There are many advantages associated with using the open source operating system Linux OS.

Linux can be downloaded from the Internet completely for free. There no no fees to register the

software or any of its users. It has free updates, and readily available source codes in case you

want to change the functionality of the graphical user interface. The Linux kernel can cross

multiple platforms and is designed to never be rebooted. Because the Linux security model is

based on the Unix mode of security, the operating system is known to be secure and versatile.

There are also several disadvantages associated with using linux. The first is that there

are too many versions of linux in the marketplace. The existence of many version of the

operating systems causes confusion to many people, especially users who are not familiar with

Linux and its many different flavors. Furthermore, because Linux is based on a different kernel

then what most people are familiar with; it can sometimes be difficult for users to troubleshoot

faulty applications because of their unfamiliarity with the operating system. Lastly, Linux is not

compatible with many other operating systems because of the differences in kernels. What this

means is that it is difficult for certain users to communicate with other users and institutions who

may be using Mac OS or Microsoft Windows OS.

As Mention above, there are many different varieties of Linux. It is first important to understand

that the Linux system is based on the open source GNU tools, which provides a set of standard

ways that controls and use the system. Most distributions offer pre-compiled packages of most

common tools, such as RPM packages on RedHat and Debian packages on Debian. Some

common GNU softwares are: the Bash: The GNU shell, GCC: The GNU C Compiler, GDB: The

GNU Debugger.
Even though there are many advantages to using Linux, the operating is still not widely utilized.

The main reason because of this may be the fact that the operating systems appears to be difficult

to use and understand to most computer technology users. Also, because of the compatibility

issues with other computers using Microsoft Windows and Mac OS, many users steer away from

Linux.

The security model that is being used in Linux is based on the UNIX idea of security. Unix is

known for the robust security that it provides and also its cross platform application. Because

Linux has a wide community that writes and publishes applications for the operating systems,

many security programs are widely available for not only hardware security but also to help

police network security.

While Linux is in fact open source there are still requirements for developers to meet when

modifying Linux. The GNU General Public License requires the Linux kernel, which is not part

of the GNU project but uses the same license as GNU software. A great majority of utilities and

development tools, which are not Linux-specific, are actually taken from the GNU project.

Some people argue that the operating system should be called a GNU/Linux system, because any

usable system must contain both the kernel and at least a minimal set of utilities.