How many of you completely switched to Linux?

[mostholy]

okay, I admit that I am a gamer and want to have some dual boot for that purpose. That said when I purchased a laptop the thought was to go with linux only as I have some older (Loki ports) games, not to mention NWN, the first time I purchased a PC game only for the serial number. The only hesitation was that if I am on company travel my only access to my timecard is thru IE. So how's that for a justification of dual boot? Comical to dedicate hard drive space for such a brief use.

[notwen]

I run two PCs and one laptop. My main PC is dual booting Ubuntu FF and WinXP(proud to say I haven't booted into it since early Jan =]). My server is running a fresh install of Debian Etch(formerly Slack). My iBook has OSX and a very slimmed down version of Edgy. I would think it's safe to say I've completely switched to Linux. Slack 8.0 started it all and once I found debian and their infinite repositories I don't believe I'll ever run a non-debian based distro again.

[mostholy]

to further the comments on the community...
I recently purchased a new laptop with Vista installed, fully cognisant that I would need to remove that at a minimum. So first step was to test the waters there and see how evil the Vista thing was. Okay, mostly horrified so step one was to try the Ubuntu 'live' cd and see what compatibility I was facing. Looks like sound was the only issue so decided to dual boot with XP... found it amusing that boot from CD option under Vista still recognized the XP disc and booted into Vista. Easy solution was to let Ubuntu handle things. Found that feisty was able to overcome Vista and give me a stable system... without sound, the rest seemed to work fine (didn't check cd burning and printing, wifi was funcional). Next step was to redo the XP thing as I needed that ability (for the wrong reasons) and was again amused. The pain I went thru to get this originally Vista functional laptop to function under XP was amazing! The wifi, video, and sound were not working and without community support (like linux) I was left to the hardware manufacturer sites to search out the drivers needed to make the system work. I managed to get things functional but was frustrated that the bits that worked out of the box in ubuntu were painstaking in XP! Okay, maybe I am unaware of the Windows community support forums, but I must say that it takes minimal searching to find what the issues may be with specific hardware and Linux, not to mention distro-specific workarounds.

Thanks to all who contribute to the knowledge and experience base.

[SammyBoy247]

I've been completely ubuntued since Edgy and have no reason to use windows. Sometimes I feel a few things would be easier/quicker in windows but I choose to struggle on and it's worth it.

The many many benefits of Linux and Ubuntu far out way any possible reason to return to the monster.

100% Linux and Lovin it!!

[jfrancis]

I've been a Windows user since day one. I never knew any better I guess :)

My first ever attempt to try something different was Ubuntu. I installed the 6.10 edgy as my 2nd OS (dual boot). At first I found it a real pain to use as I was so conditioned to windows. What made matters a million times worse (seriously!) was my Speedtouch USB modem... I am sure I don't need to explain myself here, suffice to say it was a pain in the butt.

Anyway, that was about 6 months ago, maybe less. What I discovered was that as time rolled by, I was spending less and less time in windows. Not because I forced myself, it just happened like that. So, on Monday just gone, I downloaded the latest 7.04 dist and did a complete fresh install...

NO more Windows!!!! :guitar:



It feels pretty sweet to be honest. Ubuntu rocks and I sure will be shouting from the roof tops here on.

Just got to figure out how to install my pixma ip400 printer... :)

[edmondt]

If only it can sync better with pocket pc, bluetooth works better, easy internet sharing via bluetooth

[DriftShin]

I have completely moved to Ubuntu (Feisty) on my home PC. My work PC still dual-boots but i use ubuntu more than i use WinXP. The prob with my home PC is that i dont have an internet connection at home while i have an adsl connection at work. So right now its easier working with the work PC than the home PC. Dont even wanna think of putting Win on my home PC ever again!!

Haven't gone back to gaming coz i still have to upgrade my home PC, specially the mobo and VGA so thats not an issue as yet.

Long Live Ubuntu (and Linux for that matter :D!!!)

[rax_m]

Been using Linux off and on since 1998.. but since I bought my own laptop in Dec last year, the second thing I did (after upgrading memory) was to install Edgy (dual boot with XP). Initially I booted to xp quite often, but I found that I can do everything I want in Edgy these days :)
For games I've learnt to luv and live with the opensource games available.. Not to mention dosbox that plays some of my old school sierra games (Quest for glory series.. probably my fav of all time).

Quite funny story:
My mother and sister discovered Frozen bubble on my laptop so I installed virtualbox on the home xp machine so that they could boot into feisty and play. My mother now knows how to use virtualbox and linux to a degree.. My sister is hooked on ms office and some games, but i may consider wiping their computer someday.

[penncon]

I've been using Linux since Redhat 5.2. On my first install, the only way to get my graphics card working was to edit XF86Config manually. I've gone back and forth between solely booting Linux, dual-booting, or only booting Windows. I actually stopped using Linux entirely for a few years due to a change in jobs. The one thing that has always held Linux back is the fact that Windows just works (when it's not crashing or infected with something nasty). After some time away from Linux, I gave Ubuntu a shot and was AMAZED. It's the little things that I notice, such as my laptop's Fn keys will work to manipulate the volume. Ubuntu is the first distribution that I've seen that, like windows, just works.

I like to play around on my computers and don't mind having to configure some things on my own. However, I don't want to spend two days getting my sound card to work which is how it was in "the old days." Linux is making HUGE strides forward, and I'm proud to say that I now use Ubuntu exclusively. I do, however, want to check out OpenSuse. If only they had a live CD like Ubuntu so I didn't have to download 4GB worth of CDs...

[fernando_lopes_jr]

I still have both OS installed but each time I boot Windows Xp it really annoys me it seams like the OS is slow and unresponsive. I keep it for one or another program I need to run that's only available in Windows I also use it for gaming but not that much.

[voxman69]

On my main PC i'm happily running Feisty, and Feisty only since about a month. Started using Linux for real when Feisty emerged april 19th. At first I dual-booted, but as I got more and more comfortable with the Linux equivalents to my Windows apps (had Vista btw) and the few hardware issues I faced got solved, I found myself not using Windows anymore, so one day I decided to give Ubuntu the extra space instead.

I read in a thread somewhere where someone jokingly said "...only have to figure out what to do with all the unused space on my HDD's". And actually that's true! I have something like 200 GB that I honestly don't know what to fill with. Ubuntu and all the apps takes ridicolous little space compared to Windows...:-)

I do however still use XP sometimes...I have another PC that's my music studio...I plan to give Ubuntu Studio a serious go, but for now I really don't have the mental power to learn a whole bunch of new apps since everything is familiour and works fine. But when my current project is done I'll go for it! Been reading everything I possibly can about JACK, Ardour, Rosegarden, etc. I think i'll enjoy myself!!

[librano]

I recently reinstalled WinXP after a 3yr period of windowlessness... :( darned Flash CS3 :(

[librano]

okay, I admit that I am a gamer and want to have some dual boot for that purpose. That said when I purchased a laptop the thought was to go with linux only as I have some older (Loki ports) games, not to mention NWN, the first time I purchased a PC game only for the serial number. The only hesitation was that if I am on company travel my only access to my timecard is thru IE. So how's that for a justification of dual boot? Comical to dedicate hard drive space for such a brief use.

this should help you

http://www.tatanka.com.br/ies4linux/page/Main_Page

[Anonii]

A week ago and after 2 years of a Windows-free desktop, I installed Windows once again. I did that to play WoW. Unfortunately, I'm using ATI, which I can't trust, and I'm gonna do some heavy stuff in WoW so I don't wanna get random Wine lock-ups, etc. The bad thing is that this week, I found myself beeing the 75% of my time logged into my Windows PC playing WoW. Sad but true :(

[daverich]

I have nearly.

I use windows for work because for audio editing/recording linux is not up there yet with the likes of sonar/reaper etc.

And for gaming i use my now beloved xbox360.

My home computer however is ubuntu. I like having different machines for different chores- I actually think it works out better that way.

Kind regards

Dave Rich

[sw1995]

I completely made the switch and have not used Windows in over a month--I really disliked the idea of dual-booting as I am of the school of thought that the straightest route between two points is a straight line...keeping XP around just seemed like too much of a detour and I wanted to jump right in. It has been an incredible learning experience and would say that it has changed my life!

[bootslap]

I have completely weaned myself from ******* for over 6 months now. It is fun to be working with Ubuntu. More informative and less stressful, atleast you have control on your system and it won't ask for shutdown too often. I have also found that your applications might take time to start but in the meantime other applications do not hang. Unlike ******* where if one app hangs you are done and a reboot would be required, or you have to wait till that app loads.

Ubuntu is fun anyways!!

[Ultra Magnus]

I had totally switched to Ubuntu, but Ive just got a new computer and I had to get vista so I figured I've dual boot - Vista is for playing freespace 2 - yup I have a brand new computer and I'm playing a game thats 9 years old!

[Typeface]

Ive been using variuos distro's of linux since christmas when my hard disc went, this provied a perfect opertunity to try linux however i started of with fedora for a couple of months before i decied to give ubuntu a try.

[juantovarm]

I took ******* out of my pc last year and installed Dapper, haven't needed m$ since back then, I installed Feisty on my sister's pc, took win out too. She has been happily running it for over a month and has had no problems whatsoever.

Soon NO-ONE will really NEED *******!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[davisbarrett]

I've explored Linux since 2000 and have usually had a dual-boot system around the house. I've used Linux exclusively at home since about 2005, but suffered through my wife's obsession with XP. Then, lo and behold, her system needed a nuke-n-pave, at which point it wiped the partitioned restore drive :---). I couldn't call HP to get the restore disks just then so I loaded up my favorite distro ever, Ubuntu, on to her computer.

First thing she said to me: "Honey, I don't know what you did, but I love it! It's so fast!" I'm not entirely sure that she knows she's not using Windows any more. I'm not knocking the absolute love of my life, and the most intelligent woman I've ever met... It's just that she's a zoologist, not a computer person.

So, I never did call HP, and don't intend to. My wife's computer is Ubuntu, mine has been Ubuntu since the version 5s were about, and my step-daughter and son have enjoyed Edubuntu for over a year...

Now, if only I could get my work to give up the broken Windows... badVista has been on my work desktop since February... Can someone remind me of the definition of "upgrade"? I'm not sure Billy knows ](*,)...

[Larkshall]

I got fed up with the MS system when they brought out w/vista and many people were complaining of their software not working (as it had with XP). I tried Ubuntu Edgy Eft and liked it. That was on my desktop. I then tried to install it on my laptop (several times) but each time it failed to install so I then tried Dapper Drake and that installed OK.

After the installations I then tried connecting various hardware.

Printers: My old Epson Stylus C680 performed better than it ever did under *******. However, the Canon Pixma 1600 absolutely refused to have anything to do with Unbuntu. The same thing happened with my Minolta Magicolor 2400W laser.

Scanners: I have two scanners, a Canon Lide 20 and a Canon Canoscan 4400F, neither will work with Unbuntu.

Voice recorder: I have an Olympus VN240pc voice recorder which I use for recording meetings as a backup to minutes. As this has its own particular software I cannot install it on the Ubuntu machines.

In order to use the voice recorder I have to connect it using a cable with a 3.5mm jack at each end. Connect it to the recorder earphone socket and the computer microphone socket. the disadvantage is that you are recording in real time instead of transferring a file. It takes much longer.

The only solution to these problems was to buy another laptop with ******* XP.

Apart from these problems, everything works fine. Even the wireless card on the desktop automatically connected to the 3Com Office Connect ADSL Router. The older laptop wouldn't connect with the USB wireless dongle so I have to use an ethernet cable.

[hummingbird59]

After more than a decade of being windoz only, I have now been Ubuntu only for almost a month. I've experienced a little withdrawal that was mostly mental but it's all good now. Everything I could do with XP, I can do better and faster with Ubuntu. Very happy:D

[Yettie]

I set up a dual-boot with Ubuntu Feisty and XP on my laptop a couple of months ago. I thought I would regularly be switching between the two, but I have found that Ubuntu does almost everything I want. It's also a more pleasant experience.
The only thing that is stopping me from removing Windows is my Canon IP4300 printer which I am still struggling to get to work.http://ubuntuforums.org/images/smilies/icon_sad.gif

[H.Orell]

Just made the switch. *Takes breath of fresh air*

I hope I never have to go back.

