Five reasons I'd rather run Windows 8 than Linux

Many of us use Linux every day. Thankfully, most of the people using Linux don't know they're using Linux.

My octogenarian parents, for example, have been using their TiVo DVRs for years, but have no idea that there's a variant of Linux running deep inside. The guy who installed my kitchen cabinets, who loves his Android phone but insists Facebook is hard to use has no idea he's using a variant of Linux....


Reason #1: As soon as you mention one distro, all the fanboys go insane claiming you've made the wrong choice.
You did it, didn't you? Just as soon as I mentioned Mint, a whole bunch of you started to foam at the mouth. Mint's not the distro-du-jour anymore. There's Bodhi. There's Xubuntu. There's the truly unfortunately named DouDou.

Read more at: Five reasons I'd rather run Windows 8 than Linux | ZDNet

 

[McRuff]

Here is some boot times for virtual box machines. I moved them last week from a Western Digital Black to a SSD.

	WD 2TB Black		SSD
Start win 8.11	38.81		21.07
Mint 16	26.52		13.31
Mint Debian	42.92		22.4
Win 2000	46.37		40.6

Mint Debian is a bit slower to boot, but there is a boot menu choice that lasts for a few seconds.

Mint feels a lot more responsive under virtual box. HD video playback is smooth under Mint. Very choppy and unwatchable under Win 8.11

 

[whs]

Can I assume that this is an internal SSD and not one attached externally ?

 

[McRuff]

Yes both of the hard drives are internal. The SSD is a Samsung 840 Evo 1 TB attached to a SATA3 port. The Western Digital is attached to SATA2.

The virtual box settings are not quite even though. All have 4 GB of RAM, but Mint uses only 2 processors and 128 MB of video RAM.

Win 8.11 has 4 processors and 256 MB of video RAM

 

[Superfly]

Here is some boot times for virtual box machines. I moved them last week from a Western Digital Black to a SSD.

	WD 2TB Black		SSD
Start win 8.11	38.81		21.07
Mint 16	26.52		13.31
Mint Debian	42.92		22.4
Win 2000	46.37		40.6

Mint Debian is a bit slower to boot, but there is a boot menu choice that lasts for a few seconds.

Mint feels a lot more responsive under virtual box. HD video playback is smooth under Mint. Very choppy and unwatchable under Win 8.11

Nice to have these benchmarks... thanx :thumb:

 

[Cr00zng]

These are the boot times of 8.1 from an external SSD on eSata. All numbers in Milliseconds as shown in Event Viewer - Event 100. Overall time is 32 seconds and then the breakdown.

BootTime 32188
MainPathBootTime 11288
BootKernelInitTime 16
BootDriverInitTime 265
BootDevicesInitTime 3956
BootSmssInitTime 1755
BootCriticalServicesInitTime 562
BootUserProfileProcessingTime 623
BootMachineProfileProcessingTime 219
BootExplorerInitTime 1482
BootNumStartupApps 2
BootPostBootTime 20900
OSLoaderDuration 772
BootPNPInitStartTimeMS 16
BootPNPInitDuration 4210
OtherKernelInitDuration 200
SystemPNPInitStartTimeMS 4397
SystemPNPInitDuration 199
SessionInitStartTimeMS 4610
Session0InitDuration 444
Session1InitDuration 72
SessionInitOtherDuration 1238
WinLogonStartTimeMS 6365
OtherLogonInitActivityDuration 2597
UserLogonWaitDuration 302

Enabled autologon, these are the boot times for the SSD on SATA 3 port; overall time is 24 seconds:

BootTime 25497
MainPathBootTime 7397
BootKernelInitTime 15
BootDriverInitTime 113
BootDevicesInitTime 3624
BootSmssInitTime 1337
BootCriticalServicesInitTime 95
BootUserProfileProcessingTime 105
BootMachineProfileProcessingTime 173
BootExplorerInitTime 817
BootNumStartupApps 4
BootPostBootTime 18100
OSLoaderDuration 397
BootPNPInitStartTimeMS 15
BootPNPInitDuration 3878
OtherKernelInitDuration 401
SystemPNPInitStartTimeMS 4274
SystemPNPInitDuration 78
SessionInitStartTimeMS 4358
Session0InitDuration 624
Session1InitDuration 68
SessionInitOtherDuration 644
WinLogonStartTimeMS 5695
OtherLogonInitActivityDuration 605
UserLogonWaitDuration 224

There's about 6-7 seconds difference in boot time, between SSD on eSATA and SATA 3 ports. Provided that the SSD is SATA 3, then maybe your system's external port is eSATA 2, instead of the eSATA 3. That would explain the boot time difference to me...

 

[whs]

Interesting. But I really don't know on which bus the eSata port is attached.

 

[CountMike]

Interesting. But I really don't know on which bus the eSata port is attached.

Check your manual, my MB has SATA3 ports, SATA2 and eSATA for both of them in addition to Marvel controller chip for the rest of I/Os.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

@ whs

Fanboi here. More on the thread subject. Concerning the 8.1 vs Mint boots in your video of post #132; I saw you post that video in another thread a while back; Is it fair to compare one with the other? They are totally different OSs with different kernels, features, and services.

I assume you have 8.1 configured to boot with non-passworded local account. Even with a local account, 8.1 during boot is synching with servers to get the Start Screen with tiles current so to get current data/information that Linux distros nor any other OS, including prior MS OSs, simply do not give, so therefore it will take longer to boot, no doubt. One gets even more info and services with MS account sign-in.

