In two words: package management.
I think a stock Windows install is larger than a stock Linux distribution install because Linux can store most everything not needed immediately "somewhere out there" on a package repository mirror, in the cloud, or wherever. Need a new driver or app not installed yet? Simply apt-get install foo
and a few minutes later you have it and are ready to go (substitute apt-get with the package manager of choice for your distribution).
Windows on the other hand needs to have a lot more 3rd party compatibility stuff at hand, right now, because there is no coherent and capable package management system. Windows Update is okay for some drivers and security patches, but that's about it. There's very limited user side control for picking and choosing and even less ability for installing applications to request dependency X. So Windows needs to have as much as it possibly can ready to go out of the box.
Yes there a host of useful things like flash and popular media codecs which aren't so easy to install on Linux. That doesn't detract from the central point though: Linux is smaller on the local machine because it can more easily pull what it needs from elsewhere and Windows can't.
I surmise if you took a stock linux distribution and added all the backwards compatibility stuff in the standard Windows install there wouldn't be as big a gap, in terms of occupied storage space.
You can check the windows kernel in C:\Windows\System32\ntoskrnl.exe. It is so small just about 8MB. – g10guang – 2018-08-12T02:31:38.003
7And Windows doesn't even have a decent DHCP server. – wfaulk – 2009-10-04T21:23:21.150
3I like both, but usability costs more space than server features. – hyperslug – 2009-10-04T22:14:52.403
5You argue that Linux has fewer features. When shown that Windows also has fewer features, you argue that Windows' features cost more space. (Not that Flash comes with Windows.) What is your argument, exactly? Also note that SWF has been a closed spec until about 17 months ago, and is only partially open now. – wfaulk – 2009-10-04T23:15:57.053
Then forget the Flash part, my apologies. Do you disagree that in general usability features cost more space? – hyperslug – 2009-10-04T23:42:15.923
1It's hard to say "no" in more than 15 characters. – wfaulk – 2009-10-05T01:33:50.467
1Where are the Linux users that should correct your question, because they they should say "Don't compare Linux with Windows, because Linux is Not an OS, it's a kernel." – thenonhacker – 2009-10-05T04:14:20.797
1Trying to make something solve a problem it wasn't designed to solve is futile. As in, don't try to hammer wood screws, or screw nails. I don't try to use Linux as a gaming/multimedia OS, and I don't try to run servers on Windows. Some people do this, and that's great if it scratches their itch, but I approach my back-scratching with a different solution. – jtimberman – 2009-10-05T04:36:25.853
Wfaulk: Then just say 'no' in less than 15 characters? – Josh Hunt – 2009-10-05T06:54:14.110