[fyllekajan]

I made the switch many years ago, I'm thinking about going back to Windows so I can make the switch all over again. :)

[jackmc]

Straight Ubuntu, but I use XP on VMware every now and then, due to issues with openoffice sometimes...

[Pekay]

I haven't yet completely switched to Linux, cause sometimes Kubuntu screws up or I screw it up and dunno how to fix it, so I reinstall and hang on Windows till I feel like going on Linux again :p.

[IHateSnow]

I am deleting windows the second they release Steam for linux

[ezsit]

I switched to Mandriva 2005LE when it was released and removed Windows from my main computer. I still keep WinXP on a spare box for dvd related stuff, but my main machine is Debian Etch all the way. I went through all the Ubuntus, from Hoary through Edgy, and then installed Debian Etch when it was released in April.

[mhenry35]

I switched completely - Jury is still out, but things are working pretty well right now, so it's looking good. I bought a new laptop, and it only came with vista, and although it looks slick, it's slow and Micro$oft has become increasingly annoying, so I decided to give Ubuntu a try.

I only have one application to get going, and I'll be set. I run Ubuntu Studio, and it's working well so far, after the initial bumps. I'm hoping I can stick with this system - I like the advantages it has, and also offers some uniqueness, too.

[freshmeatz]

here here, fruck microsoft:p

[jayson.rowe]

Completely Ubuntu here - except for WinXP Pro in Vmware - only use it to run Finale though - don't even need the MIDI playback, just the ability to notate, and none of the Linux equivilents have worked for me...

I thought I would miss games too, but I mostly play CS 1.6, and that works equally as well in Wine for me as it did in XP, I bought UT2004 for the native linux version and now I play that more than CS, and I've also gotten into Open Arena, Nexuiz and Tremulous on the Open Source gaming side...I was gonna buy Quake 4 and Doom 3 but many friends told me they both suck, so I haven't bothered (yet, althought I may if I find them bargain cheap somewhere)...

It's been a little over a month for me being 100% Linux, and I doubt I'll EVER go back. The hardest decision for me was KDE vs. GNOME, but wound up on GNOME and very happy :)

[mocqueanh]

here here, fruck microsoft

Lol, you same to me, **** Apple :D

[alfsborg]

Personally, I switched to Ubuntu a year ago. Before that I used SuSe for 4 years. I played with Madriva for a while while dual booting Win98SE. I think Ubuntu is the best flavor of Linux I have tried. I love it. I want to set up Doom, Quake and WOW in the future.
My wife is stuck on XP. I do get her to use Linux when we are traveling. She is coming around as Ubuntu gets better and matures.
I wish my employer would go to Linux but sadly they mainly use XP. The servers are UNIX and a few engineers use Linux. They also have a whole campus of software people in India optimizing code for Unix, Linux, C++ for their products.

[pmshirey]

I am i Linux user , but still have windows, but my dad is a pastor at a church, and he's the head technology manager, and he is upgrading everyone to Dell computers. He gets all the old computer, and I upgrade them to all LINUX! YAY GO LINUX!

[@trophy]

One word: Photoshop.

Never quite could get used to the GIMP. And I've got too many years of Photoshop experience to just start over at square 1 again.

[Fenryr]

Well, I've been playing around with Linux for years, but only got SERIOUS about it a couple months ago...The only reason Windows is still in this machine is just a couple words..'Final Fantasy XI'...I've been in the game since the US release, and still haven't gotten tired of it...Otherwise, Ubunto is doin' everything I need, and in some ways BETTER than I expected...

[iceportal]

Windows? What's that?

Nah, I'm just playin'.

I have Ubuntu as my primary OS on both my laptop and desktop machines. But on my desktop, I dual-boot XP as well.

Only reason I keep it there is because of Photoshop.

I've got lots of games there too... But I haven't touched them (nor wanted to) since I came back to Ubuntu.

(I play Vendetta Online, which runs natively in Linux, and it's plenty of game for me!)

[VChief]

Well, technically, XP is still installed on one of my hard drvies but I haven't booted into it since Feb or March, and before then, I rarely booted into it. I've been using Linux since '99. The only reason I kept Windows around was for Flight Sim, but then I discovered X-Plane. Since then, the only reason I didn't reformat my hard drive was that it was dying, so I had to buy a new one anyway. So, Windows is still technically in my computer, but on an old, dying hard drive that will probably never get booted into again. And, when I buy a laptop for school, it'll be running Linux and any computer I ever use again will be Linux and, hopefully, I'll be working on Linux computers when I get out (going in for computer engineering). It's disappointing to see just how many people want to ditch Windows all-together, but can't because of x and y programs. Something's got to be done.

[firedancer]

this pc is 3 months 'windowsfree'

and not feeling the urge to go back


100 % ubuntu/linux for now

f:Dreaks with other distros ......

[SheNux]

I'm completely switched and have been since June 2006.

It was Windows XP's WGA crap that did it for me. I denied the program internet access via ZoneAlarm and it told me I had a dodgy copy of XP. Excuu-uuuse me!

Now I can't remember anything about Windows except for how much I hated it and why. I have a friend who is in a Cert III IT course (heavily geared toward MS, sigh) and she asks me to help her and I say to her time and time again, "You know how much I hate windows with all my heart and soul, and that I've been running Linux the past # months..."

Ugh. I wanna kill it with fire.

[Wiebelhaus]

I want to erase Windows but unfortunately, I'm still a gamer at heart.

gaming is getting ridicules , I've completely switched , I hate windows more than I like any game and the only games I like require 100 days of your year , no thank you.

[tehhaxorr]

At the moment i'm using Linux Mint, i'm a dit of a distro *****, i'm waiting for the next big release of Suse to try out 10.3.

My laptop has never seen the windows logo, didn't even boot it, the minuet i got my laptop i put in the Suse 10.2 CD and erased the bloody home basic that came with it.

[Kingsley]

I completely use Ubuntu as my primary and main OS. I only keep Windows around for sentimental reasons.

[Kosimo]

me :)

[BigSilly]

Like SheNux above, I got stung with WGA. Locked me out of my PC! I'm glad it did though. I would never have become interested in alternatives had it not happened that way.

I used to dual-boot XP with Mandriva, then with Freespire. Now I'm currently dual-booting with Ubuntu 7.04. Over the small amount of time I've been using Linux I have come to respect and enjoy it more and more. I haven't used Windows now for quite some time, because Ubuntu is just so good. The whole family use it quite happily, and in fact we've all become rather zealous Linux users, and try to convert others whenever there is an appropriate opportunity.

With this in mind I intend to wipe off XP with the next release of Ubuntu in October. I want to dual-boot two Linux distros (possibly with PCLOS) so I can have a spare OS to play with. I really want to have a good play around with Linux in order to learn some more, but it's difficult to do that when the main OS is also one the family is using. I've bought me book (Peter Van Der Linden's Guide to Making the Switch) and I'm raring to go!

[FoolsGold_MKII]

gaming is getting ridicules , I've completely switched , I hate windows more than I like any game and the only games I like require 100 days of your year , no thank you.
Bloody right. I was a "gamer at heart" (ie. a young bloke) for quite a while, until one day I realized that a lot of the games I were playing, Windows-only games, bored me. Perhaps more importantly, there were games that I DID find fun that happened to be cross-platform, and hence ran in both Windows and Linux. Since games were the last remaining bastion of my association with Windows, I was able to switch fairly easily, and yet still play stuff I like in Linux.

[Alex Fernandez]

Switched to Linux only for servers about 7 years ago.

Switched laptop to Linux only about 6 months back

[cobrn1]

At the mo I'm forced to use XP (i want to dual boot, but that would require a reformat due to unspecific problems with my hardware - read OLD - and I can't afford to reformat at this point in time...). When I get a new pc I will dual boot ubuntu and XP. Ubuntu will be my main OS, with XP just for gaming (that's what I'm intending).

When I have to get vista for DX10 then ubuntu will have to be my main OS - the thought of putting something actually valuable on the vista partition makes me cringe with all the virii, malware and phoning home... ;-)


I completely use Ubuntu as my primary and main OS. I only keep Windows around for sentimental reasons.

lol

[Medieval_Creations]

I've been running a windowless household for almost a year now. I unfortunately still have to use XP at work, so I do run XP virtually at home when needed.

[Dimitriid]

I was not planning on a complete switch, I had to reformat my drive thanks to xp corrupted boot files and after I was done I decided "ill give 10gb to windows for some gaming that I cant manage on Linux" but I was going back and forth too much on the ubuntu installation menu so at some point I must have chosen to just wipe windows.

After that I though about starting the process all over again but then I decided I did not need to at all: by looking at my game collections all my favorites are already doable on Linux alone ( via cedega or wine ) and im really not looking forward to ANY new game at this point, except maybe the new Unreal Tournament which can probably end up with a native linux client anyway.

So since I didn't have to get any "service packs" for ubuntu and the update process is so seamless I just decided to stop looking back.

[Eggnog]

I've got XP installed as a VM so I can use Quicken and a couple of other apps. I count that as switching to Linux because it renders XP as just another Linux app as far as I'm concerned. But I haven't gotten rid of my "real" XP install on dual boot because I'm not giving up my gaming. Once gaming is possible on VMs, or is better supported in Linux, then my "real" XP installation is history.

[starcannon]

I use Cedega, and Wine.
I primarily play World of Warcraft, Unreal Tournament 2004, Runescape (yeah the gfx are cheesey but the game is great).
Unreal Tournament and Runescape run natively in Linux, World of Warcraft requires Cedega, Cedega and or Wine support an incredible amount of Windows Game Titles, yeah you need more ram to run that little windows compatability layer but to have no HD space wasted on a MS partition in my opinion is worth it.
For most Cedega Games 2gb of ram is sufficient to make them play smoothly, and of course a good video card 6600gt or better is my recommendation, though many play with much less than that.

Oh yeah :)
to answer the Question....
:guitar: I have COMPLETELY switched to Linux, I don't run windows at all any more, haven't for a couple of years now :lolflag:

[tehkain]

I used to be an avid PC(windows) gamer. I found Warsow and now I am an avid linux gamer with two 8800gtxs.

[jusmurph]

I want to erase Windows but unfortunately, I'm still a gamer at heart.

Exactly the same boat. Although guild wars crashed in Wine & Windows over the weekend, i admit i did not try very hard.

[hammad1337]

Well...
I shifted to Ubuntu as a primary OS about 2 weeks ago.
I haven't booted Xp since a week (because I wanted to print a page). Lets see how long I can stay withount doing that. :)

[cmnorton]

When I started my current position over three years ago, I had come from a Windows development environment and into a position that was nearly 85% Linux development.
About a year and a half ago, I decided the only way to become more effective as a Linux developer/administrator was to move my primary workstation from Windows to Linux and deal with as many things "Linux" as I could. (I am responsible for all application development, and for administering all SCO Unix/Red Hat/Ubuntu/Fedora systems in our lab.)

It is harder to get some of the applications I need on Linux, though I did find a good telnet/SSH client vendor, Ericom, who sells PowerTerm Interconnect for Linux. It lacks a few features that Windows-based CRT/SecureCRT (VanDyke) has, but the support is good and I can map the keys for our well-worn Informix "forms" application. I opted to continue to use Epsilon, because the Windows license also covers Linux and OS/2 (still), and Epsilon is quite good, though moderately expensive.

At some point, we will need to move our more serious applications, one of which is the town's tax "home-grown" collection package, off of Red Hat 9. Given my poor experiences with issues with subscription rpm-based Linux, I was glad to see Ubuntu is commercially supported. Basically, I found I was spending money for package updates that I can get for free using packages like Ubuntu or Fedora.

So far, my Ubuntu experiences have been very good. You can get packages installed. The only major problems I had were installing telnetd and pptpconfig, but these issues were resolved successfully, using Edison's 99% perspiration model.

As an aside about telnet servers, our applications are inside a fairly robust firewall, and for us, the difference between high quality VanDyke telnet clients and their ssh clients would flatten our IT budget. I am well-aware of ssh versus telnet concerns.

