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View Full Version : If you Have Ubuntu, Why do you still use Windows or OS X



Omnios
April 18th, 2006, 07:29 PM
There has been a post going on for a long time now pertaining to why people use Ubuntu if they have Windows XP so I thought it fitting that we have a post on why people still use Windows and OSX. This is mostly for my curiosity but it may also help identify shorcommings in software avaialbleity and more inportantly solve some of the user problems if a suggestion to a solution is made.

Anyways I use Ubuntu 99% of the time and only use XP to access launchcast music and vidios and try out some windows only games. Needless to say Xp is on my system but rarely used.

fmo
April 18th, 2006, 07:37 PM
I use Ubuntu 100% of the time now, but I used to dualboot to XP to play games, it was the only reason.

PS: About your launchcast issue, there is a script for Greasemonkey called pkLaunch that manage to play Yahoo Launchcast videos:)

BoyOfDestiny
April 18th, 2006, 08:04 PM
There has been a post going on for a long time now pertaining to why people use Ubuntu if they have Windows XP so I thought it fitting that we have a post on why people still use Windows and OSX. This is mostly for my curiosity but it may also help identify shorcommings in software avaialbleity and more inportantly solve some of the user problems if a suggestion to a solution is made.

Anyways I use Ubuntu 99% of the time and only use XP to access launchcast music and vidios and try out some windows only games. Needless to say Xp is on my system but rarely used.

Hmm this one is tough for me. There was no reason holding me back except for dealing with my data.
It was after that stupid sony drm came to light (no I didn't buy any of the discs, but the rootkit just pissed me off).
I went to fry's, picked up a 300 gig drive, then played tower of hanoi (since NTFS is read-only, I was copying data to my resierfs drives, reformat one drive to resierfs, copy the data off the ntfs etc etc).

That was it, wiped windows server 2003, no more dual booting. Laptop is ubuntu only too.

I've learned quite a bit since then, I'm comfortable with commandline (well just a little =)), written a few scripts, can compile with ease (learned about adding stuff to /etc/ld.so.conf), got my favorite emulators and music players (for console music too) up and running, I have an office suite, can burn dvds, can use bittorrent, well it just goes on.

There is nothing I miss at all from Windows, and my favorite apps I used under it are GPL. So firefox, privoxy, vlc, gaim, zsnes, dosbox, OOo, GIMP, advmame, well shoot they were just waiting for me in Linux.

Other perk is I've gone almost 99% 64-bit, I know... I know... the benifits are questionable, but I feel I get the most out of my trusty opteron 144...

OffHand
April 18th, 2006, 09:24 PM
Yet another thread but hey I'm bored... :mrgreen:
I use Windows for games and the application to manage my cellphone.
I use my Mac for video editting (nothing like Final Cut Pro), and producing music.
Mac is very good for sound too. Linux can't beat that.
I used to use my Mac for mail too but I changed to Linux for that.
For other stuff I use Linux too.

AlphaMack
April 18th, 2006, 09:26 PM
My girlfriend's Dell is 100% Ubuntu after ME took a dump. It was my first foray into the world of Linux. My PowerBook was next, although I couldn't get wireless to work until recently. Now my gf's sister's fiancee is next in line to have 100% Ubuntu on his PC after his Windows system went south.

For me, I'm about 50/50 in OS X and Ubuntu usage. That's a lot better than before. What's holding me back is AAC playability, WiFi reliability (still have to reboot after sleeping + random drops), being able to stream my music over my Airport Express, RealPlayer, Java, Flash, and my calendar/scheduling (still transitioning...ditto my e-mail folders and filters).

russellc
April 18th, 2006, 09:26 PM
only thing i use probably once every two months, is the new office 12 (beta). although i'm going to "move" to openoffice a little more openly. i already use oo writer for documents. only thing in office 12 is just powerpoint which has some fancy backgrounds :P ... i didn't have time last time to figure it all out though, so i just booted into windows. i really want to wipe all my ntfs drives and go completely linux sometime soon :D

Zodiac
April 18th, 2006, 09:28 PM
GAMES!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!


*head explodes*

rfruth
April 18th, 2006, 09:35 PM
I have a G3 iMac with Panther (OS X) on it, no Windows here

Turgon
April 18th, 2006, 10:37 PM
I used ubuntu only for 4 month, but installed windows xp (64 bit) after I got Age of Empires 3 for x-mas. Games is the onlything holding me back (and im not alone).

23meg
April 18th, 2006, 10:41 PM
To use Cubase SX, FLStudio, vvvv, Eyesweb, Max/MSP, Illustrator, Photoshop, Canoma, Poser, ZBrush, Premiere, After Effects... the list goes on.

To me Windows no longer feels like an OS. All I see at any given time when Windows is running is the face of the application I'm using running full screen or maximized. I don't even have a taskbar, desktop icons or a start menu; I launch the "run" command with a keyboard shortcut and type the app's name, and it's launched. When I'm done with it, I reboot to Breezy / Dapper.

OffHand
April 18th, 2006, 11:07 PM
To use Cubase SX, FLStudio, vvvv, Eyesweb, Max/MSP, Illustrator, Photoshop, Canoma, Poser, ZBrush, Premiere, After Effects... the list goes on.Don't see many people mentioning Max MSP. I've built a couple of things with it myself. And in Isadora, a similar application.

hotani
April 18th, 2006, 11:12 PM
Using Ubuntu at work, and unfortunately I have to dual boot to winders for Outlook because that is the only way to access our archaic MS Post Office/PST crap.

We're moving to Exchange soon, so hopefully I'll be able to use Evolution after that.

As for home, I'm currently using OS X on a dual G4 but will be building a PC in the next couple of months that will exclusively run Ubuntu. Only things I'll miss will be iTunes (*cry*) and Google Earth (*sigh*).

