Why do you choose Ubuntu over Windows

[yowshi]

why would i have to use gentoo or something else to get the latest? why shouldnt i be able to use the lastest with ubuntu?

[Frak]

You can, it just takes more effort.

[yowshi]

it takes more effort to get gentoo or those other distro's to work in the first place.

[Frak]

Use Sabayon, pre-compiled Gentoo, with all the fixins.

[yowshi]

neve heard of pre compiled gentoo. and i have been all over the gentoo site. i have installed it both with and without a CD. unfortunatly neither install could get online

[Unreal223linux]

Bleh, go to the programming forum and ask somebody to create an updated package, somebody will do it.

You dont see a problem with this?
If linux is so accessible then why should brand spanking new users who are just trying to get in the swing of things need to ask for someone to fix a program so they can isntall it. Sure it may not be hard to do once they learn the ropes but do you think they have a high chance of sticking it out when they cant even get the newest versions of the software they want to use without spending hours trying to figure it out or getting someone to do it for them.

BTW I just tried linux mint a few weeks ago and its installer thing works pretty well. Maybe the "community" should get behind that project and standardize it for ubuntu. Would be a big plus if they could quickly get installers on the same day a program is released for everyone else.

-----------

I'm just looking at this all from a usability standpoint. I dont care whats under the hood.
For me and probably lots of other people as well, linux is going to have to offer a significantly better experience than Windows to bother switching. Its going to have to be dead easy to use and fully compatible(as much as you hate this, people aren't going to switch if they cant do what they are used to doing/ now need to do.).

Commericial software backing wouldn't hurt either.

[yowshi]

ubuntu's installer is dead easy to use as well., and the synaptic stuff uber easyperhaps what would make the apt-get process and such easier is the first boot booting up to a manual or a manual in the live cd. see the live cd is provided so you can use the distro without installing or losing your windows install. so you can then get the hang of the commands ask around for a pre install introductin to the basic command and then install

[aysiu]

You dont see a problem with this?
If linux is so accessible then why should brand spanking new users who are just trying to get in the swing of things need to ask for someone to fix a program so they can isntall it. Sure it may not be hard to do once they learn the ropes but do you think they have a high chance of sticking it out when they cant even get the newest versions of the software they want to use without spending hours trying to figure it out or getting someone to do it for them. Only Windows power users care about getting software updated more than once every six months. Most Windows users I know don't even install Windows updates or update software when the software prompts them to update. They consider it a nuisance. Most computer users just want to get their work done. They don't want to get the newest hip feature in the programs they use. They just want to use the program.

Ubuntu includes security updates. That's what really matters.

So, in answer to your question, no, I don't see a problem with this. If you're a normal user, get everything updated every six months and security updates in the meantime. If you're an ex-Windows power user, learn to compile your own packages or hope someone else backports the package.

[yowshi]

i like learning just wish the only manual to makign a deb around here wasdnt in vidseo form. my 64 bit flash viewer for firefox (actually a hack since noone has a 64 bit version of flash anywhere) doesnt like sound so much

[aysiu]

i like learning just wish the only manual to makign a deb around here wasdnt in vidseo form. my 64 bit flash viewer for firefox (actually a hack since noone has a 64 bit version of flash anywhere) doesnt like sound so much
It isn't just in video form:
http://www.debian-administration.org/articles/336

[yowshi]

cool. thanks :)

[Unreal223linux]

Only Windows power users care about getting software updated more than once every six months. Most Windows users I know don't even install Windows updates or update software when the software prompts them to update. They consider it a nuisance. Most computer users just want to get their work done. They don't want to get the newest hip feature in the programs they use. They just want to use the program.

Ubuntu includes security updates. That's what really matters.

So, in answer to your question, no, I don't see a problem with this. If you're a normal user, get everything updated every six months and security updates in the meantime. If you're an ex-Windows power user, learn to compile your own packages or hope someone else backports the package.


Its not only about security updates though, its also about bug fixes!
Just look at the latest Openoffice release 2.3's release notes. Someone may need something thats fixed in that release.

I update my software when I see that new versions have been uploaded on filehippo.com or fileforum.com. I check just about every day for updates or new stuff that I want to try. Still though, it should at least be something that is looked into for the people that want it. Afterall the windows power users are the ones most likely to have the tolerance to try a new OS. Someone with their first computer and no knowledge about anything wont even know ubuntu exists but someone on the internet for years, ect would.

I will agree that synaptec is cool. I did have a few problems with it stalling out but that could have just been the crappy wifi drivers. The ubuntu add/remove option makes synaptec much easier to use as well.(I tried linux mint and it didn't have it in the release I used, but I just had to add it. :P)

[beyond2moro]

Basically I dont see any advantages to using linux over windows xp, Im dual booting windows and ubuntu.