All in all, the more I use Ubuntu, the more I like it.

[orb9220]

Well for me to be 100% Ubuntu will be a couple of years yet.

1) Like to play games every three month's or so. And Windows is still the only way to ensure 100% gaming options.

2) Winavi which I use to convert .avi to DvD vobs for creating a compliant DVD for players. Linux is still way to featureless and cumbersome compared to Video Conversion,Video Editing in windows. There are multi-step cli ways in linux for alot video stuff but that is cubersome and non-intutive for me anyways. I find a 20-40+ character command for video conversion with cryptic flags as anti-human. And encoding video's in the Gui programs for linux as primative and slow compared to windows.

3) Graphics editing yes there is Gimp which I refuse to use. It does not support 16bit or color profiles which is a must for serious user's. And the GUI does suck.

Right now I use Ubuntu about 80-90% of the time and hope as Graphics,Video apps mature that I can achieve a 95+% within the next year.

[grenadier32]

I've pretty much completely switched at this point--I hold little remaining love for Windows, and I've been actively converting people with their own Windows troubles. :-D Both my desktop and laptop are exclusively Ubuntu, with a remaining Windows partition on the desktop that I've been meaning to eradicate.

I haven't been playing games much, and the ones I do play are limited to consoles, so the lack of Windows doesn't really hurt me at all (and besides, Cedega works pretty well). Frankly, I like Ubuntu a lot more--more customizable, and it doesn't hide its guts from you like Windows does.

[mangar]

I've been using ubuntu almost exclusively for the last two years, on my aging 32bit laptop, and almost entirely vista 64bit on my 3 month old desktop computer, due the known problems with the jmicron ide driver, and missing functionality of in quite a lot of programs, and the mediocre support of 32bit programs (mostly skype and firefox), on the 64bit version of ubuntu; plus, company of heroes and warhammer 40k rocks, and it's kinda hard to do with linux.. :)

[original_jamingrit]

Now that I have Starcraft working in wine just the way I want it to, I plan to have my Window's partition removed, tonight. :)

[Cryptic1911]

I'm completely swapped over.. Its been almost a year now I think? I've been using linux off and on for about 10 years now, but never really got into it. It's always been a love and hate kinda relationship because things just never worked properly since there wasnt as much support. I started messing around with Mepis, then found that Ubuntu was just better, and since then I've stuck with it. I've got two servers, two desktops, a laptop, and my wireless router running linux now.

:guitar:

[stepan2]

I completely use linux. I switched completely after a bad experience with vista and a worse one with xp when tried to do a clean install.

[mindo]

I am running Feisty 64bits (on a Sony Vaio FE31M), with a 32 bits firefox ('cause of flash :( ), which crashes one time or anoher.

Away from windows for about 4 years by now.. I'am not a gammer, although i'm a quake series fan (all have linux ports :), and lately WoW (run just fine with wine).

[Jonq]

i have Ubuntu Feisty amd64 and windows vista(for photoshop etc..) on my laptop and on my mac i have OSX and Gentoo, I never login into windows unless i need something to be done that i cant do it in ubuntu, which almost never happens :), I love my Ubuntu Laptop and Dual booting mac :)

I also converted my brother and he deleted his windows vista partition and installed ubuntu and he is loving it :)

[jjtechno]

Fiesty Fawn rules alone here. I switched to Dapper and cannot believe I waited.
Linux is the Future and Ubuntu is leading the way.

[Quinn The Eskimo]

i went cold turkey
i had enough of windows and when my friend gave me the ubuntu disk i just did it

[leaber]

I dual boot with XP
I can say that 85% of the time i work with linux, the other is with visual studio 2005 for some freelance project.

I would love to uninstall ******* :(

[LuisAugusto]

Linux 100% here.

And plenty of distros:

-Elive Gem
-OpenSuSE 10.3 Alpha 5
-Ubuntu 7.04
-Ubuntu 7.10 tribe 3
-Gentoo 2007
-Sabayon

OpenSuSE alpha 5 (main) and Ubuntu 7.04/7.10 on my laptop.
Sabayon, Gentoo 2007 and elive gem (main) in the Desktop

xD

see you.

[captgadget]

about 90% - other 9.95% iMac & .05 *******

[tower_]

well i tried SUSE 6.2-9.3, kanotix, sidux, debian, and now Kubuntu. i also used ******* 3.11 til XP but since 3 years only on a virtual machine (vmware or virtualbox). win is past and finally only for losers..sorry.

[univremonster]

100% Ubuntu for 5 months. I'm still not sure what I'm doing most of the time, but it's more fun than the WinXP I'd been using since it came out

[nick.inspiron6400]

Going to get rid of Windows soon. Then just Kubuntu and Ubuntu.

[karhulitos]

Windows 2000 still exists for:
- video editing (couldn't find simple program to compile DVD from Sony DCR-SR90 mpegs)
- Logitech Harmony Remote configuration
rest Ubuntu only.

[buntunub]

Xubuntu on the server, Ubuntu on the lappies, and Sabayon on my gaming rig. I had quite alot of fun erasing all traces of anything M$ from all my machines about 2 months ago and wiped Vista off my new lappy just as soon as I could get it home and powered up. As far as gaming.. well.. like I said, I use Sabayon on my gaming rig and havent come across a windows based game I could not get to work on it yet. Ill keep trying though and let you know if I find one. :)

[vexorian]

I just did, the games argument was the strongest one but I just found out that I should play games, instead of games playing me.

[stinger30au]

i have 2 machines running with ubuntu and 2 with XP Pro. of the Xp Pro machines i will be swapping them to Ubuntu in the next few months.

Tired of the Bloatware,adware,spyware,trojan garbage that goes with Microsoft stuff

[scholzilla]

I did and I'll never go back to that evil place called macintosh again.

[OokieWonderslug]

I use Kubuntu. Switched to it back in March. Never looked back.

[mdsmedia]

Does removing the XP sticker off the face of my laptop (can't even remember what it said, now) void the warranty?

[DjBones]

Ubuntu all the way on my laptop,
but I have a Dual-boot on my desktop with Zenwalk and Ubuntu.. haha

[AndyCat]

3 runnin ubuntu, 1 Vista, 2 Xp:lolflag:

[funkshun]

I just got rid of windows for good a few days ago. I'll tell you it has been sink or swim. But I would not have it any other way. This way I'm forced to lear quicker

[RhubarbnCustard]

I'm 3 days into my switch from XP to Ubuntu and I haven't had any problems other than setting up screen resolutions, which I fixed after a bit of research. I love not having to constantly scan for malware and I've noticed my internet connection speed is now what it should be, not what's left to me after a load of background processes have grabbed a share.

I'm not much into games, and my system is so old it's probably a good thing too.

I feel more in control of my computer than before. Not like with windows where I felt like I was graciously being allowed to use my own system (sometimes) by a host of software providers, who always wanted a bit of me in return.... grrrrrr

Democracy wins over plutocracy - for me (I s'pose anarchy isn't really an option with computers)

[Kowalski_GT-R]

three open source PCs here....

[#Reistlehr-]

One Thing That Keep Me Using Windows:

I'm a Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Admin with a background in Exchange.
:lolflag:


But at home, everything i own runs linux now. 2x AMD64, 3x SunSPARC, and one i386.I LOVE LINUX!!!!!

[bwallum]

Well I've 'ummed n 'arred for a good 6 months now. However I have recently discovered that MS are actively supporting third party use of rootkits, that I can't control without some real deep techie knowledge which seems to involve reformatting the hard drive. Rootkits used to be called trojan malware! Now they are MS security features!

So, if techie I must be, then I would rather do it with Ubuntu. At least you can see all the files and remove them if you want to. MS are now just taking liberties. They believe they have a 'right to exploit' and I have no idea what they (and others like SecuROM) are doing to my machine and I'm not into a big brother world.

I am now building my eigth computer and this one will be completely MS free and entirely open source. Ubuntu 7.04 will be the OS. Just waiting for the processor and new case and I'll be there. I have already mastered OpenOffice, Thunderbird, Firefox, Project Management and GnuCash. That just about sorts my work although I'm still looking for something to replace PaintShopPro with.

Games are not for me although I do like to use Ubuntu's built in games when wanting to kill a few minutes waiting for my computer to catch up with it's instructions. I like to watch steaming video and have cracked that now. Ubuntu are coy when it comes to finding out how to watch things like BBC News streams because of proprietory this and that, but it's all do-able.

I will keep my MS based machine just in case someone sends me a proprietory MS document and it will be the source of a few chuckles 6 months down the line I'm sure.

It takes time but I think that once you've tried Ubuntu you get to see that it is a better way of controlling your own computer environment. Its amazing how much simpler things become when its all open.

Best of luck
Bob

[RedNikon]

I only use windows at work. At home however I run Ubuntu on everything.

[rb89]

I'm not going to lie. I'm still a Windows fanboy at heart. I installed Linux mostly to play around with. Also, my laptop has a Broadcom wireless card, so I have that contend with. Linux isn't any good to me without wireless internet.

I wouldn't be opposed to switching completely from Vista but there's no real reason not to dual boot right now. My college gives me Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 for free. Ubuntu is free. Why not just use both for whatever each is best for?

[KrisWillis]

I have an XP box sitting around for playing Counterstrike: Source, other than that, I don't use it for anything else...

[igknighted]

I'm not going to lie. I'm still a Windows fanboy at heart. I installed Linux mostly to play around with. Also, my laptop has a Broadcom wireless card, so I have that contend with. Linux isn't any good to me without wireless internet.

I wouldn't be opposed to switching completely from Vista but there's no real reason not to dual boot right now. My college gives me Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 for free. Ubuntu is free. Why not just use both for whatever each is best for?

Not as an attempt to convert you or anything, just some help: Try out the newest gutsy tribe3 release. It runs on a 2.6.22 kernel where the wireless driver stack was completely rebuilt. You just might find better luck.

As for me, I run windows and Linux at work (Dreamweaver for web development, CentOS 5 running apache and scalix). At home I run Pardus for my desktop and CentOS 5 for my home server. There is a winXP box that my parents use (which I admit to using on occaision for some gaming... but I rarely have time for that these days between work and uni).

[#Reistlehr-]

Not as an attempt to convert you or anything, just some help: Try out the newest gutsy tribe3 release. It runs on a 2.6.22 kernel where the wireless driver stack was completely rebuilt. You just might find better luck.

As for me, I run windows and Linux at work (Dreamweaver for web development, CentOS 5 running apache and scalix). At home I run Pardus for my desktop and CentOS 5 for my home server. There is a winXP box that my parents use (which I admit to using on occaision for some gaming... but I rarely have time for that these days between work and uni).

For the longest time i used Dreamweaver as my primary IDE, but when i switched from FTP to more of an SVN it hurt. I loved all the syntax coloring, and i really with they got MX 2004 to work with wine. But, i just couldnt take all the windwos bs. right click, click click click, bang keyboard, left click, click right click, ctrl+alt+delete.. gah. So latley ive been using Eclipse with PDT Plugin. Works amazingly, so now at work, i converted my workstation to linux, although i need to leave my exchange server, and windows 2k3 Server Enterprise installed on our cluster >.< i wish they would switch.

[Wiebelhaus]

I have for 90% of my computing and WHEN i do boot into windows the damn thing freezes or starts acting funny , Linux will spoil you unless your trying to play games of course.

[jyba]

I haven't used Windows since 1996. My OSX machine died a couple of months ago, so I've been using Linux and FreeBSD since then (Kubuntu, gNewSense-KDE, and DesktopBSD). I'm very happy with this setup and can't see myself ever going back to Apple or Microsoft.

As long as I've got bash, tcsh, emacs, vim, latex, csound, konqueror, vlc, amarok, the gimp, python, ruby, perl, audacity, k3b, kjots, openoffice, konsole, and an internet connection I want for nothing.

Next time I buy a computer it will be specifically chosen to work well with Linux and BSD.

[QwUo173Hy]

Haven't used run windows since 2002. I missed the games at first but I got over it. The OS itself was so new that it was better than a game for me :) Started with Redhat 7.2 I think, did Mandrake happily for a few years and I've been on Ubuntu for the last two years. Great system.