23meg
April 18th, 2006, 11:34 PM
Don't see many people mentioning Max MSP.I'm willing to transition to PD in its stead, which I can also run on Ubuntu, but I have yet to get JACK to run without hiccups (xruns) with my soundcard.

Are you running Isadora on Windows? Any verdict on stability?

stimpack
April 19th, 2006, 01:42 AM
Games..... and as Im a WoW addict thats alot of time spent in Windows even if I don't see the desktop per se. I sometimes run it under cedega but for big laggy raids thats not so good an option.

Also use Windows on my laptop sad to say. For ubuntu to be on my laptop I need 30sec boottimes and invisable WPA wireless, hopefully soon, because I soooo much prefer linux.

DoktorSeven
April 19th, 2006, 01:43 AM
I still have it on my system because of the only real use for the toy OS Windows: games.

LMP900
April 19th, 2006, 03:07 AM
I have all three and I hardly touch XP anymore but I'm still addicted to OS X. I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for a beautiful desktop and that's just what OS X is. I use Ubuntu most of the time, and it convinced me to leave windows... but it will have to try harder to pry OS X out of my hands:)

SSTwinrova
April 19th, 2006, 03:42 AM
Basically because I personally don't have the need to switch over from XP yet. I'm more comfortable using it than Ubuntu, it's already customized/working like I want, I don't engage in activities that overly expose my computer to viruses/____ware, games/apps that I would rather "just work" than having to (attempt to) set up through Wine (since most don't have Linux ports), etc.

Will I get Vista. Yeah, probably (with a new comp), and I'll most likely leave it on there as the only OS. It's not that Ubuntu wouldn't satisfy the majority of my needs, there's just not the "draw" to make me want to use it as my main OS over Windows yet. What would that draw be? To be honest, I really don't know. For now though I'm perfectly happy just having Ubuntu on spare computers and playing around with it to learn things about Linux in general. :)

PatrickMay16
April 19th, 2006, 04:38 AM
Maximum choice is available to me the moment I boot my machine. I really like having choice.
Though these days I use Ubuntu pretty much all the time... It's rare for me to use anything else.

OffHand
April 19th, 2006, 10:46 AM
I'm willing to transition to PD in its stead, which I can also run on Ubuntu, but I have yet to get JACK to run without hiccups (xruns) with my soundcard.

Are you running Isadora on Windows? Any verdict on stability?
What is PD? I'm running Isadora on my Mac (OS X). I have bought a licence but only used it in one project. It's good software but you can do way more with MAX MSP/Jitter.

jimcooncat
April 19th, 2006, 11:12 AM
Internet Explorer: For checking web pages I write.
Quickbooks: Someday I'll look for a real solution. Scary to think about the migration.
Irfanview: Though I'm making do with gthumb for now, I wish someone would clone this easy-to-use, quick and robust graphics editor!
Microsoft Publisher: Some clients send me files in this format, haven't seen a decent importer yet to anything FOSS.
Outlook: I really hate this program, but I haven't had time to find a real replacement(s) with migration tools.


Weaning suggestions are fully appreciated!

Stone123
April 19th, 2006, 11:21 AM
I get most work done in Ubuntu. If i miss some program i can just install it with synaptic. Like doing some report and i have to convert some images or make embeded calc and stuff like that. I realy cant answer why i get most of my work done in ubuntu, but it's something about workable environment.

But for games and such i have to have windows . Thats it only games.

AndyCooll
April 19th, 2006, 12:42 PM
I use Ubuntu exclusively at home.

I keep an XP VMWare image which I use to play one game (Football Manager). I can run VMWare server on one of the F8-F12 gui's so I never actually boot in to XP these days.

:cool:

23meg
April 19th, 2006, 06:39 PM
What is PD? PD is a programming environment that's almost identical to Max/MSP; it's written mainly by M. Puckette who also developed Max/MSP and it has the same core; it's open source as well, and is almost interoperable with Max/MSP. Check it out here (http://www-crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html) and here (http://puredata.info/); it's also in the repositories so you can just install it with apt.

OffHand
April 19th, 2006, 06:50 PM
PD is a programming environment that's almost identical to Max/MSP; it's written mainly by M. Puckette who also developed Max/MSP and it has the same core; it's open source as well, and is almost interoperable with Max/MSP. Check it out here (http://www-crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html) and here (http://puredata.info/); it's also in the repositories so you can just install it with apt.
Nice, I will look into it :)
Does it have a jitter like plugin?

Orunitia
April 19th, 2006, 07:38 PM
A couple games and xbconnect.


...About it.

23meg
April 20th, 2006, 01:06 AM
Nice, I will look into it :)
Does it have a jitter like plugin?
Not really; AFAIK its extensions aren't as instantly attractive as those of Max/MSP, but they come from hundreds of open source audio enthusiasts and pros rather than companies, so they're all free in every sense and evolve more rapidly.

nalmeth
April 20th, 2006, 01:21 AM
I don't.
About Outlook, can't you use the Mozilla Suite or Thunderbird in windows to convert the .pst, and then carry it over to your ubuntu partition, and then import to evolution? Do you just need your contacts or what?

Ozitraveller
April 20th, 2006, 06:54 AM
Until my clients make the change, I can't. And large corporations don't move quickly.
And Mono isn't up to scratch yet.

arsenic23
April 21st, 2006, 06:13 PM
I'm a recent conver to Ubuntu ( or any linux distro for that matter ), and I think I'm making pretty good progress at removing windows from my home. Now I use a lot of machines, so let me list my problems.

