support is available for Windows NT, you should be prepared to spend money. Because of the closed source nature of Windows NT, there is no informal, free support available, and bugs are fixed on Microsoft's schedule. |
Since Linux became a buzzworld many organisations have started offering professional support and there are many sites on the Net where Linux questions are ansered for free. Of course if you are good at coding you can tweak the source code directly |
Professional support for FreeBSD is largely free and Internet based. Many newsgroup and mailing lists offer informal support. Nowadays organisations such as www.freebsdmail.com offer wide range of support options |
Price |
Win2k Pro Rs 8,250
Win2k Server Rs 30,500 (for 5-uses licence) |
Linux distributions can be downloaded for free |
FreeBSD can be downloaded for free on the Net. Or order a CD for about Rs 199. |
| APPLICATION TYPE |
APPLICATION FOR WINDOWS |
APPLICATION FOR LINUX |
| MP3 Player |
Winamp, Musicmatch Jukebox |
XMMS, KJukeBox |
| Internet Browser |
MS Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, Mozilla |
Netscape Navigator, Konqueror, Lynx, Mozilla |
| E-mail Application |
Outlook Express, Eutora, Netscape Messanger |
Netscape Messanger, KMail |
| Word Processor |
Microsoft Word, Corel WordPerfect, StarWrite |
Corel WordPerfect, StarWrite, Kword |
| Spreadsheet Program |
Microsoft Excel, StarCalc |
StarCalc, GNumeric, K |
| Presentation Program |
Microsoft PowerPoint, StarImpress |
StarImpress |
| Rapid Application Development |
Visual Studio, Delphi |
GLADE |
| Image Editing |
Adobe Photoshop |
GIMP |
| Illustration, Vector Graphics |
Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw |
KIllustrator, Sketch |
| CD Recording |
Nero Burning Rom, Adaptec EasyCD |
X-CDRoast, Gnome Toaster |
| Instant Messaging |
ICQ, Yahoo Messanger, MSN Messanger |
EveryBuddy, Licq |
| FTP Client |
WS_FTP, CuteFTP, Bullet Proof FTP |
GFTP, NcFTP |
| IRC Clients |
MIRC, Visual IRC |
BitchX, X-Chat |
| Video CD Player |
Xing MPEG Player, Microsoft Media Player |
MPEGTV Player |