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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Desktop Linux versus Windows XP shootout

George Ou in ZDNet Blogs:

Microsoft handily beat the open source platform. What's more surprising is that Windows XP and Office 2003 running in 96 MBs of RAM even managed to beat OpenSUSE and OpenOffice.org 2 running in 352 MBs of RAM! While I admit that load times aren't the only factor for judging performance, it is a significant one. Any software developer will tell you that load times don't just magically shrink; it takes careful design and plenty of hard work to optimize code to be responsive. There are those who have and will always criticize Microsoft for producing some of the world's biggest bloatware, but they clearly don't have the facts on their side. There may be plenty of things to criticize Microsoft for, but bloated software isn't one of them.

That's quite a statement. And just because the disjointed open source movement can't outperform Microsoft--big surprise, there--it doesn't mean that Microsoft doesn't make bloated software. Of course they do. Apple, by contrast, does not make bloated software, though I've certainly had my issues with iTunes on the PC.

Anyway, these Windows vs. Linux debates are academic. It's no surprise that the free alternative can't outperform software made by the world's most successful software company. It's like comparing a local Little League team to the New York Yankees.

[ Posted at 8:16 AM | Permalink ]