Primary PC:
This guy is still full blown XP. Photoshop used to be my number one concern, but it runs pretty well under wine. I still haven't tested my tablet but I hear good things about Wacom under linux. Right now the big hold back is Dreamweaver. I've yet to find a linux html editor that I like. I hate this WYSIWYG thing. All I really need is something that will let me type html into a top window and display the results in the bottom. ( Finishing CSS and what not that I'm typing like Dreamweaver would be a plus as well. ) The only other hold back is sound. I sometimes like to listen to music, watch a flash movie, and engage other programs that use the audio. So far I've not seen Ubuntu, or any other distro that let's me do this well, even after messing with things like esd. Also flash is still a little off on most of the machines I've installed it on with Ubuntu. Once all that is straightened out, I'll be ready to switch.

Game Box:
My little mobile game box likes his new 7800GT, and has no aspirations to run anything but windows at this time.

Laptop I:
Running Ubuntu for a few months now and loving it. I can do everything I used too with it, but better. My battery lasts about 15 minutes longer ( after alot of work with power saving packages and config ), and my wireless seems a little more reliable when I'm at a distance from my WRT54G v.2 Quite happy with it.

Latop II:
He doesn't run an OS so he doesn't count ( though there might be a copy of Mepis on the hard drive right now ).

Server:
This box was my first experience with linux a good many years ago and had always ran a SuSe install. Well now that I've played with some other stuff you won't see me running anything that doesn't have apt or portage. So Ubuntu for the server, everyone's happy.

Work Box:
I use this fellow for repair and virus scanning other machines. As such he's dual boot XP // Ubuntu // Debian. 'Nuff said.

Family Box:
This machine is for the rest of my family. They have no desire to switch from windows, and since they haven't gotten any real horrible virus, or trashed my network, or anything, they can keep it however they like.

hotani
April 21st, 2006, 07:43 PM
About Outlook, can't you use the Mozilla Suite or Thunderbird in windows to convert the .pst, and then carry it over to your ubuntu partition, and then import to evolution? Do you just need your contacts or what?

Outlook is the only thing I know of that will access a MS Post office account (yeah, it's from the win95 days but we're still using it). The .pst isn't the problem so much as getting the mail.

eriqk
April 22nd, 2006, 01:01 AM
Not really; AFAIK its extensions aren't as instantly attractive as those of Max/MSP, but they come from hundreds of open source audio enthusiasts and pros rather than companies, so they're all free in every sense and evolve more rapidly.

I understand Jitter is based on GridFlow, which was initially developed as a set of libs for JMax. It has since been ported to PD. I get the impression the combination of tools like GridFlow, Gem and PDP/PiDiP is more powerfull than Jitter.

Groet, Erik

notarikon
October 28th, 2006, 01:10 AM
There is one reason I use Windows XP (Pro) for about half an hour a week - printing out photos on my Canon Pixma printer - there are no free drivers available for linux, and the one paid driver doesn't do borderless printing on the 6x4" photo paper.

Everything else I have either found a direct replacement for or can run under Wine. If I was still working full time as a web/graphic designer I'd probably have to use Windows a lot more for the Adobe & Macromedia products, but since I'm freelance I use what I want on Ubuntu :)

For gaming I've got a PS2 & Xbox360 - soon a Wii as well I hope - Oblivion & Final Fantasy series are available on these, why do I need a PC? And I can get Angband & FreeCiv on Ubuntu if I want some good thinking games :)

kpolice
October 28th, 2006, 01:13 AM
I've been working all day in Windows because I need Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects.

I miss my Ubuntu desktop :( .

erichnewell
October 28th, 2006, 01:40 AM
I run Ubuntu/Debian on all of my systems exclusively. However, as a security professional working for a large corporation, I find that I nearly always have a VMWare Windows session running. It is essential for much of the business world still (Have you tried LiveMeeting or SharePoint on Linux?) and many security tools are only available for *******.

notarikon
October 28th, 2006, 01:50 AM
I've been working all day in Windows because I need Adobe Premier and Adobe After Effects.

I miss my Ubuntu desktop :( .
Have you tried Kino? http://www.kinodv.org/

Erich K
October 28th, 2006, 02:01 AM
I only use XP when I want to play a game or use Photoshop. Otherwise Kubuntu does everything I need.

steven8
October 28th, 2006, 02:04 AM
I will use windows when I want to do programming (I use vb.net) or work on making a game. I need windows for that. Otherwise, I will work with Ubuntu from now on.

Are there good ide's for programming in Linux?

Sam
October 28th, 2006, 02:33 AM
Are there good ide's for programming in Linux?

I use Eclipse (http://www.eclipse.org/), it's a great IDE having plugins for different languages/features. I don't know if there is a vb.net plugin, but I read somewhere that it's possible to link Mono with Eclipse.

vayu
October 28th, 2006, 06:31 AM
Because I like computers.

When I wake up I turn on 4 machines. One runs Win XP, one OS X, and two run Dapper. If I wanted I could do anything with any of them that any of the others do. Yet, each one does do some things better, easier and or faster than each other one. (you'd think I should know a lot about them, but except for a little PHP, HTML and SQL, I'm mostly an end user.)

vayu
October 28th, 2006, 06:41 AM
Right now the big hold back is Dreamweaver. I've yet to find a linux html editor that I like. I hate this WYSIWYG thing. All I really need is something that will let me type html into a top window and display the results in the bottom. ( Finishing CSS and what not that I'm typing like Dreamweaver would be a plus as well. )

I had that problem. I couldn't stand the non MDI thing. I always ask myself don't any Linux developers need to work with documents side by side? The closet thing is Bluefish will let you have a second view only window outside of it's IDE.

What I do now and I really like it is Kate for KDE and Gedit for Gnome. What I do is I have a file browser open, one two or three kate/gedit windows open and a web browser open. I use the file browser to access my files, and after I make a change I save and then refresh the browser. I rellay like the way this works for me. Both Kate and Gedit are outstanding code editors, with highlighting.

Still nothing compares to Dreamweaver, but I do really like my OSS setup.

