Difference Between Microsoft Windows and Linux
Microsoft has a number of operating systems such as Windows 1998, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7. So, Window is an operating system with a number of versions produced by Microsoft.
Linux is a Kernel which is a main component of many operating systems. We can define Linux as complete operating systems which are built with Linux Kernel which are known as Linux distributions. Some of them include Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian and SuSE. Linux was written originally in 1991 by Linus Torvalds.
Difference between Linux and Windows
Linux distributions source code is available freely. Any user can download it and customize it as per the needs. In this way new Linux derivatives can be created. As a rusult, thousands of Linux distributions have come to existance. This is one of the main differences between Linux and Windows.
Linux can be used freely as it provides flexibiliy. However, it is not so easy to use as Windows. So, in the past it was mostly used by advanced users and scientists. Windows, on the contrary, is used by general users and business users. Windows is user friendly. It has become more and more user friendly since its early verson came into existence. Both Linux and Windows have kept evolving. Now, Linux distributions have becomes also user friendly. Now, layman users may use Linux. Linux was dominated the netword infrastructure in the past. But now Windows has also entered the field to provide networking systems.
There is a significant difference between Windows and Linux regarding their kernels. That is why software written for Window cannot run in Linux and softwary written for Linux cannot run in Windows. For example MS Word do not support Linux. There may be softwares which can run in both. For example, Open Office Writer. It was because it has separate versions for the both operating systems.
Windows systems have to be purchased if one likes to use them. On the contrary Linux systems come free of cost. However, many Linux creator charge for their services, just as Red Hat.