The advantages and disadvantages...

Operating system: Linux is free software developed for people to use their computer freely. It is also the most popular of open resource software.

Advantages
One of Linux’ major advantages over other operating systems is the ability to stay running after a program crashes. According to Thoelen (2004), “Linux can crash also, but it is much harder to do. If an application crashes in Linux, it will usually not harm the kernel or other processes.” Having a stable OS means a lot to most people and it means even more to a company that can not take the time to reboot.Also, the Linux OS is one of the most secure OSs on the market. The Linux source code is in public domain, which makes for a rapid development and rapid debugging of a secure operating system. Last, but not least, the Linux OS runs on old hardware, thus one can often find a flavor of Linux to run on whatever old hardware is around the office. With the information above, one can deduce that Linux is a good operating system.

Disadvantages
Linux is not a perfect OS; one of the biggest downfalls to Linux is that the software vendors are not quick to port software over to Linux, if they port it at all. Therefore, Microsoft still has most of the software developed for Windows. More software vendors are starting to develop software for Linux, but it will take time for all vendors to start looking at multi-platform support. Another disadvantage to the Linux base operating systems is the usability. Most people have not used or even seen Linux; therefore, using an unknown operating system is difficult at first. Another downfall is the knowledge it takes to run Linux. Linux is a great OS, but it will take some time to understand how things in the OS are working. The last downfall is that not all new hardware works for Linux right off that bat. When new hardware is developed, it is normally designed to work with Windows and not Linux. In order to make new hardware work with Linux, developers needs to wait until the new hardware is available to the public before developers can design the software updates. With the information presented above, one can infer that the Linux operating system will have some disadvantages.
Comparison with Microsoft Windows
Linux and Windows are both OSs; therefore, they can be compared rather easily. According to ComputerHope.com (2008), “The majority of Linux variants are available for free or at a much lower price than Microsoft Windows.” Microsoft software has been climbing in price over the last few years and most, if not all, Linux software is free under the GPL license agreement. The good part about the software that is available to Linux is the free factor. Companies have a lot of money invested in software, so moving to open source software could be beneficial. A lot of companies have already jumped to Linux based servers in their organization.