Peepsalot
October 28th, 2006, 07:04 AM
Why I must use Windows:
There are no skype phones that work in Linux.

dada1958
October 28th, 2006, 08:11 AM
I use Mac OS X because I have to use Photoshop 7 and that doesn't run with wine :confused:

AlphaMack
October 28th, 2006, 10:27 AM
I dual boot and use Mac-on-Linux because of the crappy PPC codec support.

warlorddagaz
October 28th, 2006, 11:34 AM
Currently I don't have an XP computer, although I do have some old 98 ones. The reason I use these is beacasue they don't have enough RAM to run the live CD, and I can't be bothered to download the text based one.

However, when I get a new computer, it will run XP or Vista, because many games, such as Sims 2, FIFA, etc won't run on linux.

When I get the new computer, I may dual boot it with Ubuntu, but last time I tried this, there was a repartitioning error, and the C: partition became unreadable (my Mum still hasn't found out! - I told her that I installed Ubuntu BECAUSE of the HDD faliure).

I hate microsoft as much as the next man, but due to their monopoly (or near monopoly), it's hard to get away from them.

cunawarit
October 28th, 2006, 12:48 PM
I use Debian Etch, not Ubuntu, but here it goes anyway...

Several reasons:

* I use Visual Studio for work & fun development. I have tried MonoDevelop and I'm not a huge fan of it.

* My XP machine is quieter than my Debian machine. And my Puppy Linux machine is an old pile of junk.

* It is easy to connect my phone to the XP machine.

* It is a little easier to try out stuff on the Windows machine. For example, Firefox 2 isn't in the Debian repository, I could download it and install it for my Debian machine but I rather do that on Windows.

* I simply like Windows, even though Debian is more fun, Windows is very nice too.

* I am a Windows person for a living, I need to stay on top of as much Windows stuff as I can so I need to use Windows.

mdsmedia
October 28th, 2006, 02:17 PM
Why I must use Windows:
There are no skype phones that work in Linux.Not sure I understand this one. Skype phones? I use Skype in Linux all the time, so "skype phones" must mean something else?

drivel
October 28th, 2006, 02:28 PM
Because I need chat with my frends by Wallop,use E-Bank,record something...

seshomaru samma
October 28th, 2006, 02:37 PM
I use Windows for 2 reasons:
I can use a cheap webcam in Windows
I need a specific feature of MS office that OO doesn't have (or at least I couldn't find, see my post here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=230505)) which I need for my university.
I suppose I could install MS office with Wine , but since I got the webcam issue ,I can't be bothered

EDIT -managed to get the webcam working .in fact got two webcams working. I guess I will format Windows after I download the remastered Suse 10.1 DVD that I wanted to try.

Peepsalot
October 28th, 2006, 03:00 PM
Not sure I understand this one. Skype phones? I use Skype in Linux all the time, so "skype phones" must mean something else?
It means a hardware peripheral for your computer that resembles a phone, has the ability to ring, has a keypad, microphone, earpiece, preferably wireless...
something like this (http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/skype/linksys-cit200-skype-phone-review.asp)

There are other models by other manufacturers as well, but as far as I can tell from searching, none of them are linux compatible.

chaosgeisterchen
October 28th, 2006, 03:27 PM
My notebook and Linux are not the best friends. I need a system which offers me hibernation and good power management but both won't run properly under Ubuntu Linux so I stick to Windows XP.

Dimming screen brightness is something I have never ever seen that Linux is capable of.

T-AA
October 28th, 2006, 04:13 PM
It means a hardware peripheral for your computer that resembles a phone, has the ability to ring, has a keypad, microphone, earpiece, preferably wireless...
something like this (http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/skype/linksys-cit200-skype-phone-review.asp)

There are other models by other manufacturers as well, but as far as I can tell from searching, none of them are linux compatible.


if you search for " skype phone linux" in google you'll find some although they mostly say fedora core 3, and since and don't know anything about linux i don't know if they will work under ubuntu

warlorddagaz
October 28th, 2006, 06:01 PM
It means a hardware peripheral for your computer that resembles a phone, has the ability to ring, has a keypad, microphone, earpiece, preferably wireless...
something like this (http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/skype/linksys-cit200-skype-phone-review.asp)

There are other models by other manufacturers as well, but as far as I can tell from searching, none of them are linux compatible.

You can get dedicated IP phones that plug into an ethernet switch/hub/router, which are pretty much platform indepandant, as the only thing you need a computer for is setup, which is done by a built in HTTP server. However, as far as I'm aware, these won't work with skype, as it doesn't support SIP

katgfan
October 28th, 2006, 06:36 PM
Why is still use my windows partition. Just to update my iPod via iTunes and thats about it. I still think iTunes handle my iPod better.

aaronw
October 28th, 2006, 07:12 PM
I use Windows for one reason only: Word's track changes feature, which is essential to my work on my law school journal.

naught101
November 1st, 2006, 01:00 PM
funny, most people seems to be saying games. for me, that's one of the reasons I got RID of XP. too many distractions!

I have had to use it recently though, for CAD (sketchup actually, and I'd guess sketchup for linux isn't too gar off), but I just used VMWare, which was not too much slower. there aren't many high quality CAD packages for linux yet though.

the other thing is sound. Cubase + Reason 3.0 = complete package, guaranteed to work with your soundcard and midi controller. I bought an M-audio Ozone for that, and now I can't use it. Jack and rosegarden and hydrogen are slowly getting there. give 'em a year or two..

naught101
November 1st, 2006, 01:32 PM
I use Windows for one reason only: Word's track changes feature, which is essential to my work on my law school journal.
open office has track changes... it even reads M$Word track changes, although I don't think it can write them to .doc format properly. not sure about that.

Kateikyoushi
November 1st, 2006, 01:38 PM
Occasional gaming, burning blue ray discs of my HD videos and use skype video phone.

fguilhon
November 1st, 2006, 03:54 PM
Windows for games!
I tried too many times to run cedega on Ubuntu but didn't make it.
I think it's a compability issue with my ATI (fglrx) driver.
If cedega runs with no problems in Linux, I'll dump Windows.