[bogolisk]

I've not installed windows on my PCs since 1995. My upgrades

SLS->slacker->buzz->rex->bo->hamm->slink->potato->woody->testing->breezy->dapper->edgy->feisty

I'll admit that I use windows once a year: to fill my tax return on Missus's labtop.

[Xanderfoxx]

I still use XP for some things, so I "dual boot" on my laptop.

There are some things that just don't work, or aren't available in GNU/Linux, such as:


*.MID / music notation editor,
Decent sound editor and recorder
Scanner support
HP All-in-One full support
Creepy OS access via IE ActiveX controls (needed for college MATHLAB course, at www.coursecompass.com (not anyone's fault but their's, the creepy son-sa-guns.)
Hands-off Wireless support
Wireless autoconnect
Other little things like that...


Other than that, the Debian, Ubuntu, GNOME, and other's efforts made a really great OS, made even better by the price. --Truly priceless ;^) .

So, other than that, I use Ubuntu, and I reccomend it to everybody who asks my OS opinion.

Even for servers (though I haven't been asked that, yet).

[Herix]

I havent booted windows in a while. Last time I booted it I remember I got some virus when downloading some stuff from p2p. The Virus is still there, but I dont really care.

I still boot XP in my Virtual Machine though cuz Im trying to learn some of the .Net stuff.

[Nessa]

I just need 2 things (ipod & divx on firefox) to work on Ubuntu and I'll say g'bye to XP.

[tact]

One Thing That Keep Me Using Windows:

I'm a Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Admin with a background in Exchange.
:lolflag:


But at home, everything i own runs linux now. 2x AMD64, 3x SunSPARC, and one i386.I LOVE LINUX!!!!!


hehehe.... I have to fire up Windows Server 2003 at times at work ... but I do it in a VM running on my feisty linux box. :)

[320blues]

sure have. xubuntu will do almost everything that w2k did. still loading media players in and out, but am about settled with xfmedia and beep (or sound juicer). bye bye bill!

[asnd16]

here est. October 2006

[blithen]

I switched completely to linux it does suck that I can't play many games anymore, but meh. I do other stuff besides game, and they have a couple of good games for linux. So I am content with it.

[King_Louie]

Haven't booted into XP in months.

Things I miss from Windows:

Roboform- I haven't found a browser-integrated secure password and information manager for linux that comes close.

iTunes- I find myself jumping around between Banshee, Amarok, and Exaile depending upon whether I want to listen, rip, burn, download music and podcasts, manage music and podcast libraries, etc...

Audio in General- Between ALSA, ESD, and OSS, figuring out audio on ubuntu ain't no picnic. And I miss the ease with which I was able to produce and edit audio using Windows apps like SoundForge and CakeWalk

Other than that, I love it!

[jdackle]

Could have a poll on the tread to better answer that question, huh? ;)

Me myself I started using Linux in 2001 if I remember correctly. By then it was Mandrake 7. I've tried other distros in the meantime but I mostly stuck with Mandrake til about a couple years ago when when I tried Ubuntu. ;)

But in that time I was still using Windows. Here are my reasons:
1. To test new hardware - the software they bring is usually Windows-only. So once I knew the thing was working I'd get back to Linux and try and get it working there, almost always successfully! :)
2. SPSS - I could not find a good replacement for this Windows app and I was using it at work...
3. Surfing IE-only web-sites or seeing/working-on-shared Ms-Office documetns (.doc, .xls, etc).

Some 18 months ago or so some virus seriously damaged my Windows install (Linux was fine of course:lolflag:). It was an OEM isntall and thus I had no way to reinstall the Windows system.
Can't say I've missed it! :guitar:

[jaechild]

I am a newbie to linux and currently have love hate relationship going. My biggest problem is that I am an architect and have still not found a powerful drafting tool. If anyone knows of any please let me know! I am also a big gamer... That said, the more I get into it the more I'm liking it!

[mpgarate]

only ubuntu on my computer. tri-booting: feisty i386, fesity 64bit, and the very latest version (currently gutsy)

my specs: amd 64bit dual core, 2GB ram

integrated graphics, but beryl/compiz work swimmingly

[deadguy87]

I did I completely removed windows from my computer, I'll just deal with the few drawbacks, that really have nothing to do with linux itself but rather the software available to it

[funkshun]

Brand new to Linux (Unix systems in General). I found about Ubuntu a few days ago. I just wiped off windose of my laptop. Now I only boot Ubuntu 6.06.1. It's hard for me right now...but I'm forced to learn at a quicker pace to get the objectives I want done.

cheers

[jdackle]

Hey, where do you guys register as an Ubuntu User?!

Can someone provide a link please?

Cheers!

[andyho]

I've been lovin my fresh Ubuntu install! :D Had a couple glitches, but they were easy fixes. I've only ever messed with Mandriva.. so a pretty big jump from only having used windows for 10+ years! I hope to get the rest of the puters in the house switched over!!

[xpod]

I think i already posted in this thread but what the hell.........(it`s easier than the testimonials thread):)

It`s about 17 Months since i first sat down at a computer but It`s a year to the day since i discovered Ubuntu and about 51 weeks since i switched completely:)
I think it was actually a year yesterday that i stumbled across Ubuntu and the following day i signed up to here mabey.

In fact it`s quarter past midnight so i`m day out it seems.
Anyway,well done Ubuntuforums for putting up with me for a year......it`s been fun to say the least:)

[Das Goat]

I am almost pure Ubuntu. There are just a few things that prevent me being 100%

I can't get National Public Radio to play nice with any linux player. It has to do with the RAM format that Real Player uses. And Helix is not 64 bit.

Quicken refuses to work with any Linux work around, Wine, Cross Over Office, anything.

No 64 bit Flash. I don't need it much, but some times you have to have it.

Can't find a WYSIWYG web authoring program got 64 bit Ubuntu

I gave up games, didn't play them much, and it was a small price for WinFreedom. Cedega and Wine don't really work for games right now, but I don't care

So, i run a Ubuntu system with an XP loaded in Virtual Box for the few things I can't get to work in Ubuntu.

It is only a matter of time before these things come around.

:guitar:

[Keen101]

Yep. Completely trashed windows in 5 mins after using Ubuntu. Never looked back. That was almost two years ago.

I have been having to use ******* at school though. But, I just bought me an external hard drive. :D

Gonna install Ubuntu on that. (all the computers at school are already set to boot from usb first)

Only thing i could not get to work was my lexmark printer. But, I am going to buy an HP printer soon.

-keen101

[Ericwt]

I have windows xp on my main machine on a 13gig hard drive I seldom use it. I use Ubuntu 7.04 on my laptop love it. I also have Unbuntu on my main computer on a 20 gig hard drive. Like I said Windows is very seldom used and only for testing of software.:)

[cmmike1]

As of 2 days ago i'm officially 100% ubuntu. My ubuntu drive was on the verge of crashing so i said "why not just get rid of windows and install ubunut instead." And so i did and i don't regret it at all.

[azraelck]

I switched in March first to openSuSE, which doesn't work with anything whatsoever. It's like Vista of the Linux world. So I dumped that for Ubuntu about 2 weeks ago. Haven't looked back. I'm wandering around here trying to find a thread that solves a minor issue I have now, but thus far there hasn't been anything major. I gave up a lot of games, but the only thing I really miss is Steel Panthers: World at War, and Call of Duty. CoD hasn't got very many people left playing from what I've heard, so I'm not bothering to install it, and SP:WaW doesn't work in Wine. Yet. Eventually there'll be a WWII shooter built off of Cube or Cube 2, if not a native one sold commercially, and SPWaW is close to working as it is.

All my RPGs work, so I'm set otherwise for gaming.

[MimeyNaomi]

I switched to Ubuntu 100% after only the first few days. I don't play games and I wasn't attached to any Windows software so it wasn't hard.

[doodaad_1]

I am fairly new to linux and only one thing is keeping me from switching completely. I am a World of Warcraft player and it works fine using Wine. Just need to get my mic to work with Ventrillo and I will delete my WinXP partition....:)

[PCFascist]

I use BSD for my network server and Ubuntu for my workstation. I have to keep XP on my laptop because it is so slow unable to run XP in a VM like I do on my workstation. I support a windows/IIS based app.. so at times I have to use windows to give them all support.

[DBStevens]

Been totally Linux based since 2001.

[xjgnsdof]

I'm in law school, and the exam software only works in Windows. I could just use a loaner laptop, but I don't trust any computer that I haven't personally optimized. Other than that, I never use Windows.

I use NTFS Configuration Tool to write files to my Windows partition, so I don't even lose any hard disk space by dual-booting, so I might as well keep Windows XP on my machine.

[sprwaka]

I just switch, I got tired of spamware, virus, and all the crashes... O and paying for every stupid thing. The only thing that was holding me back was SilkRoad a game only supported on windows. But, I decide to adventure into ubuntu since everything else I use my computer for is supported. Wine did not work for my game SR. But I been trying to look for different games or solutions, is more gain for me to stay with ubuntu than try to go back to pay for everything.\\:D/

[saxuntu]

I killed XP on my Desktop last month. Riped the sticker off the tower and did a little dance. Damn the man...well don't damn him to much, XP is still on my wife's laptop. The laptop will go dual boot once i find the thumbdrive to back her documents up. Microsoft won't extort any more of my money.

[WarholsGhost]

i am 100% linux and i'm loving it.

i made the switch mostly because i had 5 programs on at all times to prevent spyware and viruses

[wersdaluv]

Totally Linux since April if I am not mistaken.

[buixuanduong1983]

2 months ago I use both Windows and Ubuntu. I kept Windows because I still cannot burn CDROM with brasero (I don't understand, but when I first install it, I still can burn some disk, but after a few day, maybe I install some new thing or upgrade kenel, I cannot burn anymore, brasero says no disc on drive or smth similar).

But after found out Gnomebaker, everything is fine, so yesterday I remove Windows partition, and totally change to Ubuntu. Then I use VirtualBox to give Windows a chance to become guest OS :-)

With Ubuntu, I feel no risk about virus or worm, (but do you think Linux stil safe, is there any virus harm it?)

At office I still use Windows, but for myself, Ubuntu can do all.

[rod40cool]

I switched to Ubuntu about 3 weeks ago after Windows crashed with BSD for about the 4th time in 3 years so I got fed up with trying to rebuild and all the reboots are a pain after every driver install and security update. I now run all my mail and browsing, sync my ipod, download store and edit my photos all in Unbuntu now with a dual boot to Win for my music software and related plug-ins, but that's all I use Win now for.
Also I will soon be upgrading my hardware and I intend to install Ubuntu Studio to have a look at that to replace the Win stuff.

[theorganloft]

I still have a ******* box at home for my proprietary Music software but that will change next month when I go completely Ubuntu Studio. I am just working out the bugs transferring my data files. It is very close to full production. I also considered a MAC but that has been dumped too.:-({|=

For games, I am buying a play station.

My favorite PC game, UT2K4 runs in Linux.

I have a Mepis computer at my office and it works well in the AD network for all my needs. It never crashes and I feel very secure.

[rhian]

well im compleatly ubuntu now since my windows xp died unexpectedly and wouldnt let me reinstall was bit annoyed to start off with but now i love using ubuntu and dont want anything else to do with windows

[marco123]

Bought a new custom rig with no OS and there was no way I was going to pay £62 for oem vista64, that money just bought me another 2gigs of ram.

[teeleef]

I switched about 6yrs ago. Used Debian, then Mepis and finally Ubuntu. I must admit is was a culture shock. The limit of software and killer apps (such as CAD and financial software) was difficult to take, but I made allowances for this and persevered.

As a 49yr old guy Linux for me is brilliant. The philosophy of free software and the global participation is something I admire and I firmly believe that Ubuntu and the vision of Mark Shuttleworth is a breath of fresh air, and despite what anyone may say I believe the big boys at Redmond are worried. Bit by bit and little by little Ubuntu is nibbling away at the hardware vendors and the large software companies, sowing seeds of adoption. Whether M$ will try and stop them there is no doubt. Michael Dell has made a very bold step. Whether Dell sell 5000 pcs with Linux on them or 500000 is irrelevant at least the Ubuntu icon is seen in the press.

