could you go back?

[mamamia88]

could you go back to using osx or windows as your main os? i know the thought repulses me of having to do things microsofts or apples way. i feel like my ubuntu gui has a little bit of my personality in it and it's spoiled me on the thought of buying a mac

[lisati]

It is possible to go back to Windows or OSX if you need to. My choice would be to use a dual-boot setup, so I can choose whether to run Windows (which I find useful for some things) or Ubuntu (which I find useful for other things). Have a look here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

[mamamia88]

It is possible to go back to Windows or OSX if you need to. My choice would be to use a dual-boot setup, so I can choose whether to run Windows (which I find useful for some things) or Ubuntu (which I find useful for other things). Have a look here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

i know it's possible for certain instances but the thought that everything isn't exactly how i set it up like in linux would prevent me from using it on a regular basis

[XubuRoxMySox]

Absolutely no way. It's blasphemy!

That would be like Moses' newly liberated nation saying, "Well, maybe slavery in Egypt wasn't so bad... leeks and garlic were better than this manna. Even if it means being a slave again."

Not me. Give me liberty or give me death!

Ubuntu has been so liberating for me! And gaming? Pft. That's what the Playstation is for.

-Robin

[sailthesea]

I HAD to go back
We had new computers at work a couple of months back and they all had Vista on them I still can't do anything on them they are HORRIBLE
I went back to pen and paper!:P

[starcraft.man]

Never really left. Still use Windows when needed, have a dual boot on all my main work machines as well as the more often used VM install of XP on them. I use it less than I used to, but I wouldn't have any qualms about using it on a daily basis. I was using the primitive OS for about a decade before being enlightened. No purist here.

I never used OSX to start with, if someone wanted me to work on one I wouldn't mind, but I ain't paying Apple my money for their hardware.

[lisati]

I would have switched completely to Ubuntu if it wasn't for the lack of video editing software that I'm comfortable with.

You might find this discussion interesting: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=6894

[TheNosh]

i would find it hard to use only windows, and harder still to use only OS X (matter of personal preference, i don't like macs)

however i would also find it hard if i didn't have windows for the things i use it for.

as for wether it would be doable to go back, i suppose i could if i had to, however i'm leaning more towards moving away from ubuntu to arch or debian sid than towards going back to windows full time.

[.Maleficus.]

I never left. I've been using Windows 7 since I downloaded the RC, and have only on a few occasions used booted Arch since then. Linux will certainly never leave me, but neither will Windows. Windows is my job, Windows is supported by everything and Windows succeeds where Linux fails. Why would I want to leave?


Patiently waits for someone to take my "Windows succeeds where Linux fails" comment and turn it into a "yeah, winblow$ gets all teh viruses!!" comment.

[Mateo]

I have gone back after about 2 years on linux only (fedora, mostly ubuntu, and some arch). I have found that the transition into a cloud computing world has made it easier to cope with the annoyances associated with a closed OS. It is the more diverse application library that has kept me from returning to linux.

[ngrieb]

I love Linux and all it's freedom, but some unintelligent people decided Windows was easier, and therefore made everything for Windows. Windows is such a waste of memory, no real power, all just useless pretty pictures. I'm unhappily in the process of setting up a dual boot so that I can play all of my PC games that don't work on WINE. I like to game damn directx. :(

[bfc]

I can't really go back... Since I was never there to begin with. Aside from work, I've used Linux exclusively for the past 12 years. However, at the beginning of this year, I had, what you could call, a mid-life computer crisis and decided to switch to a Mac.

Even though I do miss Linux, especially the flexibility of it, OS X in my short experience has been to most stable desktop/laptop operating system I've ever used.

I do still run Linux on my file server, but as of right now, I can't see going back to using Linux on the desktop.

[zipperback]

I don't own a MAC so I can't comment about it in that regard, however...

"COULD" I go back to using Windows? I suppose I could physically go back to being a Windows user, but it doesn't make any sense for me to do so.

Windows is Proprietary Close Source Software that puts heavy restrictions on what I am allowed to do with it.

Linux is Free Open Source Software with a license that allows me to do pretty much whatever I want to do with it.

If MS were to release Windows under a non-restrictive open source license such as the GPL, then I might reconsider my opinion about running it, because then the open source community would probably put an effort into making it a more secure, stable, and robust system. But then again... Why bother. I've already got all that with Linux.

There are very few things that I miss about running Windows, when I first started using Linux I suppose my major complaint was the lack of hardware support. But now, I don't really think that's a complaint that holds much weight any longer.

Hardware support under Linux is really pretty excellent now, and things generally just work with the default installation of Ubuntu. I've got an Acer Aspire 5050 laptop, and with the current release of Ubuntu, everything works as it should with the default installation.

It just doesn't make any sense (financially, ethically, or technologically) for me to run something other than an open source system such as Linux.