Cannaregio
November 2nd, 2006, 10:51 PM
Only one reason: coz of *Poser*, that does not run in Linux.

Apart from poser, I rarely fire XP nowadays.
For the following reasons:
With debian/ubuntu I didn't only find a replacement for everything I "used to use" in windows: the very process of FINDING such replacements was great fun and highly instructive.
So finetuning our ferrari is much better and greater fun than driving the old ford. Even if the old ford has old known quirks and our ferrari has some sudden unknown problems :o

Now, this said I understand those that believe they still have to use windows to get a job done quickly.

But, simply put, the bliss of not having to continuosuly use hjjack, spybot, adware and whatsnot nor having to rely on sygate (a good firewall) and avg (a good antivirus), not to mention all that norton crap that comes installed and you cannot get rid off, is worth **a lot** to me.

So I think i'll slowly eradicate the last vestiges of xp from my harddrives.

Apart for poser :(

Edited in January 2007:
I' now playing with Makehuman +Blender, and it looks promising :-)


-----------
PS, sorry for crossposting to
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1705620#post1705620
but apparently both thread thrive on the same stuff.
And I thought that alerting developer about poser compatibility issue could be useful in the great scheme of things.
-----------

naught101
November 3rd, 2006, 12:35 PM
Only one reason: coz of *Poser*, that does not run in Linux.

seems like poser 6 works pretty OK with some versions of linux, including Ubuntu Dapper. seems like 5 works well on some systems too... could be worth a try!

Jeremiah478
April 8th, 2007, 02:53 AM
I'm doing the same as most people, dual booting Ubuntu 6.10 and Vista just for the games. Steam is all I play but I haven't had much luck with wine or cedega. It is the only thing keeping windows on my system, so once I get that figured out it's bye bye Vista....

macogw
April 9th, 2007, 05:27 AM
When I have the choice, I use Ubuntu all the time. When I was in the school library and my laptop was getting fixed, I booted the school library computers into Ubuntu using an external hard drive. When I'm at work I have to use Windows because A) we use Quickbooks B) when I'm fixing computers, they always seem to be Windows (we do Linux too, but only one person so far has needed help with a Linux computer, and it was broken laptop speakers).

vf514
April 9th, 2007, 06:35 AM
Windows has:


Much better, much more readable fonts, as well as Cleartype
Various third party programs that I can't very well do without, including Microsoft Office and MSN Messenger (yes, I am aware of the alternatives)


Because of the fact that I will just have to reboot into Windows anyway to solve these issues, Windows will remain my main OS for now.

Drezliok
April 9th, 2007, 06:50 AM
Duel boot for the GF [which I'll be stopping soon]


I have a laptop that I rely on the wireless, and it's not supported so until I get a native driven wireless card I'm not even going to try linux on it. Plus The laptop is my lan gaming machine and unfortunately windows is needed to play any random game at my lan parties.

LookTJ
April 9th, 2007, 07:01 AM
Much better, much more readable fonts, as well as Cleartype.

I disagree with that. Windows fonts makes me blind.

rsambuca
April 9th, 2007, 07:28 AM
Skype for Windows has the best video quality that I have found. Have to be able to talk to the grandparents across the pond so they can see their granddaughter.

jlk
April 9th, 2007, 08:28 AM
I had the misfortune to purchase a 1G USB thumb drive with U3 on it and before you ask, I hadn't heard that U3 was the spawn of the devil, but now I know. My Sony (gift from a previous employer) laptop can with Windows XP. Several Ubuntu upgrades and the XP partition still remains, although unused until the above said U3 abomination was added to my collection of miscellaneous hardware items.

After much research and soul searching, I conceded defeat and downloaded U3-UNINSTALL.EXE and booted XP on the Sony. A few minutes later and the USB drive was cleared of U3, and a re-boot got be back to Dapper.

If anyone knows of a Unix/Linux/BSD method of removing U3, please let me know and I will try to get it widely disseminated.

afljafa
April 9th, 2007, 09:33 AM
Canon scanner
Canon Printer (only for cd printing)
MYOB Accounting.

Fortunately I can do all this in a vbox machine.

PartisanEntity
April 9th, 2007, 09:51 AM
I had to go back to dual booting in order to use Photoshop

mech7
April 9th, 2007, 10:15 AM
I disagree with that. Windows fonts makes me blind.

nah the ubuntu fonts are just messed up, lines don't seem to go straight 0_o atleast on lcd even with subpixel they look like crap.

OrangeCrate
April 9th, 2007, 12:20 PM
I run my business on my computer, and am the only one I know that uses Linux on the desktop. My clients all use Windows, and they're in that rather large group of 800 million or so that use Windows products. So, I keep Windows on the machine just in case I need to install an application.

Besides, as it relates to operating systems on a computer, using Linux doesn't have to mean "either/or" in it's relationship to Windows, "and" works just fine.

macogw
April 9th, 2007, 03:59 PM
I had to go back to dual booting in order to use Photoshop

It works in Crossover Office and there's now an online version of Photoshop.

macogw
April 9th, 2007, 04:00 PM
I had the misfortune to purchase a 1G USB thumb drive with U3 on it and before you ask, I hadn't heard that U3 was the spawn of the devil, but now I know. My Sony (gift from a previous employer) laptop can with Windows XP. Several Ubuntu upgrades and the XP partition still remains, although unused until the above said U3 abomination was added to my collection of miscellaneous hardware items.

After much research and soul searching, I conceded defeat and downloaded U3-UNINSTALL.EXE and booted XP on the Sony. A few minutes later and the USB drive was cleared of U3, and a re-boot got be back to Dapper.

If anyone knows of a Unix/Linux/BSD method of removing U3, please let me know and I will try to get it widely disseminated.

