Why did you want to quit Windows/Mac and change to ubuntu in the first place?

[Drakx]

I did'nt I have an intel iMac with OS X 10.5 and a laptop with Arch, I bought the mac because I wanted OS X and fell in love with it and got the laptop for ubuntu but found it was too slow for my liking and then I refound arch and again fell in love with it.

[macogw]

I wanted to learn something new, so I was going to go from Windows to OSX. Then I remembered I hate one-button mice (and I'd used OSX a bit before and disliked it), so I thought I'd try Linux. I tried Damn Small Linux to see if Linux had GUIs yet (hey for all I knew it was all command line still), and figured I could handle Fluxbox OK. Then I got a beginners book and it recommended Mandriva, so I was going to buy Mandriva, and a kid at school said I should get Ubuntu instead of paying for Mandriva. I like GNOME better than KDE anyway.

[ryanlhjess]

Personally,

I got quite tired of using Windows XP as my primary operating system. It is an old operating system, and it seemed that every day i was having to run spyware cleaners not because of negligence on my part, but simply because the day to day internet life seems to make windows dirty.

So i switched to vista, that was the worst way i have ever spent two hundred dollars.

In an honest act of desperation i turned to the o/s that i played with a bit in college and high school. To my surprise Linux had grown up beautifully. I've switched for four months and ill never turn back.

[lestatxxx]

Hmmmm, because linux owns? XD

I never really liked *******, eventhough it was the first OS branch that I used. After making the switch I felt so relieved that I did so. I'm currently enrolled in my programming course in college, and I think that linux will be much help with it. Although I use linux more often, I still keep an XP partition since I heard I'll have to use .Net and Visual Basic.

Anyways, linux has much more opportunities for anyone compared to any other OS, and therefore it rox .,.

[pijits]

I wanted to try something new, go against the norm. I discovered the power and customization ability of Ubuntu and was instantly hooked.

[wahr]

While I'll probably be forced to wait until my ppc machine is replaced (for gaming purposes), I'm seeking to switch to linux from mac for increasingly numerous small factors.


Factor 1 - I use my computers primarily as media centers, and have migrated to OSS for these apps.
Specifically: The "upgrade" from qt6 to qt7 fried video performance, and the increasingly pervasive matroska is still not properly supported in qt, meaning I've already migrated to mplayer and VLC as my primary media apps. I've been using mencoder for the vast majority of my transcoding as well because of quicktime's propensity to break components, even on minor hotfixes. (given what i've said I find this quote highly amusing)

I still use Windows for somethings mostly media decoding and recoding as the applications just work better then the Linux ones.

Factor 2 - While every other upgrade to OSX provided increased functionality and also increased responsiveness, the upgrade to Leopard has introduced considerable bloat, and the computer shows it. This departure from the KISS principle is present in other apps as well. Itunes has gone from a lean, unobtrusive, fully functional music platform to an over-bloated monstrosity designed primarily to sell you downloads. Ilife represents the worst transgression, however. Ilife '08 suites take a full minute on my primary machine (twin 2.7ghz 2 gigs of ram) to perform minor tasks, and that's without any files loaded yet!

Factor 3- The increasingly intrusive and condescending attitude reflected in apple products through reduced functionality for advanced users.

It started with the "upgrade" to itunes adding a music store.. and stripping out webcasting. Through tiger the tradeoff was more beneficial than not for me, as the inconveniences were minor, and most importantly removable, while improvements were major.

Leopard has changed this, and is best characterized as an overt cold shoulder toward advanced users (the very same who provide the valuable freeware apps which bridge important compatibility gaps).

-In an effort to 'protect users from themselves', apple added so many nag screens to safari you'd think it was vista. There are no advanced settings to remove them.

-This forsaking of advanced users is also present in imovie 08, which stripped pretty much everything that made imovie useful. Indeed, this "dumbing down" caused such an uproar apple updated imovie 06 for leopard, but it's uncertain what they will do in the future.

-They reworked the guts of the UI, and refuse to release proper tools/documentation to allow theme tinkering which was previously possible, rendering such products as shapeshifter derelict.

-They changed software update to force restarts with pretty much every new install. Most advanced users enjoyed the capacity to force quit that installer after it was done. I understood it would affect system stability, but at least it allowed me to update without having to completely interrupt my workflow. I'm having flashbacks to windows 98, and the funny thing is I've had more KP's since leopard than all my time in panther and tiger.

-Finally, while their previous inclusion of DRM did not intrude on other domains in the platform, apple has now started crippling advanced tools (like debuggers for instance) in attempts to protect their precious DRM. Their stance has obviously shifted from a "you have to twist my arm" mindset to an almost canine obedience in implementing "defective by design" principles.



The initial phase of my formal re-investigation of the linux platform is encouraging.

I've found OSS clones of the major mac native apps I use, and am hunting down the remaining minor ones. Testing should reveal their viability, but the activity i've seen on the projects indicate good prospects.

I know from my experience back on 02 that the possibilities for theming are endless, and even found a theme which mimics tiger very well, and which I hope to research and modify should my migration be successful.

I've also been impressed with the progress linux has made since '02. The edges are much more polished and refined, usability has increased, more guides exist to help beginners into more advanced material, and distros are conforming better to a single standard, reducing the headache factor and dramatically improving daily desktop viability.

I look forward to the possibilities it offers me as a power user and novice programmer.

[zetetic]

This is just a thread to see why people changed from either a Windows or Mac computer OS to start running Ubuntu...my reason was that I really wanted to get Vista (mainly because of all the visual effects...Windows Aero etc..) on my Advent 7017 laptop (FROM MY SIGNATURE) but Vista need ridiculous requirements for your computer to be working with it. I gave up on it then and then discovered Ubuntu. I read about it and thought..."Well of course I'm gonna change...it (in my point of view anyway) is so much better than vista and whats even better that that is that all the stuff for it is totally free! What are your reasons?

Why would a person want to install an operating system because of its "visual effects" ??
Is an operating system a working tool or a shinning toy???

I really don't understand these type of people! What do they know about operating systems, if they choose them because of "visual effects" ?? Do they use their systems to study or to work, or just for showing off?? I don't get it!

I think these are frivolous people, at best!
Get a life!

[wahr]

Why would a person want to install an operating system because of its "visual effects" ??
Is an operating system a working tool or a shinning toy???

Because an OS, or anything else for that matter, should have form and function.

it's the reason I went mac back in early '03 (it had the looks, and more compatibility if you know how to use versiontracker and a shell)

it's the reason i'm re-examining linux again (i want even more function, and the form's always been there)

Even you subscribe to it. Imagine how ugly it would be if you went with pure function for your kitchen.. unfinished, roughly cut plywood doors, an abs plastic countertop, a fridge with no skin and all number of protruding bolts, a bare concrete floor...

[abrianb]

I had ran XP on my desktop for years, overtime my system slowed and became difficult to use. My hard drive also was being filled with windows updates. The only way to get any speed back was to dump and reinstall. I started to look for a solution and found Ubuntu. My same old machine ran faster and the desktop was more to my liking. After months of not using windows I dumped it. When I built a new desktop Ubuntu was my choice for OS. There are some flaws but I am Happier with it than with what I had before.