Hey everyone and welcome back to Upload the Download.
And today we're going to be doing a comparison video of Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 8.
We'll be comparing the two in 6 different areas: Installation, Interface, Optimisation,
Features, Programs and Support. So let's get started.
Installation! Let's look at the installation of Ubuntu 12.10.
Now as we can see it looks very clean, very graphical and easy to navigate. And near the
end of the installation it even takes into welcoming the user with some information on
what Ubuntu has to offer. One thing that is really important here though is that it allows
you to set up a dual-boot on your system if there's already another operating system installed.
A few things to keep note of: the first is that on older computers I've found that the
Ubuntu 12.10 installation disk doesn't always work. The second is that once Ubuntu has gone
through and installed, it only has to restart once. And last of all, you also have the option
of booting Ubuntu from the CD. Now for Windows 8. This is the Release Preview
installation, so it's not Retail, but the process is essentially identical between the
two. From this we can see that graphically it's not a particularly welcoming installation,
and it doesn't look too fancy. But it does get the job done. There are no options for
dual-booting in the Windows 8 installation, because Windows as per usual wants to own
the machine that it's going on. The Windows 8 installation disk does work however
on a lot of the older computers I've tried it on, unlike the Ubuntu disk. The other
thing to mention is that unlike Ubuntu, you can't boot Windows 8 from the disk alone.
You need to install it, to use it. Now onto the interface!
How does this interface work? Is it a good interface for use in a workplace? Or is it
a good interface for use at home? Ubuntu 12.10 is continuing on the path with Unity. Working
on having an interface that's geared up for the casual user; having large icons to show
your apps in the sidebar, but at the same time having the search tool in the "Unity
visor" I guess we'll call it, to give speedy access to programs, files, web searching - all
that stuff for professional users. However, the removal of the menu panes along
the top that all of us long-time Ubuntu fans were quite use to can be increasingly irritating.
If this interface was placed in a work environment, I feel that it would fare relatively well;
it bares quite some resemblance now to the Mac user interface, which is used quite relentlessly
in graphics design and video production industries. Windows 8 with it's tiles is definitely going
to create a stir in the education systems and workplaces that decide to upgrade to it.
Windows 8 can be incredibly nimble to use; it boasts more hotkeys, multi-tasking functionality
as well as increased speed compared to Windows 7, when installed on Solid-State Drives. However,
from my experiences providing tech-support at schools running Windows 7, if they upgrade
to Windows 8 they are going to be lost and clueless. Windows 8 expects you to remember
that certain controls are there, rather than actually showing you they exist. The chimes
menu, the multi-tasking menu, access to your apps by right-clicking, access to tabs in
Internet Explorer by right-clicking - all these things involve hidden controls that
require you to remember their existence. This I feel will most certainly cause issues among
teachers and students who don't have the experience of using computer systems in their entirety.
Optimisation! Both systems on newer hardware run really
well and very quickly! As we found in an earlier boot test of mine where Ubuntu 12.10 came
only slightly in the lead with a boot, plus login time of 24 seconds 49.
Where Windows 8 recieved a time of 26 seconds 26. These tests were done on a standard 7200.10
RPM hard drive. So both these operating systems are pretty
quick, and they seem to keep their speed even after you've installed a few programs and
files on them - which is definitely desirable. The minimum system requirements for Ubuntu
12.10, according to the Ubuntu website, is a 1 giga hertz processor, 1 gigabyte of RAM,
5 gigabytes of disk space, with 15 gigabytes recommended and basic video support.
For Windows 8, the minimum requirements according to Microsoft's website, is a 1 Giga Hertz
processor, 1 gigabye of RAM, 16 gigabytes of disk space and a Microsoft DirectX 9 Graphics
device with WDDM driver. Let's just look briefly at some of the key
features that both these systems come with. Now Ubuntu 12.10 has a very wide range of
supported hardware, when compared to Windows 8, this is quite evident. Whereas Windows
8 only supports two processor types, 32-bit and 84-bit or x86 and 64. Ubuntu 12.10 supports
x86, 64, ARM and PPC. They both have cloud storage, they both support multiple user accounts,
however, Ubuntu supports concurrent user accounts. Which means you can have multiple users logged
in at the same time. As for file system support it's going to be
quite obvious who wins here. Ubuntu 12.10 is backed by a very compatible penguin kernel
- meaning there's not many file systems it can't read.