You know that little survey on u3.com before you get to download the thing? Ever notice how one option is "I don't need it because I use Mac or Linux"? Even if you choose that, they give you a Windows .exe. WHY??????



I have a laptop that I rely on the wireless, and it's not supported so until I get a native driven wireless card I'm not even going to try linux on it. Plus The laptop is my lan gaming machine and unfortunately windows is needed to play any random game at my lan parties.
You can change the card. It's just a little mini-PCI card that you can change by opening the bottom of the laptop. A new one would just snap in.

PartisanEntity
April 9th, 2007, 07:50 PM
It works in Crossover Office and there's now an online version of Photoshop.

Yeah, version 7 works in Crossover Office so that is not a solution IMO, going backwards isn't improvement in my book :)

I heard about the online version but have not checked it out yet.

rsambuca
April 9th, 2007, 07:54 PM
From what I have read the online PS version will be missing many features. It will probably do for most people, though.

newlinux
April 9th, 2007, 07:59 PM
I keep Windows on on my machines for Updating my Harmony Remote and for updating the music device (Phatnoise music Keg) that I use with my car. Other than that I find the printer/scanner/copier/fax works a little better in windows, but if I spent more time I'm sure I could get HPLIP to behave the same... But unless I am changing my music or updating my remote, I don't boot windows. I have MAC OS X because I never used MACs before and I want to get to know it a bit (a friend gave me their old imac - but it dual boots ubuntu as well now :) ). So far I still prefer ubuntu.

silkstone
April 9th, 2007, 08:07 PM
I still need XP for...

Paint Shop Pro X or XI (I prefer PSP to Photoshop and the GIMP, but the recent versions don't run under Wine)
Autostitch
A few other photo manipulation apps that are Windows only
Quickbooks (I can't find native accounts package that handles UK VAT properly)
Updates to TomTom satnav
Photo printing to Canon i9950
DTP applications (proprietary file types need Windows apps)

I wish I could avoid XP, and I'm using Ubuntu most of the time these days, but I can't see me being able to leave Windows behind until there are Linux versions of more WIndows software.

Tothalvadi
April 9th, 2007, 08:13 PM
For me the main reason is instant messaging. I'm currently in a long-distance relationship (luckily it's only temporary, we're going to live together in a couple of months) and to make the distance bearable, we talk online pretty much every day. This being done by webcam, voice and text. Usually through Skype for lengthy talks and yahoo for quicker day-to-day discussions.
She only uses Windows, and is pretty much an a-technical person. So we stick to what's easy to use and doesn't require a lot of fiddling around.
So until she's actually here, or until I find a linux IM client that can handle voice, video and file transfers (because she's definitely not going to take a risk and install new software) with the big windows clients. I'm afraid I'll be stuck with Windows for a while longer.
That, and I still enjoy the guilty pleasure of playing a game now and then. Even though I have no trouble giving that up once Windows is no longer necessary ( I prefer old dos games anyway :) )

qamelian
April 9th, 2007, 08:42 PM
Windows has:

Much better, much more readable fonts, as well as Cleartype This one is really a matter of personal preference. Personally, I find Cleartype to be ugly and very hard on the eyes. I think most modern Linux distros have better looking fonts than Windows, but like I said, It's a matter of preference. I know folks who still prefer non-antialiased fonts for one reason or another!

FrancoNero
April 20th, 2007, 01:58 AM
stuff on windows jsut works. you know, as much as i loathe it, stuff like standby, hibernate and all that, works like a charm. and, see other topics, on some laptops, itjust doesn't on feisty.
also, basic stuff like resizing windows without looking gobbly, or full support for flawless proprietary software. how long does it take to get apple.com/trailers to work in feisty? the answer: if you don't know how, probably too long.
there is a lot of small tiny little stuff, that usually don't even ends up in launchpad or bug reports, because they are annoyances, and not really flaws. before moving on to big things like 3d effects and whatnot, ubuntu/gnome etc should make the essential basics to work, or people will dual boot forever

Quillz
April 20th, 2007, 02:08 AM
I use Ubuntu quite a lot, but I also have equal amounts of time spent on OS X and Windows. For me, all three OS have their high and low points, and all three of them can do one thing better than another. I find Windows most useful on my laptop, which I use at school. I find OS X and Linux are more useful on my desktop at home.

vandelejo
April 20th, 2007, 02:16 AM
Trying to wean myself off of WinBloze but use it for TaxCut, Genealogy and Graphics/Rendering programs. XP is on virtual disk (VirtualBox- very easy to use). I do not care for monopolies and their bully ways. My $0.02.

cypherzero
April 20th, 2007, 02:28 AM
I find windows has more software, more games and the MS tools make R.A.D. much easier. I even find it more surprisingly stable than Linux (shock!!)

BUT!!!

Ubuntu feels so much cleaner, more responsive, faster, customisable and Crap FREE than Windows. I can click on a file in Ubuntu and it opens, instead of waiting five minutes before showing a popup menu!

SonicSteve
April 20th, 2007, 02:56 AM
One main reason I still use windows. I have to support people who use it. I had a call from a client whom I hadn't spoken to for more than 6 months. Guess what? She's using Vista now!!! Uggh. If I don't find a way to run vista I'm going to have a heck of a time suporting people who have it. I may have to break down and buy the Home Ultimate, I really don't want it though. I want it all or nothing, I need to see all of Vista, not just the castrated version.

Ould
May 9th, 2007, 09:17 PM
I still need XP for...


Autostitch


Silkstone,

Autostitch worked perfectly for me under Wine in Ubuntu Edgy. I haven't tried it yet in Feisty. I didn't have to do much of anything, just double clicked the .exe file and it automagically worked. Just wanted to let you know.