- zipperback
:popcorn:

[zipperback]

I have gone back after about 2 years on linux only (fedora, mostly ubuntu, and some arch). I have found that the transition into a cloud computing world has made it easier to cope with the annoyances associated with a closed OS. It is the more diverse application library that has kept me from returning to linux.

huh? I just checked Synaptic and I've got 26,805 items available for immediate installation with a few mouse clicks, all of which are FREE and Open Source, and I'm pretty confident that is a far more diverse application library than Windows has. Since you have to actually BUY most of the software for Windows if you want to use it legally.

And of course as of February 2009, Sourceforge.net has over 230,000 open source projects available.

The software that comes with Windows is pretty limited. Let's see... Notepad, Calculator, Solitaire, etc.

The software that comes with Ubuntu... Open Office, Gimp, Numerous compilers... The list goes on. And to install additional applications I just need to launch Synaptic, make a few mouse clicks, and install whatever I need. It's free and updated regularly. Oh... And yeah we get Solitaire and a calculator too. :)

- zipperback

[Tipped OuT]

huh? I just checked synaptic and i've got 26,805 items available for immediate installation with a few mouse clicks, all of which are free and open source, and i'm pretty confident that is a far more diverse application library than windows has. Since you have to actually buy most of the software if your want to use it. And of course as of february 2009, sourceforge.net has over 230,000 open source projects available.

The software that comes with windows is pretty limited. Let's see... Notepad, calculator, solitaire, etc.

The software that comes with ubuntu... Open office, gimp, numerous compilers... The list goes on. And to install additional applications i just need to launch synaptic, make a few mouse clicks, and install whatever i need. It's free and updated regularly. Oh... And yeah we get solitaire and a calculator too. :)

- zipperback

+1 :)

[starcannon]

could you go back to using osx or windows as your main os? i know the thought repulses me of having to do things microsofts or apples way. i feel like my ubuntu gui has a little bit of my personality in it and it's spoiled me on the thought of buying a mac

I'm not repulsed by the other 2 operating systems; but I am very comfortable withe Linux, with the Ubuntu distro in particular. So, yeah, I could go back to Windows, or even try to get along with OSX, but I don't want to.

[MikeTheC]

could you go back to using osx or windows as your main os? i know the thought repulses me of having to do things microsofts or apples way. i feel like my ubuntu gui has a little bit of my personality in it and it's spoiled me on the thought of buying a mac

Well, I can't say as how I've "switched" to Ubuntu because of the absence of certain professional, commercial applications. That being said, if everything I needed or wanted was available in Linux, then I don't see a reason I would actually desire using anything else.

[Katalog]

OS X, maybe (we still have a MacBook in the house) but Windows, not even on a dare.

[Eisenwinter]

I dual boot, I use Windows for music production and playing Fifa 2008.

[MasterNetra]

Actually I'm trying windows 7 now. Its a whole lot better then vista, by far. Much more responsive, more customizable (yea Ubuntu still has it beat by far but its a improvement in that area none the less). It also seems to be a little less bloated then Vista (not by a landslide but meh) though using a flash drive for ready boost actually further helps. Overall I like the feel of it and it runs fine on my 1GB of ram. ^.^ Of course this is just the RC, hope M$ doesn't add more bloatware or anything to final.

[lykwydchykyn]

No.
When I discovered Linux I found an OS that works the way I think an OS ought to work. No amount of proprietary bling on top of an NT kernel is going to get me excited. And the sorts of things people say about OS X when they talk nice about it have demonstrated to me that such people don't think like me.

[Methuselah]

I often found windows' software library to be lacking.

When I started using windows, quite a bit of the software (esp compilers) I used were open source.
Windows didn't come with compilers and visual studio (they didn't sell C++ separately at the time) was well over $1000.
I had to use gcc on windows with mingw in order to write windows applications.
And later when I got a student version of Visual C++ I kept using gcc because Microsoft's compiler couldn't handle the Boost library.

It was from using gcc that I actually came to learn about GNU and the FSF though the deeper philosophical points were not on my radar at the time.
But they provided the tools for me to get things done on my computer and Microsoft was asking for big bucks which I didn't have.
I couldn't even contemplate buying Maya/Softimage but there was Blender.
Photoshop wasn't an option for me but there was theGimp.
I ran all of this on my windows computer.

So merely having a computer started a gradual migration to open source with windows only remaining because it came with the machine.
I think quite a few other people are using firefox and open office on windows so there is compelling software in this world and it's free as in freedom.

Even though I can afford more today, I'd rather contribute to open source projects that waste money on windows.
I could buy another computer with all the money I'd then need to spend on proprietary productivity software before I could even get anything done.

Windows has more commercial games (but I rather wii/ds than pc) and some niche software will more likely exist for windows only.
But that doesn't affect me at all.

The latest windows releases have been largely irrelevant to me since I'm *satisfied* with what I'm using.
It's not like I'm constantly looking to see if there is a good reason for me to switch back.
I sometimes think with a certain distant amusement that there was a time that I would be thinking of upgrading to stay on the windows release treadmill.
For some reason that tickles me way more than it should..lol