Linux Administration Cookbook

Understanding how Windows differs

You'll have to use Windows—it's a fact of life (at least at the moment).

If you're not forced to use Windows as the desktop OS of choice in your workplace, then there's a good chance there's going to be at least one Windows server you have to babysit or manage.

Windows still sees common installations for the following reasons:

• Active Directory
• Email with Exchange
• File servers

It's also used in the wider server world, with software like IIS holding a sizeable (though much smaller than open source offerings) chunk of the web. 

Right from the off, and as we talked about previously, Windows and Linux differ in some key ways.