What would cause one to leave Windows for Ubuntu?

[Hmarroqu]

******* borked itself, plus to much crap out there in that place called the internet i feel is a hassle to gaurd myself from.

ubuntu is free, have found all equivalents to the apps i need, more reliable, more customizable, plus 3d desktop rools

[FlyingPenguin542]

Why I switched? hmmm.

- security issues. All the antispyware/adware/virus+firewall software was sucking the LIFE outta my system.
- forever having to clean up after my own OS
- spending WAY too much time RUNNING said antispyware/adware/virus software, defragging, jumping through hoops to optimize anything.
- having to jump through hoops and find hacks to remove stupid things like NetMeeting, Outlook (i used thunderbird), Office costing like $600,
- those "genuine windows checks" BUGGED ME.
- things NEVER REALLY UNINSTALLING. unless you trolled through the registry for hours w/ a fine-tooth comb.
- i'm addicted to customization. It makes me feel all fuzzy inside when i know that MY computer doesn't look OR act like everyone elses.
- D. R. M. Burn it, shove a stake in its heat, and call it a freakin shishkabob
- authority makes my brain twitch and rebel
- the idea of free software, freedom, and open code w/ people working together appeals to me.
- Micro$oft has questionable business ethics and has forgotten how to serve their consumers. Instead they treat them like cattle.
- I wanted to learn something new

- if you want PURE honesty- if i could, i would buy an Apple. I'm a pre-graphic design major. Thankfully, the base classes are traditional-media art, so i have time to save up for one. If I could, I would run Linux for everything, but the fact remains: it doesnt natively support industry-standard graphics programs, aka photoshop and adobe in general. Not the open-source movements fault, just the software companies. and the only way to get them to make software NATIVE is to make the potential market grow.

that being said, for normal everyday stuff- Linux (and Ubuntu) is the way to go. No questions asked. Security, reliability, great support, fast, and MUCH more lightweight IMO.

ISSUES
- wireless cards are... well, annoying. i've got a Broadcom one and still havent managed to get it to work. i'm thinking about buying a new one, cuz I'm due anyways. it was having issues under windows, and the linux change just accentuates em. (anyone have good suggestions for a new card? one that'll work well w/ ubuntu?)
- as i said above, native support for adobe suite and other such things is def. needed. there are many ppl i know that WOULD switch, but can't because of that. but that will come with time
- 64-bit ubuntu can be a little tricky because 64-bit processors are newish and such. If you have one, be sure to look into the issues and how to get around them, decide if you wanna take that on or just stick w/ normal 32bit

However, those are minor issues. Ubuntu was incredibly easy to install, and using packages is awesome. The terminal (apt-get in particular, and dpkg -i) sounds scary, but its not- and having that direct control is kind of addicting. Things get done a LOT faster than when you're working w/ a GUI.

I'll stop talking now. If you;ve gotten this far, thanks for reading.

-Drea

[neufelry]

there were a myriad of reasons before i started. Price, exploration, etc. Now that I've made the move i will be staying because of many more things: Community, repositories, powe.

[lazyart]

For me it was a curiousity that just grew and grew. I still have my Windows boxes (actually I run a 2003 server and 4 XP clients for the wife and kids) and occasionally have to log into my other box for something, but it's rare. I really have a lot of fun with Ubuntu... it just does more and more than I thought it would (I think I kept my expectations low and therefore have allowed myself to be amazed) and it's really not that hard-- just understand that the terminal is your friend. Even MS has realized this and is beefing up their commandline tools in the next Server release, but I digress... The licensing for Vista is not the reason I made the move, but it's a good reason to not venture back to Windows.

I just put Feisty on a spare machine (2 Ghz P4, 512 RAM) and it's amazing. The install is just so freakin' quick compared to an XP setup (I've yet to install Vista but I can't image it's faster) that it's almost unreal. And OMG, Beryl!

I surf, and email and run the Open Office apps. I really don't need a whole lot of processing power anyway. I'm a certified IT pro and spend all day in Windows. I come home and relax in Ubuntu. It's a beautiful thing.

[raymac46]

I have two aging Dell Dimension 4100 desktops that were running Windows Me. When support ended for that O/S I upgraded one of them to XP. I didn't want to pay for another XP license so I got a free Breezy CD from a local computer shop.
I've since learned about downloads and ISO burning, so my second old desktop now runs Feisty and connects via a wireless PCI card.
I found an even older Pentium II laptop at a recycling depot - beautiful shape but struggling to run Windows 95.
I installed a lightweight Linux distro on it so now I have 3 antiques - one XP and two Linux systems.
The laptop is now even wireless - amazing when you think that it originally connected to the net with a 56K modem.
I don't know how I'd have resurrected the two old PCs without Linux. XP was too expensive and the old laptop would have had trouble even running it.