I like windows, they let in the light and when you open them then you can get fresh air inside. Also they have the added benefit of keeping the rain out, but only if you remember to close them, otherwise the inside just gets wet. Ubuntu is great if you want to run a computer efficiently and browse the web, write emails, write letters, play with graphics or watch a movie.

[Mr_JMM]

because deep down I loathe Micro$oft. I love their products but hate the company.

[REST OF POST DELETED AS I'M FEELING LESS OF AN ****]

Come on, PLEASE help us poor hypnotised die hard Windows users migrate.

Oh, one last thing: When I select "English" as a language I want ENGLISH NOT AMERICAN. That is one area where Linux and Micro$oft are alike.

[the.ubiquitary]

If i may add i've only been using Linux for a little under 2 mouths now, and i was worried about gaming as well. In my search for games i found
wine. From my under standing wine mimics windows and allows you to play many games thu it. my main worry was not having WOW and wine took care of that. so id have to say that if gaming is the only reason you're keeping windows around take a look at wine.


this is the wed site i used to download it it was very simple, just follow the directions

http://www.winehq.org/site/download-deb

[cmat]

Linux elitism is really stupid most of the time. Really hurts the whole community because those clowns tend to be the loudest. Linux also needs support.

[lamar_air]

I've completely swithed to linux. My main reasons are because I like to support the open source community, it has powerful unix programming tools built in, and there's less focus on making the user interface flashy with unnecessary graphics.

[varchar255]

One word for me--Beryl!

But now two words, "Compiz Fusion".

[marine63]

so i can kill myself... slowly...
at least till i get vmware server running :(

[waldorsockbat]

Why do I still use windows you say? Because I can't get that #$^%$#^%$#^&^%*&(*(*&%^&^%&^%$^%4 of a ^&%$&^%$&^%$ X-fi driver I have been waiting on for a year( but only works with 64 bit and ohhh by the way will only compile with an os that is a couple years old!!!) to work which is the only thing holding me back. I have to have my music and my home theater. My on board is crap compared to my x-fi so untill some one finds a way to get it to work I will have to use winblows for my home theater and use Ubuntu for everything else.

And yes you did notice a little hostility there, and yes I am sorry for the rant but you asked.

[yowshi]

i would hardly call ubuntu a programmers linux as for install hell i sussed out how to make a raid install of ubuntu, open suse, and slackware without a manual it isnt that hard and i enjoyed the process of learning. a simple install with no frills is even easier

[dr_cerebro]

Try Sabayon, and maybe you'll get rid of Windows

[kulturloseramerikaner]

I've actually got a torrent going of that right now.... :)

[Chii]

I use Ubuntu now almost exclusively, and I'll be happy to explain why.

When I first got my new laptop in June the games and everything ran fantastically. But it seems along the way that either Nvidia/Toshiba/Windows did not keep up with their drivers and a rather nasty glitch popped up with some games like Phantasy Star Online Universe, Half Life 2 and other Source games, even Eve after one of their engine updates. This glitch would cause my computer to freeze and make the screen go black with the only way to fix this being a cold reboot. After rebooting so many times this would eventually cause the installation of Vista or XP (tried them both) to corrupt!

Thinking it had to be the hardware, I sent my laptop in for repairs and finally got it back about two weeks later with the report of what was done. And it stated three things. The first that my Vista install had corrupted again, and that they reimaged my HD. The second that they updated my bios. And the third that there was no problems with my hardware.

So this left me back to point one, and I spent the next month or so trying to find drivers that would alleviate the issue. So in the end I said to heck with it. I'm going to see if I can play these same games in Wine, or Cedega without the issues I've been having. Low and behold, the Source games run better than they had in windows. More FPS, and even if steam crashes on wine, it does not kill my entire computer.

I can do everything I want to do on here as far as playing games, I can do my school work on here, take notes, etc. So really what am I missing from Windows?

I mean, I do have a MS partition but in the week I've had Ubuntu installed I've not even bothered booting into it once.

There is my story of what prompted me to go from Vista/XP to Ubuntu.

[ArtF10]

I use Linux because I am bored with slow Windows bogging down my system. I have currently dedicated an older machine to Linux...a machine that was a crawl with XP.