That is the beauty of 8.x. Some may think that they are "consumption" OSs, but in fact they are a business-orientated OSs. I’m quite sure some may wonder why many of us are pushing this issue and how we can claim that 8.xs are much more efficient and safer systems to use. Personally I wish I had this type of OS 25 years ago when booting up my PC at 5:00 a.m. to get a construction business day started. It would have been so much quicker getting the information I needed. I dare say overall it would have saved me at least 15 to 30 minutes a day. 15 to 30 minutes I could have been doing something else productive. http://www.eightforums.com/general-support/16379-real-quality-boot-time-8-verses-7-a.html#post164432

As seen in the thread referenced; what's more important and has priority so one can decide how to proceed.

Weather: Weather is a very important factor in a lot of businesses. Not only does a user get local weather, but also instantly get the (e.g. job site) weather that’s 50 miles away with tiles that a user can set to do so. Or various places (job sites) in the country or the world. Severe weather alerts also.

Email: From who and the subject matter at a glance. One may or may not open the app to answer straightway, later, or if at all. Want to separate business and social life? Folders continue in the app.

Calendar: Again, at a glance, what are the appointments for today? Set it in the “What’s next” mode and open the app for quick review.

Photos: Share pics and other items via Share in Charms Bar. A quick and easy method to do so. Share via public folder of OneDrive.

Map app: Set a place and when you get in the car use the phone to navigate to that place.

There are more apps in the Store geared for business. When MS gets finished writing Office in the Modern/Metro there will be more options. There is also side loading custom-tailored apps curtailed to a specific business.

Sideload Windows Store Apps in Windows 8

Sideload Windows Store Apps - Windows 8, Try, Test, Help | TechNet

Now with my Lumia WP8.1 (or other devices) it's even more efficient. Can this be accomplished with prior MS “desktop” OSs, Linux, Apple, Google, or others? Perhaps, but not like Modern/Metro Start Screen. Far ahead of the others IMO. I’ve posted this subject matter a couple of times before, but no one seems to want to answer to it. Subsequently it seems to me no one has grounds to reason against it.

 

[Cr00zng]

Interesting. But I really don't know on which bus the eSata port is attached.

Check your manual, my MB has SATA3 ports, SATA2 and eSATA for both of them in addition to Marvel controller chip for the rest of I/Os.

Most, if not all motherboards utilize Marvell 88SE9172 chip for the eSATA ports. The chip may even be utilized for additional internal SATA 3 port(s) on some of the motherboards. The maker of the motherboard will claim SATA 3, or SATA 6G device support for these ports. For all practical purposes this claim is true, since all SATA 3 devices backward compatible; however, it does not mean that the SATA 3 device will operate at its maximum transfer rate.

This chip uses a single PCIe lane, or PCIe x1, that has a maximum transfer rate of 5 Gbs, or 5G. Connecting a SATA 6G device to this port makes the device SATA 5G instantly.

The motherboard in my system does use Marvell chip for the eSATA 3, which is perfectly fine for an HDD and/or SATA 2 SSD, but not for SATA 3 SSD. Hence the reason why I've got StarTech removable HD enclosure, connected to an internal Intel SATA 3 port. Every little bit of performance counts...

 

[whs]

HG, I did not make this comparison video for a 'fair' comparison. It is just raw data.

I understand the resons why 8.1 has to be slower than Linux. And for those that want all those sync facilities, it may be a blessing. I for my part cut off all sync capabilities because I do not want a lot of my junk to end up on my phone or tablet. All I have to do then is to clean it up.

 

[CountMike]

Ah, weather app, i guess it's no MS's fault but those weathermen can't guess yesterdays weather. Btw. it,s only App I'm using.

 

[CountMike]

HG, I did not make this comparison video for a 'fair' comparison. It is just raw data.

I understand the resons why 8.1 has to be slower than Linux. And for those that want all those sync facilities, it may be a blessing. I for my part cut off all sync capabilities because I do not want a lot of my junk to end up on my phone or tablet. All I have to do then is to clean it up.

Fair or not, that's not important at all, few seconds here and there doesn't do much. Heck my phone takes 2 minutes to be usable, Win8 is usable in 10 seconds from pushing Go button and I rarely turn my PC off.

 

[whs]

I agree, a few seconds here or there really make no difference. But the W8P annoys me a bit. That is really slow to boot. But what can you expect for $69, LOL.

 

[CountMike]

I agree, a few seconds here or there really make no difference. But the W8P annoys me a bit. That is really slow to boot. But what can you expect for $69, LOL.

A bit more than from a free one ?

 

[HippsieGypsie]

My Nokia Lumia 1520 boots in 28 seconds with tiles synched.

The point is what it's booting to. I get usable personal data.

 

[CountMike]

My Nokia Lumia 1520 boots in 28 seconds with tiles synched.

The point is what it's booting to. I get usable personal data.

I just want to make a darn call. Samsung Galyxy Y, just takes it's own sveet time.

 

[whs]

There are 2 display pictures during boot. One is Microsoft and one is T-Mobile which takes quite some time. I wonder how or whether I can get rid of this T-Mobile setup since I am not using T-Mobile.

 

[HippsieGypsie]

Mine has 3. AT&Bleed, Nokia, then Windows.

I don't think you can get rid of the T-Mobile. It's trying to set up service. You might want to look into jail breaking it.

 

[whs]

Nah, jail breaking is too risky. And then, what is a good and reliable ROM.

 

[desbest]

As a music producer I have to use Windows as most of the vst software isn't compatible with Linux (or even mac). Also FL Studio and Propellerhead Reason doesn't support Linux.

Also I used OpenOffice in 2008-2010 and there were compatibility issues when opening Microsoft Word files so I found it to be unusable. I did report the bugs in rendering though so I hope it's fixed and generally improved now.

Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop won't run on Linux. I wonder if it works well with Wine.

Linux used to not look nice but since GNOME 3 got released now Linux looks good.