OSNews

But the distros do patch the kernel, and compile with different options. They also run background programs like yum-updatesd.

Indeed, these benchmarks at least where a bit more usefull compared to the earlier ones which really where stupid... If they continue to improve, their second next benchmarks might even be very interesting...

>They should compare time to boot, time to load each desktop, memory used on a default install, time to open applications,...<

for me personally i couldn't care less about most of that. I almost never reboot my computers and when i do i really don't care about the boot time..... if it takes 2 minutes....... so what.... it's not like i have to reboot every time i install something like you have to do in windows so often.

and ...... well....... the memory........... linux uses all your memory all the time.............. what does your memory do if you aren't using it?

i am a hell of a lot more concerned with with how fast an app r uns after the system has booted then i am with boot time. I would rather have a slow boot time and a secure fast user environment myself.

notice that almost every test had a different winner?

Browser open on click, gedit, a great editor, open on click, evince open on click and rhythembox need one second. OOo Writer or Calc also open on click.

compress, encod etc. are betetr benchmarks.

Here, on Athlon 3500+ with 1GB of ram, it's way longer to open Firefox or Gedit. Subjective feel of speed is more based on responsiveness, I don't really care if encoding an album will take 10 or 12 minutes because I'm going to switch to another task anyway.

My applications typically run for months (using software suspend). Why should I care about the startup time?

I wonder how many years it will take until the majority of users is freed from starting up their working environment again and again and again...

yeah, many windows users aren't really used to multi-tasking, as it doesn't work very well under windows. I experience that every day at work, having freezes and crashes - other ppl don't. They tell me 'you want too much too fast'. Well, if I want to search through several pdf's, I'm used to opening them at the same time - preferably in tabs in konqueror (select 10 files, richtmouseclick -> open in tab). Don't even think about it in windows.

And if it wasn't for the performance issues, the window management sucks as well. If you have a word file open (working on it, you know...) and are looking for another - you open an explorer window with some files. Open the first word doc. No, not the right one. close. What do I have on top? The first word window, instead of the explorer window which was supposed to be there! WTF???

And what about shortcuts? Often, alt-tab doesn't work - I can't get out of a word window to the next window. Why? Aaaah - a floating toolbar!!! Brings me right back to the window I was working on! WTF?!?!?

Sorry, but until Microsoft gets the basics working, I can't comfortably work in it, so I prefer to work at home - in a decent Desktop Environment (and no - in this regard, even though I prefer KDE - Gnome kicks windows ass as well - anytime...)

Agreed, after having had to use Windows(tm) all day, when I get home, I fire up this Linux box and chill out using KDE.

It is the same feeling you get coming home from work, slouching on the sofa wearing your favourite slippers.


Comfy !

Clearly you know what I mean. Windows users here most likely don't even understand what I'm talking about, used as they are to working around all the quirks in windows. Many don't try to properly use the scrollwheel anymore (like, for scrolling - in windows, it only works in the active application. Not over tabs, not over the taskbar, not over the volume icon, not in non-focused apps, and often not even in the focused app - esp in dialogs, you often have to click the scrollbar first. WTF does microsoft think the scrollwheel is made for???)

Don't even think about it in windows.

What's problem in doing that in Windows? I usually have upto 30-50 windows opened, switching is instant.

If you have a word file open (working on it, you know...) and are looking for another - you open an explorer window with some files. Open the first word doc. No, not the right one. close. What do I have on top? The first word window, instead of the explorer window which was supposed to be there! WTF???

I wasn't able to reproduce that. After closing the document, explorer window is on top.

And what about shortcuts?

They work.

Often, alt-tab doesn't work - I can't get out of a word window to the next window. Why? Aaaah - a floating toolbar!!! Brings me right back to the window I was working on! WTF?!?!?

I wasn't able to reproduce that. Floating toolbar doesn't prevent switching from Word window in my case.

well, all of it is pretty reproducable here at work. Office 2003, MS Windows XP Media Center edition.

and having 30 windows open is of course horrible on a single desktop, but yes, that can be done. What IS horrible is that it takes word several minutes to become usable after you selected and opened 5 files at the same time... let alone 10 or more. Same with Adobe acrobat.

And the lack of Focus stealing prevention is horrible as well. If you open 5 word files, and word is 'working' on that in the background, it's pretty annoying to read a website - every time it has finished loading a word file, word pops up on the foreground, even when you're typing in firefox or whatever. At least KDE has proper window management - as long as you're actually WORKING in a window, another window doesn't pop up in front. But when you start an app, it DOES. Hard to describe to a windows user, I guess, let me just say it DOESN'T ANNOY THE HELL OUT OF ME. Like windows does.

They aren't.
Fedora and Ubuntu use different kernel versions, and they have tweaked the stock kernel to fit their needs.
And, a lot of the software in the repos have distro-specific patches, which would change things some.
However, I still doubt there would be MAJOR differences. The one major difference I can think of in Ubuntu is Upstart, instead of sysVinit. They didnt test boot times, so that wouln't show up.

Fedora and Ubuntu use different kernel versions, and they have tweaked the stock kernel to fit their needs.

So it proves that 'tweaking' the kernel doesn't change anything and is more a geek stuff than real world optimizations.

people who use linux as something other than a server.