I try my best to encourage friends to look at my system or try a live CD, this include local computer fairs. To move away from Microsoft is such a huge step for many and so fearful that most don't try. That I'm afraid saddens me. It just shows how entrenched Windows is in the human psyche.

More will break free from the Windows chains as more become involved with Linux.

Thank God for the geniuses that are Richard Stallman and Linus Torsvald.


Teeleef

[Guitar John]

I switched my Dell 4700 Desktop over almost immediately when I discovered Ubuntu. I switched my wife's laptop over when I had to install a new hard drive.

Two issues:
-In spite of going through numerous how to's, I have not been able to get either of the Linksys wireless devices to work.
UPDATE: Purchased two BELKIN F5D7050 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833314011). Worked out of the box.

-Ditto with the Lexmark Printer. I'll probably just toss it and buy an HP that is recognized by the OS.
UPDATE: Purchased an HP printer that had native support.

[cml21]

I'm not there yet. I still haven't found anything that beats Dreamweaver...

[Washi]

A month or two ago, I said there was only one thing stopping me, a piece of accounting software we use at work.

Last night we had the monthly meeting of the TLUG - Taranaki Linux User Group which I was one of the first people to join, afterwards I couldn't be bothered switching drives to the Windows drive I had, so I just took Linux in to work, did all I had to do work wise (Im the IT Administrator), then worked on getting the Windows only app working, 5 minutes later it was running perfectly (Which for that app is weird). Finally im FREE!!!
:popcorn::guitar:\\:D/
Translation im a happy chappy

[victor9098]

Hey,

I switched last week...it was kind of funny. Used the Live CD to see what would not work, main thing was my modem (external USB). Found the files to fix that. Installed Ubuntu. But I had not a clue of how to install the fix. How to restore my old OS, come here, get an idiot's guide of writing a config file (my first). Re-Installed Ubuntu, wrote the config file (version 999.9 worked!) and I have not looked back.

I have a 2 year old laptop. Ubuntu looks great on it and even beryl is working...which makes the screen effects look better then any other OS (IMHO). So very happy. I am lucky I only need my machine for research, writing and internet access. Most people who can not commit 100% tend to have very specialist requirements. But the "average" user, give it a go and give it some time, you will either love it or walk away wishing you could love it.

Terminal, I am still wrestling with it. Can not wait for a full GUI-buntu :)

[Sayers]

I use linux completly because it makes a better desktop.

[Gen2ly]

My beloved OS X still resides on the other partition, but I probably haven't tried to use it for 2 months. OS X awesome for multimedia, terrible for everything else, also Apple zealots make me sick. Linux though is just SWEEEEET.

[Sayers]

I've never tried Mac. Never will.

[ferd]

Since January of '05 Dapper exclusively.

[mikedoth]

2006 I switched all 5 of my machines over.

[Dark Seraphim]

since last month I switched my dell to linux and never going back. one thing tough, I feel wierd using my microsft mouse and keyboard on linux lol. works fine tough :)

[oo-boon-too]

I am 250.1GBs worth of Ubuntu.
(Thats full)

[Specter043]

Just switched full over yesterday, deleting Windows XP. The feeling of Open source and freedom is amazing.

[winkerlongtooth]

I'm presently running Ubuntu feisty in a VMWare workstation session. After several attempts to move to a differrent OS over the years including OS/2 Warp and linux, first with Red Hat, then with Mandrake and now with Ubuntu, I've learned to go realllly slowly in the move to a new OS.

So far I'm impressed with Ubuntu. I know there is a performance hit with virtualization so I'm really only looking at the software available and if it can replace what I'm doing in XP Pro.

I see my budget to upgrade all my commercial software is going to be over $2500 in the next two years. (Doesn't include OS cost/ hardware). If I can find replacements, I can see me switching.

[borahshadow]

I started using linux a few years ago(debian). I used to game alot but I don't anymore (I have enough things to do let alone game lol). About 1 year ago I went linux only now my laptop runs linux only and my desktop used to but I started sharing it with my mom and she has a craftrobo (they are cool) I got it working in a vm but it was clunky and hard for my mom to understand so I just set her up to dual boot but I made sure she still uses firefox and open office and gimp :)
Unfortunantly I have not converted my siblings or dad (my dad has propiertary software for his work) my dadhowever does hate microsoft and if he had the chance to dump that software he probably would switch ( he doesnot want to vm bcause he loves simplicity and thinks vms would just add too much complication)

[sheol]

Unfortunately being a web developer requires me to have two operating systems. IE7 doesn't fully work in Linux yet. I have given Vista (Which came with my new laptop) nearly the smallest amount of room I could (15 GB). I've booted into it exactly twice, each time for about fifteen minutes, in the last month.

You could say I have effectivly switched to a single OS environment.

[halon]

Love different flavors of linux. Arch and Ubuntu mainly. Dual boot on the laptop since I still require XP at my job.

[Empath]

Unfortunately I still need to keep xp on one partition so that I can play my games :/

[WastingBody]

I switched over fully about two months ago.

[tedrogers]

I'm not completely switched over everywhere, but I'm enjoying all range of computing worlds on offer.

My laptop runs Ubuntu exclusively, and I use it mainly for web browsing, playing music, ebay stuff and general messing about etc.

My main desktop PC runs FC7 and XP. I use XP for games, keeping my accounts and photos etc - the problem is that all my important stuff is on XP and related NTFS hard drives and I'm too lazy to copy it all over. Furthermore, you can't get NFS Carbon and Oblivion for linux yet. The FC7 disk within the system is also a mucking about with linux disk, where it will regularly be reinstalled with whatever distro I fancy from time to time.

At work I use OSX, and I try to use the console (darwin / unix based) as much as possible because it helps me with my linux. I also have a live CD of Kubuntu that I use from time to time, but I'm really waiting for a nice and simple USB pendrive distro for PPC with persistency built in (no fussing about!). I also have to wait until I get a Intel Mac, because normal macs can't boot from USB! Grrrrr.

I used to have a BEOS partition, but it was a bit crap and unsupported at the time, so I got rid.

[luisito]

My laptop is running kubuntu only. I have another computer (HP z555) with a dual boot. I use Windows Media Center in that one only to record TV, because I can easily program it with the remote, the computer goes to sleep, wakes up to record the tv program, and then goes to sleep again. The linux alternatives didn't convince me (i.e. I didn't like mythTV). Other than that I use Kubuntu for everything.

[Thrasyllus]

Depends what you mean we switched from. I had Windows for a few weeks in 1998 and got tired of it crashing every time I was online, so I threw it out the window and have been with linux ever since. But I keep a DOS partition (running DR-DOS) for a couple of old programs I like - especially PC-Write, a state-of-the-art 1980s shareware editor with phenomenal macro capabilities. Simple machines are sometimes better at doing complicated things.

[paddymi0jpz]

been using linux for 5 years have 2 kids one 13 and one 10 who both prefer linux was using xandros for long time but have just changed to kubuntu and like what i see so far (prefer kde to gnome) wouldnt put windows in my bin and glad to see manufactures now offering linux long may it continue

[benhagerty]

I have been windows free for 1 month. I think I will stay with linux forever :) (except when I get my new laptop and it has vista on it and I play with that for a little :) )

[Pinnocchio]

Up until about 5 years ago I was a pure MS guy (I was actually on the original Windows Beta back when computers had no concept of ANYTHING bigger then VGA and 1MB of memory....I even remember moving from 286 to 386 32 bit computing!!).

I have a number of different machines doing different things from media servers to htpc boxes to old laptops that now fill a development test environment (guys old A series (A30p or A31p) thinkpads with the docking stations make great dev boxes....you only need one power supply including the screen - which will run at 1600x1200 and they will take 3 drives and a pci device, you can usually pick them up on e-bay for $200 or less, even if you use them as network monitoring tools or security boxes they're worth the money).

Last night I migrated my day to day laptop from dual boot XP to exclusive 2.6.22 kernel, the only machines now that have windows are my main desktop (dual boot - 90% time in Linux) and my htpc systems because VLC/Linux still doesn't work properly with AC3 passthrough on spdif - the minute it does they go fully linux.

The reason I made the move was because I'd spent a lot of money with MS over the years and with Vista it become blatently apparent that they were 'forcing' ridiculously high hardware requirements on people and calling it 'required security improvements', well hats off to the marketing people but more canny users have seen through this nonsense for years. Also IMHO Vista is absurdely overpriced for what it delivers and when they announced that by 2009/2010 I'd have to dump my XP installations because they'd be no longer security supported it became a no brainer.

There are certain things I will miss about MS, the cohesion of the platform (sorry guys the various 'nix distro's and subsequent 'turf wars' I just find a pain.....while I agree it generates innovation it also leads to a great deal of wasted time and resources). However all in all I won't look back.

As a footnote to this rambling message I would also say to people when you're talking to 'non techie' users they really don't care if it's Windows or 'nix....they just care about getting the job done.....if they can achieve that for 'free' (i.e. no Software licence cost) that's what get's their attention....but getting the job done is the first requirement.

[JumpmanXXIII]

I used to dual boot about 4 months ago until i found gtk-popstation and qpspmanager
these psp app was the only thing hanging on to windows

[ry4n]

My computers are but my girlfriend won't budge on her laptop, which is not so bad because for school i have to use things that are of course only for the windows platform. so to do my homework i would have to eat crow or do all my homework at school using a windows box.

[Sayers]

My computers are but my girlfriend won't budge on her laptop, which is not so bad because for school i have to use things that are of course only for the windows platform. so to do my homework i would have to eat crow or do all my homework at school using a windows box.

May I ask what?

[herrma29]

I use ubuntu almost exclusively. The only time I've booted into windows in the past 6 months was for using some features in excel that oo doesn't have for a stats class and so I could use the FAFSA website when applying for financial aid.

[misfitpierce]

I straight up switched over half a year ago... LINUX FTW! Wooooo

[Sayers]

I use ubuntu almost exclusively. The only time I've booted into windows in the past 6 months was for using some features in excel that oo doesn't have for a stats class and so I could use the FAFSA website when applying for financial aid.

Did you tell the teacher you use linux at home?

[Frak]

Man, if it wasn't for those games...

[herrma29]

Did you tell the teacher you use linux at home?

yup, it basically boiled down to find a suitable program for linux or head to the computer labs...

I actually did end up finding a spreadsheet program called gnumeric spreadsheet that had all of the necessary things I needed, but it wasn't until after the class ended that I found it.

[vexorian]

yup, it basically boiled down to find a suitable program for linux or head to the computer labs...

I actually did end up finding a spreadsheet program called gnumeric spreadsheet that had all of the necessary things I needed, but it wasn't until after the class ended that I found it.
that's odd, isn't gnumeric supposed to be more lightweight than Oo (and therefore have less features but better performance)?

Also, I just figured MSOffice can work quite well inside virtualBox, hey virtualbox works so well that I am even seeing wiping the windows partition viable since I can now do winapi development without it:) Now the only reason not to wipe the windows partition is the reason I share this computer with my brother...

[Alexander2007]

I have left windows permanently, I shall only use Mac and Linux.
Windows is a complete failure in my opinion (to many bugs, generally unstable, clunky and slow).
Ubuntu Linux on the other hand is stable, fast, and manages resources effectively.
Ubuntu Linux has shown me what I was missing, I've been using it since version 6.06, and have got to say that it is amazing. I enjoy having the ability to configure everything to my liking (if I don't like something I can fix it or get rid of it). I am also happy that my computer ACTUALLY WORKS, and is not asking me to "Please Wait" (VISTA) before I can get my task completed. I also love the fact that if a program should crash it doesn't send the entire system crashing with it. Linux/UNIX is also proven to manage memory much more efficiently than Windows.
I have been fully converted to the UNIX and Linux platform.

[Midahed]

I've been using Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty for about six weeks. I still have a Windows XP box upstairs, but it hasn't been powered-up for at least a month, and I plan to put Ubuntu on it sometime soon. I'll confess that I do have a small Windows 2000 guest OS running under VMware Server on my Ubuntu machine. This is only used to support a couple of Windows-only apps (Quicken and Info Select) that I've been running for many years. If I could find compatible Linux apps that offered the same functionality, I'd move them across and totally dump Windows tomorrow.

