In this post we gonna tell you about basic difference between Microsoft windows and Linux operating system. Windows is a Commercial operating system whereas Linux is free and open source operating system.
Definition of Operating system:
Operating system is a software which act as a interface between user and computer hardware and it handles all the software applications in the computer. Using an operating system you can utilise the hardware components like CPU, memory, input and output devices like keyboard, mouse etc.

Microsoft Windows:
It is a Graphical User Interface operating system that’s been develop by Microsoft corporation. Therefore, Windows is a commercial operating system in which source code is inaccessible. Windows design is based upon user perspective without having the programming knowledge used by commercial users. The first version of windows i.e; windows 1.0 was introduced in the year 1985. The most recent version of windows is windows 10 which was introduced in the year 2015. In between first and new version there were other versions too like Windows 3.1, Windows 95, windows XP, windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8.

Linux:
You have heard about the term Linux OS just like Microsoft windows, Linux is also a operating system. But, Linux have dominated all the aspects of computing OS. Firstly, Linux is completely independent entity from Microsoft because Linux is an open source operating system where code can change and add.

Basic Difference between Microsoft windows and Linux.
Windows has the closed source nature and Linux has the open source nature. Open source implies that it is open for all and the code can be modified by any person. Whereas, in Windows it is not possible to modify because Microsoft engineers only have right to work a certain way with a user interface.
Windows and Linux have different theories for their file hierarchy. Windows uses a volume based document hierarchy while Linux uses a unified scheme.
Linux has a good reputation for handling bugs than windows. Windows should boot from a primary partition. Whereas, Linux can boot from a primary partition or a logical partition inside a protracted partition.
Windows separates directories using a back slash while Linux uses a normal forward slash. Window files are not case sensitive where Linux files are case sensitive.
Linux and windows support the concept of hidden flies. Like, in Linux each user may have a home directory and all of his flies can be saved under it, whereas in windows the user saves his flies anyplace in the drive this makes hard to have backup for his contents.
Windows is expensive although Linux is available for home or desktop use for server. Thus, Linux is inexpensive when compared to windows. Microsoft allows only one copy of windows for use on limited computers, but Linux can be used on numerous computers for free.
Linux has a high security when compared to windows.
Key differences:
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Open source | Paid |
Source code is accessible | Source code is inaccessible |
Free of cost | Expensive |
More secure | Not secure enough |
Live CD distribution | No live CD distribution |
Monolithic type kernel is used | Micro type kernel is used |
No drives in Linux | Windows has different drives like C: D: E |
By above all information now you know the actual difference between Windows and Linux. If we miss any important point just let us know by commenting below.

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