Linux is free and open source operating system whereas Windows is a commercial operating system whose source code is inaccessible.Key Differences Between Linux and Windows Operating System It uses hybrid kernel in older versions micro kernel is mostly used. Its default user interface is Windows shell (Graphical). Windows 10 (1709) is the latest release of Microsoft Windows operating system. It offers integrated caching, virtual memory, and preemptive scheduling. Windows is extensible, portable and assists multiple operating environments, symmetric multiprocessing and client-server computing. It is very simple and straightforward to use. It is designed for the individuals with the perspective of having no computer programming knowledge and for business and other commercial users. Windows is a licensed operating system in which source code is inaccessible. The default user interface of the given version is GNOME, Ubuntu Unity (in older versions).

Ubuntu 17.10 is the latest release of linux family operating system. To minimize the duplication of shared data among different processes the memory management system uses page sharing and copy-on-write. Disk storage is accessed through a page cache which is unified with the virtual memory systems. It also supports networked, device-oriented and virtual file systems. Interprocess communication is supported by both of mechanisms such as message queue, shared memory and semaphore.Īn abstract layer is used in Linux to govern the different file systems, but to users, the file system looks like a hierarchical directory tree. Linux protects processes and is a multiuser system. The traditional monolithic kernel is employed in Linux kernel for performance purpose, but its modular feature allows most drivers to dynamically loaded and unloaded at runtime. A Linux system also contains many separately developed elements, resulting in Unix system which is fully compatible and free from proprietary code. It provides programming interface as well as user interface compatible with Unix based systems and provides large variety applications. Linux is a free and open source operating system based on Unix standards.

Differences between operating systems