Mike

[liverpoolfc2]

Well been using Windows for some years now, decided to try this Linux OS out, and to my total amazement I'm actually getting the hang of it a lot faster than I thought was possible.

Decided on the Kubuntu set up, ok it went wrong on me twice so far, just done a complete re-install, but the fun is in the learning. Still run XP as a dual boot option, but being very honest I'm finding that I'm using Linux more and more. Went almost 2 weeks without running XP which ran fine for me, this morning I needed to go into XP to do some things and it took bloody ages to load up, why? because I haven't used it in 2 weeks? very strange. This is actually my first post on here, spent most of my time reading as a guest, then decided to join, have so far just kept reading everything that I can, the support on here is fantastic. Saying all that, by this time next year I honestly hope to be very clued up on this system and look forward to the day when I can say a permanent goodbye to windows.

BTW: Only decided to move to Ubuntu about 6 weeks ago, so I have a long way to go. Still amazed that I got just about everything that I would normally do in windows to work on Linux (not using wine). The support is Outstanding.

Big thanks to a great system and the people who support it and help out here.

[Milk & Toast & Honey]

Hi all, this is my first post :)

I use only linux on my laptop. It was about 1.5 years ago, I completely erased my windows partition from my laptop. I was dual booting before that time. Previously, I used openSuSE, then couple weeks ago, I give Feisty a try, and I really like it.

Feisty performance really outstanding, I don't even have to tweak it (like I did to openSuSE, but no offense SuSE). Well, now I don't need to buy a new laptop, because Feisty's performance really acceptable in this laptop.

I personally never use windows anymore. Feisty is my main os now. I used it for software development, and other common task.

But I have 1 pc that boots windows, because my family have a scanner that not supported by linux.

[pacsum]

From the first day I switched to Ubuntu it was definitely switch the only thing that it's still windows like on my pc it's the NTFS partition.

[aaron.dunlap]

completely switched a few years ago.... on my desktop and my laptop (servers have been BSD/Linux for a while.) never going back.... ever.

[Logical Dream]

Im still using W 'cos Im very new and nooby in Linux. I used UBUNTU 2 years ago and it was nightmare...after installation of UBUNTU after 2 years .... everything changed :)
I hope that this winter I will start with UBUNTU only.
All the time I want to ask somebody from where to start, but from my "windows" time I just know that I need experience, and some reading :)
So, Im glad that I can be part of this comunity and looking forward useing UBUNTU.

Big Up to All !

[irri]

I switched to Ubuntu completely two months ago, when my little brother, somehow, got my Windows Disk infected with Virus. Windows crashed on startup >_>

I really like Ubuntu now, and are not planing on going back to Microsoft's OP's.

[mrbungle]

i have been 8 months MicroSober :)

[Malh]

only thing keeping me from wiping out XP partition is LotRO, but for everything else i use ubuntu ^^

[sab0403]

I've been Windows-free for a couple of months on my laptop. The desktop can't be completely Windows-free since more people use the computer, plus I can't get the video capture card to work in Ubuntu (though I'm working on it).

I gotta say the shift has had its frustrating spots (for a while I was reinstalling the entire OS twice a day) but while I still have issues I accept the challenge of the learning curve. I do have to find time to install Vista though, working in IT I have to stay current... as much as I don't really like the OS.

Anyway this change has been a great learning experience, and I have noticed some improvement in my work (particularly with grep, regular expressions are amazing). So I'm one happy camper.

:popcorn:

[R_U_Q_R_U]

Love Ubuntu, but still run windows on one machine because I need the Adobe applications like InDesign and Photoshop. Scribus cannot read or write or come close to the functionality of InDesign. So XP is up an running :(

[amgeex]

I'm completely running on Linux since Dapper, I'm just late to this thread :P.

[Pekkalainen]

I just found a way to do internet banking without Windows wich was my only reason for keeping it on my desktop. My desktop dual boots win2k and ubuntu but I now plan to wipe the whole drive and install Debian. My laptop is running Ubuntu exclusively but I plan to change that to Debian as well but it is a later project. Why be satisfied with a derative? ;)

[Pyrollis Ah Firos]

Still have XP on my partitioned hard drive along with Ubuntu. Keeping that just in case I can't get something working in Ubuntu but can get it to work in XP. I'm not that L33T with Ubuntu just yet... JUST YET!!!! When that time come around, Good Bye Microsoft, it was nice knowing you and thanks for the horrible memories! :lolflag:

[Vaidya]

Wll, I started using Edgy and am onto Feisty now. I have been into Linux for about 5 months and byh now I have done away with XP altogether, though now I am having some residual problems with some websites and cannot install my copy of XP under wine/vm and am looking to set aside 10 GB on my HDD for XP... will find a way to install it I am sure.

Am happy with Feisty and having fun learning ...

[rahimveron]

Use Ubuntu for most of the time(almost all the time). But sometime net connection fails or become unsteady, so i boot into XP.

[alshurooqi]

# Installing a Canon i850 with CUPS on Debian
#
# This document shows to install CUPS on a PC running Debian GNU/Linux
# testing with a Canon i850 ink jet printer connected to the parallel
# port.
#
# No warranties of any kind. Use entirely at your own risk.
#
# AYM 2004-07-04: wrote the initial document
# AYM 2004-07-11: added a draft mode queue, using the Gimp-Print drivers


# Download and install CUPS

apt-get install cupsys
apt-get install cupsys-client
apt-get install cupsys-bsd # Needed for Mozilla (uses lpr(1))

# Download and install the Gimp-Print i850 drivers

apt-get install cupsys-driver-gimpprint
apt-get install cupsys-driver-gimpprint-data

# Download and install Canon's i850 drivers

apt-get install wget
apt-get install alien
wget ftp://download.canon.jp/pub/driver/bj/linux/bjfilterpixus850i-2.2-1.i386.rpm
wget ftp://download.canon.jp/pub/driver/bj/linux/bjfiltercups-2.2-1.i386.rpm
alien bjfiltercups-2.2-1.i386.rpm
# This one requires -c because it has an important postinstall script
alien -c bjfilterpixus850i-2.2-1.i386.rpm
dpkg -i bjfilterpixus850i_2.2-2_i386.deb
dpkg -i bjfiltercups-2.2-1.i386.rpm

# Create a CUPS print queue named "i850". This queue uses the Canon
# drivers and is for high-quality output.

lpadmin \
-p i850 \
-E \
-v parallel:/dev/lp0 \
-m canonpixus850i.ppd \
-D "Canon i850"

# Create a CUPS print queue named "i850-draft". This one uses the
# Gimp-Print drivers.

lpadmin \
-p i850-draft \
-E \
-v parallel:/dev/lp0 \
-m gimp-print/4.2/bjc-s800.ppd.gz \
-D "Canon i850 draft"
lpoptions -d i850-draft -o Density=500

# Make the draft-quality queue the default.

lpadmin -d i850-draft

# At this point, you should be able to print PostScript documents using
# lp(1) as usual. Restart OpenOffice and Mozilla and you should be able
# to print from these too. Remaining issue :
# - OpenOffice always uses A5 by default. Don't know how to change this.

[Beamerboy]

Completely switched to Linux including my iPAQ.

[frazle]

Don't think I'll ever make the switch completely as I play a lot of games on the PC which aren't available on linux (CSS for a start), but saying that I am intended to use linux for everything but gaming in future, switching machines when I need to, as I just prefer it.

[bomanizer]

I bought a cheap PC in 2004 and it came with Fedora. Since then I've been XP-only for short perioids, and nowadays I'm 100% Ubuntu. It's nice to be on that level where you don't have to do a reinstall anymore to fix things, altough I have a long way to go... still, I used the same Edgy installation for almost 9 months and now I'm counting 2 months with 7.04.

[raafaell]

ME! but i still have an MS partition for gaming. even i have the "freeze bug", witch i think it's a Kernel problem, i still love Ubuntu, i hope they fix this bug that i've mentioned. Thanks.


Viva o Linux. :)

[xdarkxanarchyx]

I'm been using GNU/Linux only for well over a year now. At the moment I still have a Windows partition because I couldn't get FFXI to work and my friend was begging me to play. I never really boot in to it though.. it'll be gone by the end of the week actually. Haha :)

[Frak]

ME! but i still have an MS partition for gaming. even i have the "freeze bug", witch i think it's a Kernel problem, i still love Ubuntu, i hope they fix this bug that i've mentioned. Thanks.


Viva o Linux. :)
Is it an Ubuntu problem, and if it is, post a bug report at launchpad.net (http://launchpad.net).
People posting bug reports is partially what keeps this project going.

[gl0wst1ckn1nja]

i use ubuntu for everything ... my laptop doesnt dual boot like some of yours ... im completely ubuntu ... the one thing i miss is the games for wondoze ... but the benefits of linux far outweigh games being the only good thing about ******* ... ive been using linux since Knoppix 1.5 i think so about 1-2 years

[jjasonj]

Hey all, Ive totally switched to ubuntu,jumped straight in as was sick of windozz, im a gamer too playing ut2004 everyday! If anything the game runs smoother and better.I duel booted windozz and linux for about a week and prefered Ubuntu as i didnt have antivirus and adware blockers to mess about with everyday!:guitar:

[decoherence]

Using Ubuntu since Warty

Using Debian since Potato

Used Free/NetBSD before then

IRIX before that.

What's this "Windows" thing people keep talking about??

[Nunu]

Bought Vista... Installed vista... Chucked it out the window on the high way after an incident that involved a brand new printer and a blue screen.

Been running Ubuntu since then. no looking back no regrets no blue screens.

[youspeakmylanguage]

I haven't used Windows for personal use on my own computer since 1999. I didn't have a working PC at home for a few years. Then in 2004 I inherited a box with a virus-riddled copy of XP on the hard drive and no backup disk. That sealed the deal for me. Since then I've become a M$ hater and a free software believer. I screwed around with a number of distros before settling on Ubuntu.

I will never go back to Windows for personal computing, although I have continually used it at work - no choice there. If free software ceased to exist I would stop using computers for personal use. I am strictly a PlayStation gamer*, so the lack of game compatibility doesn't bother me.

*Yes, I know RMS and the FSF don't like the proprietary nature of console gaming. I also know how evil Sony can be. I disagree with the RMS and the FSF on this issue and I still love my PS2.

[nichipet]

For my personal use, I last used Windows no later than 2003. I've always been a Mac person and first used Linux around 1996/1997 - Red Hat before Fedora was released.

Now I have an eMac with OS X and my Ubuntu laptop has been delivered, it's just waiting for me to pick it up, which will happen Friday afternoon (work gets in the way until then). I also have a Mac clamshell laptop running OS 9. It works, but I very rarely use it.

The specs on the Ubuntu laptop are:

Core 2 Duo T5500
2 GB RAM
160 GB HD
CD-RW/DVD-RW
Bluetooth
17" LCD (1440 x 900)
Intel GMA 950 graphics card
Ubuntu Studio 7.04

I may add a small (15-20 GB) partition to test Linux distro's to the laptop.

The eMac is something like:

1.6 Ghz
60 GB HD
OS X 10.3.9
Combo Drive (CD-RW/DVD read)
512MB RAM (might be 1 GB, I'm not in front of it)

The eMac is not a bad machine, but the laptop is a definite upgrade.

[Naralas]

I'm using Safari 3 on Windows XP right now. Hahahahahahahahaha

I keep XP around for some games. Thinking if I wanna be Microsofts bitch, I might as well just get an X-Box and format my Windows partition. WC3 and Starcraft both work on Wine-Linux anyway. (Damn well I might add)

You only sad thing is I have Hitman: Blood Money, and Call of Duty 2 for my PC. If I got an XBox it would probably be prudent to get those games for it because they are good. Why the fudge did I waste money on the PC versions? Well because.... I'm getting way off topic...

