I quit using Microsoft Corporation products and services tonight

[thatguruguy]

Switching from Windows 7 64 bit to Ubuntu 64 bit meant that I had to give away a lot of PC hardware such as an Iomega eGO Plus portable hard disk drive and a USB HDTV tuner. This is considerable and it should not be underestimated. I lost several hundreds of gigabytes of data that I had to painstakingly recreate from scratch which took me weeks. There is a cost to migrating to free and open source operating systems and software. Today, things are better. Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit is a hell of a lot more secure than Windows 7 64 bit. It's a heck of a lot faster too. I like the fact that none of my media data is wrapped up in encryption or DRM. It gives me the freedom to share it with family members and friends.

Windows 7 64 bit is a good operating system. However, my needs changed over the past two years and I wanted something different. Ubuntu fills the need for now.

I may switch to PC-BSD as my next move in a year or two from today.

I use a USB hdtv tuner on my Mythbuntu box. Which tuner did you have?

Also, did you post a support request on the Iomega drive? It seems that some others have had issues with it in Linux, but have been able to resolve them.

[mhpathfinder]

I'm a computer tech/consultant. Most of my clients use Windows 7, or Windows XP. I suspect that after this month, a number will have Windows 8 on their systems as well. Thus, I am compelled to have Microsoft Windows on at least one of my work and testing computers just to know what sort of issues and challenges may arise for my clients, and that I can find a fix for them.

Consequently, I have two dual-boot Ubuntu/MS Windows laptops among my eight computers for business and home. As a computer tech/consultant, I am also an avid advocate for Ubuntu, and other free and open source operating systems and programs. The best fix for OS problems and software glitches is, in my opinion, to abandon Microsoft Windows altogether and use Ubuntu for a rock-solid, secure system and platform for hundreds of wonderful free and open source applications and programs.

My primary laptop is an Acer Aspire One 10.1-inch netbook D270-1828, with an N2600 Intel Atom dual core processor, 2gb RAM memory, running Ubuntu 12.04 on a Scandisk 240gb solid state drive. Before I installed the solid state drive, I had a dual-boot Ubuntu/Win7 system, but Windows erred in creating a backup system image and I lost my entire Win7 system. This also means that I would have to find a Win7 Premium Home version disk to use my Windows product key and restore it, as well as re-install all of the programs that were on it.

I decided to nix the Win7 reinstall. In Ubuntu, I only have to back up my home folder. Everything is there. If I need to reinstall Ubuntu, all of my settings, documents and folders are ready, and only a few minor tweaks has the Ubuntu system up and running.

It's nice working in a desktop environment like Ubuntu's Unity. I appreciate that Ubuntu has developed a system that adapts to the behaviors of the user, bringing up the most used applications on the dashboard, and a one-key ALT click to get to the command line, as well. I also enjoy not being prompted every five minutes for an Adobe, Java or other update while I'm in the middle of an essay, blog entry or other project.

There was one other little annoying glitch in the Windows system. The display would shake once in a while, as if there was some power issue. However, the Ubuntu system would be rock-solid and unshakable all of the time. So, I'm happy to be rid of the glitch, of Windows7, as well, at least on my primary laptop. Maybe one day I'll have more clients with open source operating systems on their computers than my Windows clients. But, then, I probably won't get as many service calls to remove viruses, spyware and adware from people's systems.

Amen.
MH

[Welly Wu]

I had an AverMedia Volar ATSC USB 2.0 HDTV and NTSC Tuner. It only works with Microsoft Windows 7 Media Center. I gave it to my best friend since he uses Microsoft Windows 7 64 bit Home Premium Service Pack 1. I provide him with help and support on Windows 7 64 bit and Ubuntu 12.04.1 64 bit LTS.

I also gave him the Iomega eGo Plus 500 GB USB 3.0 portable hard disk drive. I know that I can turn off the Iomega encryption permanently, but that would erase the data that is stored on it and 500 GB is kind of small by today's standard and I have no use for it since I upgraded my storage capabilities this year to multi-terabyte hard disk drives and high speed FLASH storage.

I am better off without Microsoft products and services. I just saved myself $140 USD by not upgrading to Windows 8 Pro 64 bit and Office 2013 Home Premium subscription. LibreOffice Writer is compatible with Microsoft Word 2010 and 2007 and I can still use Mozilla Firefox as my web browser. I don't need much more.

Ubuntu has a steeper learning curve than Windows 7 64 bit for most people since they use Windows, but it is easier to use on a daily basis and there are far fewer problems even with Beta 2 and Release Candidate developmental releases. Windows 7 can crash unexpectedly and randomly resulting in BSODs. Ubuntu is a lot more reliable and stable. Windows 7 barely comes with any useful software applications while Ubuntu has the Software Center and tens of thousands of high quality and useful software packages most of which are free. Windows and Office are expensive. Ubuntu is free.

Getting rid of Windows 7 64 bit freed up 54 GB of disk space on my Crucial M4 128 GB SATA-III SSD which is nearly half the entire storage capacity. I also reduced the wear and tear by using Ubuntu exclusively which will protract the useful service life of my System76 PC.

It was expensive to say goodbye to Windows 7 64 bit, but the additional hidden costs of maintenance and the need to keep buying specialized software applications and utilities to maintain Windows 7 64 bit got out of control. I try to stick with free and open source software packages as much as possible to keep my cost structure as low as possible. Over time, Windows 7 64 bit got slower and less reliable. It also kept eating up more disk space even with uninstalling software and cleaning up the system.

The biggest problem facing Windows and OS X are the number of people that are attacking both of them worldwide. There are just too many 0 day vulnerabilities and exploits that are targeting Microsoft and Apple customers daily on a worldwide scale that it is unfathomable. Ubuntu is not perfect, but there aren't a lot of incentives to target us when the lions share of attacks go toward Microsoft and Apple customers.

I can compute in peace now that I use Ubuntu. Next weekend, I plan to completely harden Ubuntu 12.10 64 bit after its official release on October 18th, 2012. I am not going to add untrusted PPAs and I am not going to add any more third-party software packages or applications anymore in the future. Ubuntu is going to be extremely secure and safe to use by the end of next week for me and it will be usable.