What really separates Microsoft Windows, from Linux. I really would like to get some views on it like for X-Windows versus the Windows GUI's, HAL or the Hardware Abstraction Layer used by both Microsoft Windows and Linux. And the Windows Kernel verses the Linux Kernel.. What are the real differences and what really separates both operating systems.. I am referring to the past OSes, as well as for modern day ones of both Linux, Microsoft Windows, and the X-Windows system.. So I guess there are three parts.. I'm not looking for made up theory's I have enough of those my self I am hoping to find some actual facts about the real key differences between Linux and Microsoft Windows, But I want a more in depth look.. If you know what I mean.. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated and I will consider a theory if it makes practical sense. http://telechargerman.tripod.com/

Well ReactOS explains a lot of the mysteries behind windows, but ReactOS isn't anything close to what windows is yet, No built in internet browser, it has the blue screen of death, and really bad looking fonts, comic scans is nice compared to the ones in ReactOS the web fonts are just ugly. http://www.reactos.org/en/index.html http://telechargerman.tripod.com/

It sounds like you want us to do the research for your homework assignment.

The thing that really seperates windows from linux is the way the OS uses machine code. You have to understand that on an identical machine there are only so many commands to move data and work with data. The way linux moves data through the computer is different than they way windows would move the same data. By the way x windows is totally different than a gui for windows. X windows is a client server application. Client in this case is what we would figure to be the server. "Best Practices", Event viewer, host file, perfmon, antivirus, anti-spyware, Live CD's, backups, are in my top 10

Windows and Linux provide the same basic function as an Operating System, but they are very different starting with their developmental philosophy. The underlying philosophy behind the development of the Windows Operating System is that if you make everything a part of the OS (essentially one big thing), the result is better performance. The underlying philosophy behind the development of the Linux Operating System is based on the Unix philosophy that if you develop one small application to do one thing very well, then string your applications together to do bigger things, the result is greater stability. Windows can trace it's history back the the Disk Operating System (DOS), a Single-user Single-terminal OS originally developed before the advent of the Internet and based on Cheap and Dirty DOS which was a port of CP/M from the 8080 (an 8 bit CPU) to the 8088 (a 16 bit CPU). Linux can trace it's ancestry to UNIX, a multi-user Multi-terminal OS developed at Bell Labs in 1969 (also before the advent of the Internet). Things have changed for the better in the Windows world. Windows is no longer based on DOS (Win9x was a 16bit/32bit hybrid OS), but is now based on the Windows NT Operating System (a fully 32 bit OS) first released in 1993. For more information on Windows, see the Wikipedia article. The Linux kernel was written in 1991 by Linux Torvalds. The Linux OS (GNU/Linux) was developed on the Internet by the Free Software Foundation often referred to as the Open Source Community. For more information on Linux, see the Wikipedia article. HTH, Ernie Registered Linux User 247790

Well I just got Linux For Dummies yesterday.. And am studying it. Thank you all for the suggestions and info. I've been off researching things on my own. I have one new question though. "X windows is a client server application. Client in this case is what we would figure to be the server." In that case why does Linux need a server as it's GUI or to run it's GUI.. Seems everything requires X-Windows with Linux or can it run with out a server like Windows. http://telechargerman.tripod.com/

Unless I misunderstand (Jefro can correct me if I am wrong), X-Winsows acts as a client to your graphical hardware (and also the mouse, keyboard, sound card, etc.). Then your Desktop environment acts as a client to X-Windows (and X-Windows acts as a server to your Desktop Environment). Additionally, X-Windows is not required for everything. Linux with no X-Windows is a CLI driven OS. I can still watch video (and listen to audio) with mplayer (mplayer-gui is required for use with a GUI interface). I can surf the WEB with lynx, and send / receive email with pine. I can edit text using vi (vim) or emacs. Even though Windows does not specify them as such, any service running on a computer is acting as a server, and any software application that uses a service is acting as a client. The only thing that client and server denote is the role of the application in question, and its relationship to other applications with which it interacts. HTH, Ernie Registered Linux User 247790