Anyway, I finally agree with my Dad. If you wan't to play video games get an XBox/PS/Nintendo *

[dakuran]

My laptop (inspiron b130) is full ubuntu, prior to fully switching over, the only game i ever played was fifa 06, i have nice usb controllers for them... Thats the only thing i miss about windows, I'm still somewhat intimidated by wine, so I haven't played with that option yet

[richardh]

Been trying to convert to Linux since 1997. installed some distribution or other, but nothing really could compete with MS til OpenOffice 2 became available - viz., it was not the OS but the applications that count.

Also I need both Cyrillic and Latin characters - the only OS that has really solved this problem is Ubuntu (in my experience).

Every time I buy a new laptop, I have a DOS partition and store old files. Originally, I would try to use Linux, but fail, and would have to move back to Windows applications.

On my latest laptop, I have not booted into Windows ever. No need.

Now the only reason for using Windows under Linux is to develop MS PowerPoint presentations because the computer provided at conventions and conferences where I present are Windows run.

By the way MS usually stands for multiple scelrosis - a hideous disease that robs sufferers of the ability to control their limbs. But with Vista, MS and MS seem to be converging in meaning.

[chief_officer]

At home, I have one desktop running openSuSE 10.2 and one notebook running Feisty.

At work, although I do not need, I am forced to use Windows eXtra Pain.

So, considering your question, I have completely switched to Linux.

[durfff]

I started using computers when I was 6 or 7, at the time my parents bought an Apple IIc. It was ace playing freefall or marble madness. Oh, and what a blast to plug it on the tv and play Boulder Dash in colour.

Then a 386 PC came along with windows 3.1, was alright. I started making BASIC and Pascal programs to keep me entertained. Still remember a few fun games, big up Bomberman. And the Indiana Jones trilogy, and Monkey Island and Sam & Max and.......

Then it was windows for a few years, going through 95, 98, and finally XP when I got my own computer (which is the one I'm writing on). XP served me well doing music recording and web developing, for a good 5 years solid, then started to crash on a 20 minutes basis, as opposed to the reasonable (I thought!) few hours or sometimes days of painless demanding work.

Then I bought a mac. Oh my, I miss it so much. A year and a half of pure pleasure. I could work, play, watch videos, listen to music, the only thing that machine couldn't quite do was cook the pizza I while I was doing that. Even so, I reckon a few wires and some scripting and it would have told me when it's ready and what temperature the oven's at, but I digress. What an awesome machine.

I still hate the arseholes who stole it.

So had to go back to my old PC, and after a few weeks of being fed up with stupid stupid stupid error messages and BSOD's, I tried out Ubuntu. Bit of fiedling about for someone completely new to Linux, but the community is great and I sorted my little issues in no time. And I adore ubuntu, I just installed the Kubuntu package and I'm doing work and laughs and loads of things exclusively from ubuntu (I've not actually booted windows for a week now).

The only reason I still use windows is Photoshop. However I'm in the process of installing it via VirtualBox. If it works I'll be happy to wipe out that ugly ntfs partition.

All in all, I'd still want a new Mac, but the ubuntu experience is definitely not ending there: I love the community too much, but more importantly using ubuntu reminds me of these years when computing was fun, not corporate and dollars.

Converted to open-source :D

[spigolo]

Installed my first slackware on a 4MB machine back in 93, and had linux installed on every machine since, trying out various distros.
i completely switched though only 2 years ago because i had stupid isps that didn't allow me to use linux in internet, but since i bought a little router i never booted windows, and will never again.
now i have opensuse on an old pentium machine and ubuntu on the imac. just love it.

[Martje_001]

I've completely moved to Linux. I can game on Linux too...

[thorgal]

never used windows until recently because of a stupid job (which I resigned from a few days ago anyway). Don't give a damn about *******, I have been a slackware then redhat then debian user (12 years of linux). I use in particular ubuntu studio on a dedicated machine for pro audio work, works really nice :D I also build my own PCs which mostly run debian (like my small form factor multimedia server running mythtv stuff).

[davidtv]

I've been through Win 3.1, 95, 98, ME, 2000 and XP. Changed to Ubuntu last yearm and haven't looked back. I got rid of the win partition after three months, and I dont miss it. Linux is just so much more configurable, and fits my needs almost perfect. Now, if only Macromedia would release Dreamweaver and Fireworks for Linux, it would be 100% :KS

[hessiess]

me:)

[beefcurry]

After I touched a Wii, Windows ceased to exsist inside of me. and it dissapeared from my hard discs forever.

[edward4130]

I still have 2 machines running Mac OS X and one running Feisty/mythtv.

i dont have ******* and just dont have any reason to ever use it. I don't play any games that require it, if I was a gamer maybe I would suffer with it.

-edward4130

[upthelum]

I still have a dual-boot with xubuntu and xp but sure to ditch windows when i get everything i need to work in Linux.

[Washi]

To be honest this is my 3rd post on this topic, I have a simple rule, if it doesn't run under Ubuntu GNU/Linux, or Wine, its not worth the trouble, I am an IT Administrator, IT Consultant, Gamer, and Game Designer in my spare time (Yeah like I have much of that these days)

I started out using Apple II, and IIe, ZX81 Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Dr DOS 9, Windows 95 (We were in the test group, they still haven't fixed all the problems we told them about, we actually told them how we fixed them), 98SE, XP, Red hat 5, Red hat 9.2, Red hat AS 2, Mandrake 10, and Ubuntu, not all in that order.

I advise most of my customers to try GNU/Linux as they don't use the Microsoft junk apps, and those apps they do use, I already tested under wine.

I have never actually seen a company that truly needs Microsoft for anything. All the large companies in Taranaki where I am have Linux servers, and Autocad type apps, most are trying to move to Open Source, even my bank i have accounts with runs Linux, Their admin is in our Linux user group.

[SOULRiDER]

I switched to linux around a year ago but i was dualbooting. When i started this semester is march i dumped windows for good, and now that i borrowed my friends gamecube i KNOW its NEVER coming back :)

[Larkshall]

I started out using Apple II, and IIe, ZX81 Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Dr DOS 9, Windows 95 (We were in the test group, they still haven't fixed all the problems we told them about, we actually told them how we fixed them), 98SE, XP, Red hat 5, Red hat 9.2, Red hat AS 2, Mandrake 10, and Ubuntu, not all in that order.

I advise most of my customers to try GNU/Linux as they don't use the Microsoft junk apps, and those apps they do use, I already tested under wine.

I started in a similar way, Sinclair QL, Amiga 600 & 1200, then the rot set in, Windows 95/98/XP. When I started with the QL (Queer Lump) I also started a branch of QUANTA (Ql Users ANd Tinkerers Association). The group still exists after nearly 19 years, as the Mid Anglia Computer User Meetings. I started early this year with Ubuntu. I still keep a notebook with XP to run some Windows specific hardware (when it packs up I shall not replace it). I was secretary of a local branch of the Cyclists' Touring Club, and persuaded our officers to use Open Office as a standard Office Suite.

I run four web domains with Ubuntu, Open Office, the Gimp and gftp. I have found that gftp tends to transfer the files with the access restricted to the administrator, so have to reset the permissions with "CHMOD". I use a lot of .pdf's on the websites, it makes it better for printing out and also makes it easy for members with poor eyesight to magnify it to a size suitable for them to read (dividing an A4 page into two columns as well). I do this to try to comply with the UK Disability Discrimination Act.

I am now 78 and can do without the Windows aggravation.

[ghiocel]

When I bought my computer it had already Ubuntu installed. I liked it and I didn't feel the need to install Windows..it's a bit hard to get to grips with the new OS..but with the help I receive on this great forum, it's OK.

[nichipet]

When I bought my computer it had already Ubuntu installed. I liked it and I didn't feel the need to install Windows..it's a bit hard to get to grips with the new OS..but with the help I receive on this great forum, it's OK.

Out of curiosity, which computer did you buy? Always good to know who offers computers with Ubuntu preinstalled, and which ones people are buying.

[Frak]

@nichipet, I'm not ghiocel, but System76 and Dell are great providers.

[nichipet]

@nichipet, I'm not ghiocel, but System76 and Dell are great providers.

That's true. I just bought one from ZaReason and I looked at the two you mentioned quite a bit as well.

[RichardR98]

I switched over about 2 months ago when I discovered Hugin and figured out how to use it. The only reason I still keep a box running XP is:
1. driver support for my Canon iP5000 is very buggy. I may just go buy a new
Epson or HP printer if I give up on linux support for my Canon printer.
2. I haven't found a linux substitute for TurboTax yet.
3. I haven't found a slideshow program that will display (pan across) the great
panoramas I am making with Hugin. I am slowly searching through all the
slideshow programs I can find trying to find one which will pan across my
newly created panoramas. Any help here would be appreciated.
Except for these 3 pieces of software I am totally Windows free.

[lancest]

Linux user since '97. I rarely use Windows anymore as Ubuntu does it all! The quality of my computing experience is very high using Linux. I love the security, simplicity, speed and ease of updating/software installation/ hardware support. Also the wonderfully addictive 6 month release cycle! People I meet are starting to see the light.

[jasonpraxis]

I had been dual booting XP for a while, but last week installed 7.04 exclusively on the desktop. My experience has been so positive that when the new laptop arrives I'll wipe Vista and install 7.04 on it.

[vadania]

I use Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn at home and I'm pretty happy with it. I don't have dual boot - Ubuntu is enough for me! I keep 2 Virtual Box VM, one with Windows XP (to remember how bad it works!) and another with CentOS 4.

I play pretty much of my spare time:
Globulation 2 (http://www.globulation2.org),
Nexuiz (FPS)
Open Arena (a little buggy implementation of Quake 3 arena)
Savage (all-in-one: RPG+RTS+FPS, see at http://newerth.com/)
SuperTux - Ubuntu packages from repository
TuxKart - Ubuntu packages from repository
Warsow (FPS) www.warsow.net/
WarZone 2100 (RTS) http://wz2100.net/downloads

I still miss voice chat, but I'm not going back to (Stone age) Windows XP, let alone Vista.

[MatthewAPeters]

I dual-booted my desktop at work when Edgy came out. I have XP running in VM and a Win2003 terminal server session (for office Outlook - no good GPL product that works cleanly with Exchange, IMHO) - the VM is for commercial dev products not available for Linux platforms.

My home laptop is dual-booted, and Feisty became my primary OS after XP choked on a bad block. I recovered my critical files with Ubuntu, created an XP in Virtualbox, and there you have it - a dual OS system: one desktop is Feisty, the other is XP. I use Feisty whenever I can, because is SOOOOO much faster than XP, and use XP for things I have to.

I am so much happier with Synaptec over Windows update, and the improved security model in Linux (read: no antivirus, except in the XP Virtual Box!) - I don't know why M$oft doesn't give up on the OS and just sell a .NET -for-Linux layer for their Office, SQL Server, Media Player, and other products; I bet they would have more success with that than Vista!

[Quillz]

I dual-booted my desktop at work when Edgy came out. I have XP running in VM and a Win2003 terminal server session (for office Outlook - no good GPL product that works cleanly with Exchange, IMHO) - the VM is for commercial dev products not available for Linux platforms.

My home laptop is dual-booted, and Feisty became my primary OS after XP choked on a bad block. I recovered my critical files with Ubuntu, created an XP in Virtualbox, and there you have it - a dual OS system: one desktop is Feisty, the other is XP. I use Feisty whenever I can, because is SOOOOO much faster than XP, and use XP for things I have to.

I am so much happier with Synaptec over Windows update, and the improved security model in Linux (read: no antivirus, except in the XP Virtual Box!) - I don't know why M$oft doesn't give up on the OS and just sell a .NET -for-Linux layer for their Office, SQL Server, Media Player, and other products; I bet they would have more success with that than Vista!
Yes, Microsoft should just give up on the OS business entirely, they've obviously failed as they only have 90% of the market and rake in billions a year. And yeah, they probably would have more success selling .NET-for-Linux layers than they would with Vista. Vista was a total failure, it only managed to sell nearly twice as many units as XP did just a few months after it launched.

[olieviya]

I use Linux for everything, but I have windows installed.
If I want to quickly play a game and want it to work so the other players don't have to wait I just install it on XP but that would be the only time I boot it, which is quite rare.