[tbrminsanity]

I started my full conversion to Ubuntu through school. I needed a fast OS that I could do simple word processing on, and it had to support all the common file types out there (doc, corel, LaTeX, etc). I started with Xubuntu. I quickly became impressed by the extra things my crappy laptop (compaq armada 1750) could do with Xubuntu that it would die doing with Windows. I then took the plunge to Ubuntu and it still surprises me every day. I now find that I don't use Windows anymore. Even my wife (a proud windows users since the DOS days) has taken the plunge over to Ubuntu. And with WINE I can run all my Windows programs that I can't live without (WOW, Civ 4, Sims 2, Nero, and quicktime).

[BobSongs]

Aww, let me take a crack at this. Okay, let's review the question: "What would cause one to leave Windows for Ubuntu?"

Now to answer it and then add some comments.

First I want to say that I don't have the time to review every posted comment. I figure the person who posted this question (you know who you are) is interested in finding answers. So, here's mine.

Attacks
I agree with some of the posts I have read so far: rootkits, spyware, malware, popups, trojans, 114,000 viruses, and the general crud (I've heard it called "cruft") that lines the hard drive and eventually causes 2.5 minute boot up times and extremely slow responses. This sort of thing might push some people to move away from Windows. But in most cases they just bring their PCs in to be "fixed". And they're right back where they started.

Overspending
Price is a consideration as well. Some are looking at the pricing situation and are quite unimpressed with the idea of paying for Vista in order to get less than what XP offered along with a slower system. But most people just end up inheriting Vista because it's sprayed on to the new PC's hard drive.

Freedom
DRM issues, software activation, all that stuff. Yeah. Some folks will switch because of these reasons. But I find that only people who actually think and learn are concerned about these issues.

But these are not major problems with your rank-and-file PC user. You know who I'm talking about: the dude that clicks the red X in an embedded web page ad because he thinks he's closing a box, loads the link it represents and has no clue how he got to this page. The one who thinks DRM is a medical practitioner.

Many PCs sit in people's homes today because they think they need one. My neighbor has been using his XP box for a couple of years. Had a problem he asked me to look at. My first thought? What antivirus is he running? What anti-spyware has he got installed? Answer? None. This is the type of user that will merrily carry on buying Vista because... it's... well... isn't everyone using Windows? Linux is at best "compatible with nothing" and at worst: unheard of.

Though my interest in Linux dates back a few years this is what made me switch from Windows to Linux.

The Switch
Some Linux user friends of mine were always pushing me to switch. When I offered resistance they soon switched strategies. They suggested I at least try OpenSource software for Windows: OpenOffice instead of MS Office, Apache instead of IIS, GIMP instead of Photoshop, Inkscape instead of CorelDRAW, and so on. I got constant suggestions for replacement software. Eventually I was running Windows and Open Source software almost exclusively.

Then I gave Breezy Badger a try on my kids PC. I noticed I was spending more time on that box than my XP machine. Soon my XP machine was a dual boot with more and more time spent in Ubuntu.

Today XP is still there. But I've been contemplating a full elimination. After a bit of a clean up I honestly don't have any reason to keep it around. And that frees up a few more Gb for Linux use.

Remember: Microsoft believes in Winning Against Linux the Smart Way (note their own word "Against"). Our influence on others has to have some level of strategy too.

[Dougie187]

For me:

1. Working Media Center
2. Better game support

Those are some good points, I believe there are some linux alternatives for Media Centers. Also there is plenty of game support for windows games with linux. You can look into Crossover office, wine, and Cedega. All of those allow you to install windows programs into linux and run them.

[croxi]

getting away from MSWin was the best thing for me simply because I didn't like how they were continually trying to control every aspect of the OS and that wasn't good enough for me. It made me think that they only act like that because they're scared of something, and it dawned on me, they're scared about the fact that so many people, who they rely upon to provide them with revenue, are disillusioned with MSWin and want something different, something that isn't just designed to make us pay through the nose for things, when there are so many alternatives out there that are surprisingly free to use and are good programs on the whole.
I read somewhere that people in power only lose their control of something when they squeeze too hard and the control that they rely upon starts to slip away and they end up losing altogether, and that is what I see the Empire of Evil, which is Microsoft, doing in the end.

They know that they are running an unstable, exposed, corrupt OS and they are so blind that they won't accept that they need to change to keep ahead of the rest of the business community. Ok, MS is the most lucrative business venture in history but how long will it last if so many people are willing to take the plunge, walk away from the clutches of MS and try something that is far more inviting (because its free)

Ok, I'm spent...

[shadowfx78]

I too left windows due to the control issues as well as the spyware n virus bologna and of course the infamous BSOD. I too love the freedom that linux namely kubuntu gives me. I learn new things every day about the operation of my computer. when i first started using linux i did a dual boot with xp and like many others here i found myself hardly ever logging into xp only to play a game here n there. I finally made the decision to go full linxu and havent looked back since. Im going to ponder to my college to see how much they spend in a year on windows and see if they will give linux namely ubuntu or such a try. I have always used firefox, thunderbird and many other freeware programs on windows and still use the same thing on linux as well as the awesome OpenOffice which puts M$ office to shame.