I primarily use Ubuntu on both my home machines, one is a general desktop machine for surfing the net, playing some cheesy games, etc and the other is a dedicated MythTV box. MythTV Kicks *** and it is working awesome on Ubuntu Edgy for me, much, much better than a similar Windows setup I previously had. I have one small thing which is rarely used that I sometimes use windows for but I can probably get it going in Ubuntu with Wine if I tried.


Kevin

MOS95B
May 9th, 2007, 09:23 PM
I keep my windows machine for a couple of programs I need for my hobby. They are such small, proprietary programs that there's probably not interest for porting them over.

And the occasional FPS when I need to burn off stress.... ;)

dpmccoy
May 9th, 2007, 09:24 PM
I have Windows XP installed on my primary hard drive, but that's only still there as a failsafe.

I have Windows XP installed under VmWare Server under Ubuntu 7.04, and I use it on occasion for the following tasks:

1 - Import data from my Garmin GPS into my running log, which only runs under Windows. Ubuntu won't recognize my Garmin GPS.

2 - Microsoft Money. I have Moneydance, but I don't want to give up my checking account log that I have been using for 5+ years now and start anew.

3 - My bank allows me to scan checks and upload them to my account(s). It only works under Internet Explorer, as does the Java applet that the website uses to control the scanner.

4 - If I want to buy music off of I-Tunes, or watch I-Tunes purchased videos or TV shows, I do it under Windows.

That's all I use it for. Everything else has a better counterpart under Linux.

DJ_Max
May 9th, 2007, 09:25 PM
I use Windows for AutoCAD, and I use OS X because it's the most stable and polished OS I've used, and because I can still harness the power of BSD by compiling and writing FOSS.

mech7
May 9th, 2007, 09:26 PM
1. Silo
2. Photoshop CS3
3. After Effects

that is why i still boot for windows hope someday they will work in linux..

NJC
May 9th, 2007, 09:43 PM
I have a dual boot Win98/Dapper. Rarely go into Win but it's a handy backup in case I manage to funk Ubuntu and still need email.

But I also need Win for kids' CD games.

darkworld
May 9th, 2007, 09:51 PM
Because my ATI tv card doesnt work in Linux but does on XP. Since my PC is my TV I have to have it dual boot. Thats the only reason.

hsweet
May 9th, 2007, 09:55 PM
1. Cad. Sketchup and Pro-desktop. Sketchup almost works under wine and maybe google will get it going soon. If I can get past the cad issue, I'm done with windowz.

2. My daughter's ipod. (a gift,, i would have gotten her a cowen device).

I'll be happy when it's all behind me. Maybe if Dell-buntu is sucessful and the commercial companies get on the u/li/ninx wagon.

DOS was ok. It worked, programs ran nicely on a 286 chip, it was stable, and viruses were not yet prevelant. Windows seemed like an improvement... at first.

DJ_Max
May 9th, 2007, 10:08 PM
1. Cad. Sketchup and Pro-desktop. Sketchup almost works under wine and maybe google will get it going soon. If I can get past the cad issue, I'm done with windowz.

2. My daughter's ipod. (a gift,, i would have gotten her a cowen device).

I'll be happy when it's all behind me. Maybe if Dell-buntu is sucessful and the commercial companies get on the u/li/ninx wagon.

DOS was ok. It worked, programs ran nicely on a 286 chip, it was stable, and viruses were not yet prevelant. Windows seemed like an improvement... at first.

I was looking at Sketchup, what in specific do you use it for, rather, what field.

djchandler
May 9th, 2007, 10:10 PM
I have clients who will only accept output from Adobe products, in my particular case, InDesign. In addition, I have a large collection of Type 1 and Open Type fonts, including some Multiple Master Typefaces, which includes a couple of entire and also important families, whose feature sets can only be accessed via Adobe Type Manager. Licensing in some cases does not allow use or transfer to more than one computer or OS as well. Some of my work does include altering font characteristics. Scribus just doesn't have the confidence of the professional graphic arts community yet, and Linux distros lack the capability to "easily" switch which fonts are installed. There is equal bias concerning Photoshop and Illustrator, although I find such bias in those cases to be completely unfounded.The Gimp and Inkscape are more than good enough for my purposes, but you must deliver what the customer asks for, regardless. Service bureaus and printer shops are just as bad about this, sometimes worse. Even delivering a PDF file can irritate them. They want to be able to edit and/or trap in the source project file(s) to suit their particular output equipment.

nandaiyo
May 10th, 2007, 12:10 AM
- Dreamweaver
- Adobe Creative Suite CS2
- FontFolio fonts
- Outlook, M$ Exchange
- iTunes

LLauranzonIII
May 11th, 2007, 03:41 AM
itunes, not for the purchasing of music but to download and sync podcasts effortlessly. it works perfect for what i use it for so i need it. i use it on a vista desktop. but that's pretty much it. i use the laptop most of the time and it's what ubuntu is on.

macogw
May 11th, 2007, 10:16 AM
itunes, not for the purchasing of music but to download and sync podcasts effortlessly. it works perfect for what i use it for so i need it. i use it on a vista desktop. but that's pretty much it. i use the laptop most of the time and it's what ubuntu is on.

Have you tried Amarok or Banshee?

macogw
May 11th, 2007, 10:18 AM
2. My daughter's ipod. (a gift,, i would have gotten her a cowen device).


Amarok will sync it. I've heard Banshee will too, but I don't have an iPod to try with (though I love Banshee).

cliv
May 11th, 2007, 10:28 AM
I mainly use windows for games, and if I want to delete/ add files to any of my windows ntfs partitions (that really bugs me). And then I use windows for others things that i havnt yet found the time to fix in ubuntu, ripping cd's, burning cd's, microphone and other stuff i have forgotten.

