You guys are probably going through your mind with “Wow!, a Linux blog making a comparison? It’s probably biased!”. That is where you are wrong. I actually dual-boot windows and linux on the same machine. Not only does this give me the best of both worlds, it also gives me a great testing environment. But, lets through a little bit of fun. We’ll make this a point based system. So without further to talk about. “Let the Games Begin!”
1. The System:
HP Pavilion dv2615us
Intel Core 2 Duo 1.5GHz
2 GB RAM
160GB Hard Drive
A Pretty good testing environment. It is more like a “typical system”. Not that great, but not that slow or sluggish either. This system came with Vista pre-installed, but to remove any manufacturer Bias, I am going to start with a fresh install of Windows Vista SP1 (The Most Current Version) and Ubuntu Linux 8.10 (The Most Current Version). I have divided my hard drive into 2 partitions. 80GB Windows and 80GB Linux. Score: Windows:0 // Ubuntu:0
2. Installation
Knowing that installing ubuntu AFTER windows, will overwrite the Microsoft Boot Squence, we are going to install Windows first and then Ubuntu. Popped in the Windows Vista SP1 Disc and began the installation process. Steps were much better than windows XP. Took about 35 Minutes. That’s not that bad. Finished Installing and I put in the Ubuntu 8.10 disc. Loaded the Live CD, which lets me try out the system before installing, and then leads me to install the system with easy to follow steps. The installation took about 18 Minutes. Which is about 50% faster than Windows Vista. The points go to linux in this one for the Live CD capabilities AND faster Boot Time. Score: Windows:0 // Ubuntu:1
3. First Boot
Windows likes to go through all those introduction steps on first boot, but they go by pretty quickly. Then, you reach the desktop. Microsoft has given some great work towards their new Aero interface. It looks very elegant. On the other hand, Ubuntu does all the introduction steps on first boot, so it goes through a normal boot cycle first time around. Ubuntu look besides the wallpaper is basically the same. So for the Aesthetics, this category goes to MS Vista. Score Windows:1 // Ubuntu:1