However there are a few new formats that the Linux kernel hasn't quite got to grips with
yet, and that would be ExFAT and the new Windows 8 Server file system ReFs.
Ubuntu 12.10 has removed the Unity 2D interface as an option when logging in. Now of course
Ubuntu developers didn't cut support for the minimum requirement machines - they improved
3D Unity so that it essentially has Unity 2D built-in. In my experience though, some
older computer systems don't seem to recognise this mix, and they struggle to load the desktop.
It also causes various problems when trying to run Ubuntu 12.10 in a Virtual Environment
now. Unlike Ubuntu 12.04, you can't force a Unity 2D login.
On the Windows 8 scale of things, we see some dropped features because of hardware that
simply doesn't exist in older machines. Of course this kind of thing is the same for
Ubuntu if you're talking about things like multi-touch enabled controls. However quite
a few missing features are software-related. Windows XP Mode for backwards compatibility
is no longer supported in WIndows 8, and interestingly, Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro do not come with
DVD playback compatibility built-in. You have to download an app to do so. As for Windows
RT, there isn't support for DVD playback, at all. I'm sure in any case, installing VLC
media player on any operating system, should help to fix this issue - it just seems like
a lot of hassle to go through to watch your favourite flick.
Programs! Both Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 8 have their
own built-in applications stores. Where you can purchase programs and games as well as
download free software. These stores go about displaying their apps
in very different ways. Windows 8 takes up your entire screen, keeping things really
clean and tidy - similar to what you'd see on a tablet.
Ubuntu 12.10 however, does it in hierarchies and lists. Now the Windows Store with Windows
8 is definitely not a mess like the iOS 6 App Store. But the problem is that it just
doesn't seem to offer the same scope of apps that the Ubuntu Software Centre does.
You'll notice that Ubuntu doesn't market its Ubuntu Software Centre as a store, that's
because it's more geared up towards distributing open-source software. In this regard if you're
after free software for your computer the Windows Store is more like the Mac App Store,
which is aimed more at selling commercial software, rather than giving users access
to free programs. For this reason, I think that the Ubuntu Software Centre seems to be
more in favor of users than the Windows Store. However both Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.10 have
both expressed their commercial interests by adding shopping panes onto your desktop
and interface. It's really quite irritating that they're trying to constantly put advertisements
on our computer. Both these systems both have their own command-line
applications, though, Ubuntu's console has far more functionality than the Windows command
prompt does. Ubuntu definitely gets brownie points for having a full office suite on the
default install. It's no secret that in terms of office software Windows does have a very
large leap, but if you've just installed a fresh Windows installation, you wouldn't be
able to take advantage of having Microsoft Office unless you went out and bought it.
Unlike Windows 8, a Ubuntu 12.10 clean install comes with both graphics editing tools as
well as a full office suite. So for a clean install of an operating system, Ubuntu definitely
offers more here. Support.
Finally, what support do you have for these two systems?
Being that Ubuntu 12.10 is Open Source, you can expect a very communal source of support.
If you need help, have a technical problem ecetera. You're going to need to know how
to use forums, IRC and read documentation manuals. With Windows 8 on the other hand,
of course you still get the options of the forums and communal support that are online.
But you also, because you've paid for Windows 8, you have the option of calling up Microsoft
Support. As it goes, the best kind of support, for both these systems would have to be communal-based
tech forums. I would say that support-wise they're nearly even, but Microsoft offers
a little bit more in this department. So there we go, this has been my comparison
of Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 8. To summarise, these systems are aiming to
have interfaces that can be used by anyone, though Windows 8 may have to chose one and
stick with it, for it to work. Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 8 are both very nicely
optimised, nimble and quick, and offer a lot of hotkeys and shortcuts that shorten the
amount of time taken to navigate the system. Ubuntu 12.10 still has issues with NVIDIA
graphics cards, as well as connecting to NAS storage drives.
Windows 8 still relies quite heavily on a centralised registry system, which really
is a bad thing for flexibility. Also Windows 8 can't play DVD's by default.
So there we have it, Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 8, two systems prepared for a modern age.
Windows 8 may be, have been, $40 to upgrade, whereas Ubuntu 12.10 remains to be free, as
well as every upgrade after that. As much as I like the new direction these
systems are taking, I think I'll be staying back in the past with my lists and interfaces
designed for desktops, and not tablets. This has been Upload the Download, thanks
so much for watching. If you're interested in seeing more videos like this, as well as
boot tests, go check out my channel at youtube.com/uploadthedownload