I’m sure many people have heard the three names above. They represent three operating systems, probably the three most present in the media in the last three years. What is an operating system? Well, the operating system (I will spare you the textbook definition, useless for the common user) is that program which provides basic functionality and accessibility for your computer. In practice, it allows you to use the computer on a minimum level, foundation upon which you get access to other programs.

This definition has expanded in practice as today operating systems come with software packages which provide a set of computer programs for the most common activities: listening to music, watching movies, editing documents, working with emails and surfing the web. However, the fist question every computer user has had to ask when he/she got their first computer was: which operating system to choose? Back in the old days, Windows was the first accessible operating system for the IBM-PC compatible (aka the first desktop) computer, today there is heavy pressure from the open source market which is gaining momentum due to a very simple fact: Windows costs money while Linux is free! But the question remains: which is the best?

Unfortunately, I’m not here to answer but to puzzle you more. For this, let’s take a look at each of the three names and see some pro’s and cons.

Ubuntu (pro):

1. Simplicity & usability: Ubuntu is of the Linux family and arguably the most popular. It’s popularity comes from Ubuntu’s ease of use as its interface is much more intuitive that any Windows flavor, which makes Ubuntu perfect for any first-time computer user or any user who likes to keep things simple. Tell me if you’ve ever been puzzled trying to start a program in Windows: you go to “Start”, then to “Programs” and … well … you get a long list of names … but what do they do? There’s no cathegorization by default in Windows, while in Ubuntu you get a nice list like “Education”,”Internet”,”Office”, “Sound & Video”, “Graphics”, and so you will know quickly what to find.

2. Full package: while installing Ubuntu you don’t have to input almost anything and it takes about 25 minutes, but after those 25 minutes of installation passed, chances are you won’t need to install anything, ever again. Ubuntu comes with a full pack of applications: the best browsers (Opera & Firefox), a full Office pack (Open Office which works not only the the public standard of Open Document, but also with all types of Microsoft Office documents and you can also make PDF files), music & video players, full set of codecs, bit-torrent clients, email clients and a lot of eye candy. You don’t need to rummage around the internet for lightweight software that won’t mess with your private information. Also, Ubuntu has massive hardware support, so you won’t need drivers … with two exceptions (noted on the ‘con’ side)

3. Eye-candy: there’s no other operating system on the market today that offers so much eye-candy to the user than Ubuntu. With ‘compiz’ (that comes installed by default) you get literally hundreds (if not thousands) of effects to enhance your computer experience. Burning windows, folding windows, various types of 3d-desktops, sliding menus, exploding menus and so on … and the best is that even with full-effects, there’s little resource consumption against daily tasks (sure, if you’re a pro heavily compiling Java, it might hurt, but i’m talking about the non-professional user here). accolade: sure, MacOS X does look better overall, but still as sheer number of effects it doesn’t match Ubuntu.

4. Speed: too many tests have proven that Ubuntu is the fastest of the three. Boots up in less than a minute (from pressing the button until login), convers mp3′s faster, encodes/decodes movies faster. You name it, Ubuntu does it faster and with less resource consumption.

5. Tons of software, easy: if you need a piece of software, you don’t need to rummage around the Internet for it. Within Ubuntu you have a list of thousands of applications, from educational things to programming, ready to be install with at most two clicks of the mouse. No more searching and clicking “next” until your fingers bleed. The best thing, just like Ubuntu, they’re free!!

6. It’s free! Yes ladies and gentlemen, Ubuntu is free, as in you don’t have to input your credit card info anywhere, pay anything. That means you can get all the above and also use it legally, no questions asked.

7. Safe! Ubuntu is one of the safest operating systems for a few simple reasons. First, the common user with which you login usually can’t really damage the system. Secondly, there are almost no viruses that can get on Ubuntu. Thirdly, you get great private data encryption and a hard-arse firewall.

8. Updates without headaches: Ubuntu automatically updates all your software to make sure you keeping the pace, but also without asking for incessant restarts  (save for kernel updates and the CDEmu drive emulator, no other software requires a system restart, unlike Windows where restarting is the name of the daily game – a big usability thing).

Windows XP (pro)

1. DirectX and Gaming: many games made today require DirectX, especially the new ones with a lot of video effects and stuff. If you’re a gamer that just wants to play, XP is the way to go as under Ubuntu you would get a lot of headaches installing DirectX under emulation and under Vista your games would come to a crawl.

2. Little internet things: many internet related stuff unleash all features only on XP. You want Yahoo Messenger, full-features with Webcam, voice chat and IP Phone? Can’t go to Ubuntu, there you’ll need three separate programs and even those don’t offer all the options of the Yahoo network. Can’t go to Vista, you’ll be lucky if your IP Phone and webcam will work.