[Quillz]

I use Linux for everything, but I have windows installed.
If I want to quickly play a game and want it to work so the other platers don't have to wait I just install it on XP but that would be the only time I boot it, which is quite rare.
If you just use XP for gaming, wouldn't it be worth trying to get VirtualBox working? It sounds like you have to reboot into another partition.

[MatthewAPeters]

How much of those sales were OEM? How many were to Dell, who turned around and put Ubuntu on the box? How many folks have opted to switch to a Linux distro instead of updating to Vista? How many switched AFTER going to Vista?

I'm not calling M$oft a failure, or even their products - I live in Redmond, for crying out loud - I'm damn proud of the home team - but there isn't much that a Windows OS offers that is of exclusive benefit anymore: I hear the new command line is nice (even better than bash, according to some), but they cling to a single file system, and their "new" security model looks an awful lot like a *nix knock-off. Don't know if they've bothered to add light-weight tools like grep, sed, or symbolic links yet, but then again, maybe these goodies are too "high-tech" for the average bear - except the average bear on an Ubuntu forum...

[Quillz]

Sales are sales, it doesn't matter how the copies of Vista were sold, as long as they were sold. The point is that Vista is a success, just like every other previous release of Windows, at least everything from Windows 3 onward.

[11touche]

Well the Dell thing was quite interesting. Why did Dell put Ubuntu available on their machines if Vista was so nice ?
Look, I never really tried Vista, I'm a complete switched Ubuntu user, but I don't think it can be called a success since many friends told me it was crappier than XP and lots of things were unsupported (ok you will say on nux too but HEY it's a FREE os... not 500$ down on the wallet) and it is sluggish compared to nux.
Anyways, I'm now a complete Ubuntu user at home, and as I already said somewhere here, I'll never come back to Microsoft stuff. I can also use my old laptop with DeliLinux, over ssh -X to get a kinda "triple-screen" setup to manage my chat applications. Something I couldn't do with Windows. Oh, and did I mention that I feel WAY more secure on Linux? How many of you got severe damages with viruses under nux? And now, how many of you NEVER got damages under Windows? .....
oh, I see... I am right on that one :P:lolflag:

Ubuntu, would you marry me ?

[RebounD11]

I switched to Linux for good :D... any Linux is better than Windows :D

[Taum]

I've not completely switched, but I use a Unix based machine (at home) exclusively for web browsing.

I still have too many games on my Windows machine to drop it completely.

[Frak]

Today I am officially Windows free, I'm only running Ubuntu and Debian.

[Dread Knight]

I'm using only Ubuntu and Oss.

I've also converted my parents to Ubuntu/Xubuntu and oss... and some of my friends.

[newman]

I'm using Ubuntu and windows XP on my desktop, windows XP on one laptop, and Ubuntu or other linux on my other laptop (I'm a distro **** and keep reinstalling a new version every other day!)
I just got a new Dell dual-core system for my parents. It came with Vista Premium and 2 GB memory. I think Vista looks nice, but it's sluggish as hell. I'm running Ubuntu with Compiz on a much older PC and it kicks ***! I imagine it would fly on the new Dell!

[newman]

Oh, and I would get rid of windows XP and run only Ubuntu if I could find a simple way to run my ATI HDTV card and copy DVD's with a native Linux app.

[Brightbelt]

This is not likely to happen anytime soon for me. I've heard that Suse is really the most reliable distro in terms of support for professional applications. Unfortunately, my last effort to install Suse almost wiped out my windows partition, so I'm hesitant to risk it again.

I work in pro audio on several levels -> studio recording, CD burning and labeling, mastering and more. So, in terms of competing to support quality plugins and other professional level audio software, Linux - even Ubuntu Studio - doesn't even come close I'm sorry to say. I've tried Ardour 2.0, but where could I get Linux-based quality plugins that even halfway compare with what I'm used to ? Plus, I'd have to factor in the time it would take for me to search the net and to configure and test everything.

Not to offend anyone, but Linux is sort of like a college student, in that it is idealistic, forward thinking, into open source, and certain that it knows what is wrong with the world and certain that it will never "sell out".

Don't get me wrong; I like Linux a lot and I have 2 dual-boots with XP/Ubuntu Studio and Kubuntu/Vista. But I feel it's important to be honest and clear about reality when comparing Linux to other pro OS's.

Having a good philosophy is grand and I believe in Open Source as well, but Linux will not make it if its disciples stay in a dream world and think that MS will just -poof!- go away someday and Linux will rise like the sun and have all the answers.

One fellow poster whom I read stated that Apple is now the Darth Vador of the industry (I'm on a mac now :)) and that MS is more like Jaba The Hutt !!

So hey, who knows? Maybe UBUNTU will change things, like it already is starting to with Dell. I guess my point is that there is a lot more grey territory out there than meets the eye. MS is already starting to bend to Open Source in many ways.

And not everybody wants to learn code --> even many smart people who could learn it, and are more than intelligent enough to master it if they wanted to, do not want to learn code. It's just a matter of what priorities one has.

To fanatically cling to the idea that in some ideal world, everybody should know how to do some code on their systems is just a ridiculous notion I'm sorry to say. You're being just as stubborn and hard-nosed as a 4th grade English teacher who hates certain phrases in the English language and who slashes a homework paper with red ink as a result.

I guess this was my rant for the week.....:guitar:

Thanks,...Frank B.

[el_poderoso]

Completely windows free for 5 months. When I get a better PC, I will install VMWare, which works well for occasional win app use, such as doing your taxes.

[AusIV4]

I've been mostly windows free since last december. For quite a while, I had a dual boot and had to use Windows about once a month. Now Windows has been demoted to VMWare. I need it occasionally for school projects that require obscure applications that have no Linux alternatives.

As far as Brightbelt's comment about Linux being overly idealistic, I have a few thoughts. I used to agree. I saw a few geeks using Linux, and thought they were using an inferior operating system for idealistic reasons. I had a roommate who was always fighting with his Slax machine, trying to keep it running smoothly, so I avoided Linux like the plague.

Then my roommate gave up on Slax and switched to Ubuntu. I was amazed how much more productive he became. I brought an old desktop to school from home and installed Ubuntu on it. Over the next few months, I became hooked.

Ubuntu doesn't require much - if any - programming ability. It's much easier to install than Windows, and all of the software a typical user will need is pre-installed, much of the rest is just a few clicks away using Synaptic. Other distros may be a different story, but my girlfriend (who knows nothing about programming) got along fine with Ubuntu for several months as she saved up for a Mac. I don't know where you get the idea that the Ubuntu community expects users to learn how to program.

Admittedly, there are a few applications that really require Windows. If you need top of the line software for a particular field, or need output to be compatible with proprietary systems, you may need Windows to run it, but not only are the open source alternatives rapidly improving, they offer the functionality a majority of users need.

[Frak]

Awsome AusIV4, but would you consider Ubuntu Desktop Ready yet? From your point of view, do you think its ready to play with the big boys?:-k

P.S. (Dell does)

[tez1982]

I got my computer hacked so I'm never going back to Windows, been running ubuntu for a few months now.

Only thing I really miss is a decent video editor

[laxmanb]

I use MS Windows bcoz:
a. Games
b. MS Office

[gtr225]

I've completely switched about a year ago and haven't looked back.

[ghiocel]

I have an AMD Athlon. I had never heard of Ubuntu before, but I gave it a try 'cause I was too lasy to install windows. My boyfriend has bought a similar computer and installed Windows XP, but was sorry even during the installation, when he encountered lots of problems. On top of that I was telling him that there is no comparison between UBUNTU :KS and Windows..

[schizoman]

I made the switch as soon as I started reading about Vista. It hasn't been without problems, but overall I'm happy as a clam. I still have to use Monopolysoft at work for print ads and sign making, as well as a few industry-related web sites that require IE to function properly. However, I'm sneaking Ubuntu in as a firewall/proxy, so we'll see what the future holds....

[bigyoy]

I've made about a 75% swap - things I need windows for are:

Games - although I have little time for them at the moment
iTune support for my iPod - I'm using amarok but some mp3s I have put onto my iPod through it don't work and cause it to reboot which proved too annoying, at least iTunes vets the mp3s and fixes them.
BitTorrent - I've tried for ages to get it working but still no luck :(

however, things I have switched over to ubuntu for and find great:

website development - bluefish and php/mysql works well
internet and email - much more secure
watching films and tv - linux does it just as well

I'm a big fan, if I had more time I would like to learn more but it serves my purposes for now as a casual user.

[panther_sn]

I have completly switched, I had a dual boot Win XP and Ubuntu, and when I hadn't loaded Windows in a month I reformatted and have ONLY ubuntu now, and I won't go back, and neither will the missus, we are looking at buying her a new laptop, and they all seem to come with Vista standard, she has already decided that, and these were her words,
"As soon as we get the bloody thing home, the first thing you are doing is reformatting and putting Ubuntu on it"

[thorgal]

maybe you don't need to buy vista with it. You can ask to have the laptop purchased WITHOUT ******* ... or get refund for something you will never use anyway.

I know Dell is quite flexible with these things. I don't know much about other brands but I am sure some are also flexible enough.

[panther_sn]

Dell might be, but certainly not in Aus, and most places we can get a laptop, unless we want to pay through the roof, Just say No its preinstalled you can't get it without

[gtr225]

Originally I started messing around with Linux with Red Hat 9. Then I tried Fedora Core 1 and 2 and dual booted cause I was still learning about Linux and there was some games and apps I still used on Windows. Then for the longest I was living with a roommate so it was Windows all the time there. Once I moved out and got my own PC going I knew I wanted to use Linux again. I was using Fedora Core 4 and Windows 98 when it came to a point that I was no longer even rebooting anymore to use Windows, so I figured why waste a hard drive on an OS I'm not even using. I formatted the Windows drive to the ext3 file system and never (really) looked back. After Fedora Core 5 I made the switch to Ubuntu 6.10 after trying the Live CD and seeing that Ubuntu worked better with my hardware and seemed a little quicker and didn't suffer some of the same bugs that were bothering me in Fedora. Not to knock on Fedora Core, it just was too bleeding edge for me. Afterwards I've only attempted to install Windows XP on a handful of occasions because I wanted to use Netflix's Instant Watching feature which is currently windows only. After trying to install XP on an unused HDD, the HDD broke. It think it was because I dropped it, but I'm blaming it on Windows, the insidious poison that is XP killed the hdd. Since then I haven't looked back. It also appears Linux support from Netflix should be coming in the near future using Microsoft Silverlight.

[Martje_001]

After trying to install XP on an unused HDD, the HDD broke. It think it was because I dropped it, but I'm blaming it on Windows, the insidious poison that is XP killed the hdd.
:lolflag:

[abrianb]

Yesterday I reinstalled Feisty and reformatted the entire drive to Linux. No more Windows XP. The move to Ubuntu came about because of a lack of satisfaction with Windows. I ran dual boot for about a month. Then I realized that every time Windows was booted up a bad experience would follow.LONG boot times, sluggish response, I would be pissed by the time I got to do what I wanted. I know I could have reinstalled XP and I would get the performance back, as long as I wanted to live dangerous and not update.
( I feel that Windows update is kinda of like Buying a sports car that needs a safety recall every Tuesday that involves putting 25lbs of lead into the car. Pretty soon no more sports car. ) I use an old system with a celeron 1.4GHz proccessor but all the components work well even my old 5400 rpm hard drive. Call me crazy but I feel that as long as I keep my system maintained I feel that I should not loose performance over time. Since installing Ubuntu I have enjoyed better performance than I got when the system was new. For instance, last night we had a lightning storm and I turned the system off and unplugged it. This morning it took 1min 28 sec. to be up and on the net. With windows I would have still been starring at that logo.
Does Ubuntu need improvement? Sure there are things that can be improved. Some things are hard to get to work (printers for instance) but once you get them working it stays working. Long term Linux users tell me that they love it. I think its for me.

[gtr225]

One thing I love about Ubuntu is that it works! It's seems like such a simple thing but with Windows there is a new problem everyday. With Ubuntu (like you said) it's runs like new all the time. It's just incredibly rock solid compared to other OSes out there.