Snargledorf
May 11th, 2007, 01:19 PM
I right now have a triple boot setup of xp, vista, and ubuntu. My only purpose for vista and xp is for gaming. Other then that ubuntu is my dominant os. running 64bit ubuntu i am able to watch 1080p video without even a hickup something i could only dream of in xp with my setup ( only 512mb of ram still ](*,) )

Dimension7
May 13th, 2007, 05:48 PM
Microsoft Money (didn't like gnuCash, KMyMoney, Grisbi, Eqonomize, and don't want to pay for MoneyDance)

Vegas Movie Studio+DVD (my DVD camcorder is a Sony, other programs I've tried cannot import the recorded movies from the mini-DVD)

Need For Speed - Most Wanted, IL-2 Sturmovik, and Need For Speed - Hot Pursuit 2 (I still play them even though they're old)

VB and Access (this is what's feeding my family)



60% Ubuntu
40% Windows

ep2011
May 13th, 2007, 06:28 PM
A few things are making me keep XP Installed alongside of Ubuntu.


Ipod (I Know, I can use a linux program, but with all the videos and music I have, its better to just use windows for it)
Parents (Probably wouldn't let me uninstall windows)
School (Some things for school only work in IE/Windows)

ian-johnson
May 19th, 2007, 08:48 PM
I still dual boot with XP. If Adobe would make InDesign available for Linux (Ubuntu) I could leave Windows for good. Scribus is very far from being useful to me and there are no other real alternatives to InDesign.

At my business I use Quickbooks POS and Quickbooks Pro for accounting as well as PC Charge Pro for credit card processing. Therefore my POS system is an XP system.

I wish software companies would start to make Linux versions available.

rsambuca
May 19th, 2007, 08:59 PM
I've only fiddled around with Scribus as I am not a real heavy user of Desktop Publishing stuff. So is Scribus not really close to InDesign?

the8thstar
May 19th, 2007, 09:00 PM
1. MS Office 2007 runs only in Windows. Weenie Wine just can't do it.

2. There is no equivalent (to my knowledge) of the famed "Briefcase" under Ubuntu, therefore, no doc synchronization is possible with an USB key for instance.

3. Games made for Windows run better in that environment. Even NWN does! That is, until MS releases DirectX for Linux. IMO, if they could, they should. LinuX-X?

4. When you're used to Windows, using the CLI/terminal in Ubuntu is just NOT user-friendly.

5. Whether we use XP/Vista and after or not, hundreds of millions people will still use MS. Closing the door on MS is going to make us OS illiterate!

Adamant1988
May 19th, 2007, 09:07 PM
Windows plays nicer with the proprietary technology of my laptop. I'm not complaining too much, it's a good system...

marco123
May 19th, 2007, 09:15 PM
Faster downloading on Bittorrent and to watch all my different types of video without washed out colours.

scohar70
June 12th, 2007, 01:42 PM
Only three reasons I still use Windows XP:


Garmin MapSource
Quicken 2007
Various "Knowledge Adventure" brand games that my children play (educational games)


But two of the three computers in my home are Ubuntu, and that is a good thing!

mech7
June 12th, 2007, 01:54 PM
because ubuntu doesnt run most of the software i need.. :(

leeley
June 12th, 2007, 02:06 PM
The reason that I am going to install xp once again is so that I can get my external usb harddrive working, what good is an operating system if it will not support your hardware.

Sp4cedOut
June 12th, 2007, 02:15 PM
I just keep windows XP for games.

Circus-Killer
June 12th, 2007, 02:18 PM
without reading this thread, i can safely assume that each poster has stated that there was a need that ubuntu could not match. this is the general case.
personally, i have chosen to stick with ubuntu on my laptop even though there are quite a few features that currently arent working.
as for my desktop, i run xp on it because its the only thing that will run my lexmark scanner/printer. also the only thing that will run my tv card.

in otherwords, if you have anything more complicated than a box, with a monitor and a keyboard, you're almost certainly going to have problems and are going to need to resort to windows. (dont give me this whole you shoulda bought a hp printer, cos
1) why should i be locked into hp? isnt that being the same as being locked into ms?
2) my oh-so-linux-friendly HP laptop sucks in ubuntu, so much either doesnt work, or will work with a LOT of effort.

basically, you cannot compare what windows gives you compared to ubuntu. dont get me wrong, if you are running a minimilists machine, with minimal hardware, then sure it will run fine. its when you get to the more exotic hardware that one needs to turn to windows.

init1
June 12th, 2007, 06:19 PM
Why do you still use Windows or OS X?
I don't. It's not even on my HD anymore. I only use those when I use computers that are not my own.

jagomez
June 12th, 2007, 07:23 PM
To use Sonicstage: in Ubuntu i cannot transfer the music on my Network Walkman Sony (.OMA recordings), and the Sonicstage running only on Windows.

ashmew2
June 12th, 2007, 07:37 PM
The Reasons why Windows still exists on my machine :
1) 3D-Acceleration games
2)Yahoo! Messenger

ThinkBuntu
June 12th, 2007, 07:43 PM
My MacBook's very mac-friendly, and I have the OS X install discs. It gets better wireless reception that my ThinkPad, mostly. But not worth my effort to sell it until maybe this fall. Until then, it's my go-to wireless stealing machine.

Macintosh Sauce
June 12th, 2007, 09:42 PM
I use the following on my Mac Pro:

Mac OS X 10.4.9 - for doing real work
Windows XP Professional SP2B - for playing games
Ubuntu 7.04 - for use in a virtual environment

ragadanga63
June 13th, 2007, 04:22 PM
1. Ubuntu or Linux doesn't have drivers for my Minolta office printer.
2. Photoshop
3. Yahoo Messenger
4. Games my 11 year old son plays

laxmanb
June 13th, 2007, 05:10 PM
Games, MS Office, some PDFs don't look nice with Evince... lotsa stuff actually!!

alohanema
June 13th, 2007, 06:51 PM
For games, and doing exercise, you see, my school give us exercise about sql server, C#...