3. Decent performance: XP is much faster than Vista, but still slower than Ubuntu.

4. Some unique stuff: XP can run some stuff that Ubuntu can’t. Photoshop is one and an important one since while GIMP offers almost the same tools, Photoshop still has some aces which make it indispensable to imagery professionals.

Vista (pro)

* sorry, can’t say much positive about Vista except that it’s slightly safer than XP but that comes at a great price against usability*

Ubuntu (cons)

1. Gaming: there are few things that can be made to play right on Ubuntu. Counterstrike with Steam is a breeze to install and plays perfectly. However, Neverwinter Nights doesn’t play at all as well as many other games I like. Yeah, you can do some hacks but that means working with the command line, somthing no common user should be required to do.

2. Minor stuff: minor stuff that gets stressing after a while. The lastest Opera closes itself when used heavily, sometimes the wireless hangs, Eclipse doesn’t connect to FTP resources, that kind of stuff. Not many but if you’re in the position to use a couple of stuff with problems then you’ll learn new swear words for sure.

3. ATI drivers: if your video card is a newer model of ATI, there’s good chance you’ll have a headache going all-out 3D as support for ATI cards is hard to come by. Surely enough, nVidia works perfectly after agreeing to install the original nVidia drivers (no, you don’t even need to go on the nVidia site, the Ubuntu crew manages the Linux drivers for nVidia, so you need exactly two clicks to install – that’s just to agree that you’re installing software that’s not open source … but still free).

4. Too much stuff: offering too much has disadvantages as well, there may be moments when you’ll be puzzled over which program to choose. For example, when first getting to open a PDF in browser you’ll have to choose between 3 or 4 PDF plugins (yes, Adobe Reader is there) but which is the best? As a regular user you might find it more or less difficult to change that later. The same goes for video players, though the ever-popular VLC is there just as efficient as on Windows (if not more).

XP (cons)

1. Blue screen, restarts: XP is fragile and prone to errors.Almost anything has a chance of breaking it, sending you to the Blue Screen of Death. Almost anything you’ll install will require you to restart your computer. Damn annoying.

2. Reinstalls: Any XP user knows that eventually XP will clog down with daily use and require to be reinstalled. It’s not a ‘maybe’, it’s a certitude. Unless you’re a professional ready to get hands dirty, there’s no way to completely clean and make a nice working XP from a dirty slow one as digging in the registry and working with the restore tool from the CD in the command line is not something my dad would like (or know) to do. Sure, you can use some cleaning tools, but they bring their own problems (sometimes even viruses – finding the good ones is a real challenge). So you’ll have to reinstall and guess what that means …

3. Running around for software: Windows doesn’t come with much as the competition laws don’t allow for comercial software to be abusively placed without giving the competition a chance. Aside from this, I don’t know many people who actually used the buggy, slow and (frankly) retarded Internet Explore … or the privacy-violator MediaPlayer. But if you want Firefox or BSPlayer, you’ll have to get them off internet and install them. This goes for every other piece of software you need: Office (you want to pay $400 for Microsoft Office? no? then download OpenOffice … whoops … you have to know where from), Winamp, codecs, etc. Repeat this every time you need to reinstall XP to get the picture.

4. Unsafe: hacking into XP is child’s play, invading your computer via Internet Explorer even easier, hijacking Media Player not too hard. It’s not impossible to have a decently safe XP, but that comes at the cost of buying a good antivirus and fair firewall. More money down the drain …

5. Overpriced: for the $150 it costs, XP doesn’t offer much. I don’t really mind paying for software if it offers some benefits, but gaming aside XP offers more headaches and I can get those for free at my job.

Conclusion:

If you’re a daily home user and want a hassle-free operationg system that will allow you to do everything in a nutshell without having to call your IT-geek neighbour every other day, Ubuntu is the way to go. One install, you get everything and most likely you’ll never ever need to reinstall it. In terms or eye-candy and usability (also accessibility) for daily tasks, Ubuntu has no rival.

However, if you’re a professional in any field save for programming, you might want to think twice. Professional level applications for video, audio, 3D and image editing and composing exist only tentatively on Ubuntu. There are just a few and those few require tricky tweaking which you may or may not be willing to do.

So if you’re looking for pro-level applications (or you’re a hardcore gamer) without hassle or compromises, you need to look at Windows, but the main thing you may need to consider is whether you’d like to take the chance of installing stuff over and over again (since Windows tends to get clogged heavily) or the risk of having your private information exposed (though free encryption tools of great quality are available). Also, Windows is a choice for IT-geeks who know their way around and can tune and clean Windows every time.