[kulturloseramerikaner]

Along that same vein, I use Linux because there is practically nothing that I can't configure to the way I like to use it/see it/ etc; I have far more choices than blue/silver/monkey-puke green. I use it because it doesn't assume I'm stupid. It doesn't pop up with nag balloons every time I want to make a change, or because I haven't updated, or even to remind me of icons that I haven't used in a while (that last one REALLY gets on my nerves; I hate the clutter of icons in general, and there is NOTHING on my desktop that isn't there specifically because I wanted it.) I use it because I don't have to spend $50 a year on programs to keep it secure that should be part of the design on the system and don't even work 100%. I use it for the camaraderie, because I know that if I have an issue I just log into a forum and chances are I will have several knowledgeable answers, often very shortly, by people who are just happy to see the community grow and want to make the transition as smooth as they can. I love the modular design, the way if a process such as a GUI or file browser is having issues I can kill just the process without bringing the whole thing down because they aren't so tightly interwoven and bound together. I like the fact that I so seldom have to kill anything anyway, as the stability is easily taken for granted.

[EmmyCee]

I use Linux because I have an extreme distaste for Microsoft's handling of Windows, and their philosophies. I also use it because it's free, it's different, and I like the control I have over it. After a week spent trying to resurrect a boot record in Windows XP, I revised my original dual boot plan. Instead of XP on the main SATA drive and Linux to play around with on the IDE drive, Linux is on the main drive and Windows is on the secondary.

What keeps me tethered to a dual boot? Games, until the Linux client for EVE Online comes out, and until I decide to get City of Heroes working in Wine. But most importantly, and most unfortunately, the lack of completely mirrored functionality between MSWord and AbiWord/OpenOffice. It hasn't anything to do with being used to Word. Unfortunately, I can't read all the markup from my editors in a Linux program, and I have to use MSWord for that. When I can find a program that lets me see all the markup (even if I have to pay for Crossover Office, probably), I'll likely give up Windows for good.

[billybag]

i came across this and i dint want to read the whole thread. i know it is probably to late, but i want to say thgis in direcdt response to the original post.

'wait a few years when the next windows comes out and you have to spend 300+$ on it because if you dont, things start becoming obsolete with your current windows' that is a big reason i havent used windows in like 3 years. i hate spending hundreds of dollars, only to have to do it again because i basically have to. now that vista is out, things for xp become obsolete and new things will most likely be incompatable. if it comes to games... xbox may be a tad more practical. i am not positive as i am not a big xbox user. but if i was that big into microsoft games, i would deff rather get an xbox than windows. i guess you would have to factor how often new versions/generations come out and the price i guess. i dont know

[tazeat]

Torrent/File/SSH/Proxy server.

[victor_c26]

I like variety.

The thought of running multiple OSs fills me with indescribable joy. Ubuntu, XP, Vista, SLAX[, and if I could, I would install OSX]. It's shivers on the spine inducing. :)

I don't really get the "Siding with only one platform" mentality. If you have a machine that can dual-boot multiple OSs, and it's cost feasible for you, why not dual, or even tri-boot your box?

[Arwen]

I like checking out new things,I started using solaris 10 at school 2years ago and soon learnt about linux and it's so many distros.Irritated by XPs crashes and battles with malware,I decided to give a shot at ubuntu 5.10 a year ago.Since then I've installed in my pc or VMWare about 10-12 distros and finally decided to keep ubuntu 7.04,suse 10.0,pcbsd(yep I know it's unix but my laptop loves it and so do I) and damn small linux.I also keep XP cause I'm not the only who uses the pcs at home(family doesn't want to change windows habit)If I have enough spare time,I change distro every now and then but the ones I keep as main OS is ubuntu,suse and bsd for school.I don't mind trying anything and if it works I keep it!

[Beau D.]

Sitting on the shelf next to my spare parts collection, and my file server is a brand new unopened XP Pro SP2 box. Next to that box is my CD and such that came with my dell laptop..with a legal XPSP2 key under my laptop. Both will go unused form here on out. I have made the switch fulltime for awhile now. No dual booting, no VMware. I had to quit cold turkey.
My reasons were more theological than practical. For years I have been complaining about MS and their half hearted security fixes, their poor business practices, their draconian policies. And for years I did nothing about it. Apathy, laziness, fear? Who knows why I didn't switch earlier. I regret that I didn't. I played with Linux off and on since 1999..but never got the wherewithall to move on.
Now XP wasn't that bad really. Fairly stable in my case. Worked pretty good for most stuff. I used to pirate any software I needed. Eventually that got old. Always cracking things, patching things, The more I did the more I found myself BOUND to MS. I managed to keep the machines pretty clean with some free tools (avira AV, Kerio Personal firewall..as the XP one is basically useless)..and they would run pretty good for 6 months or so at a time..the DLL creep etc.
One day my wife and I were talking about her work computer and how it was a real dog..and I went into my windows rant. She looked at me and said " why don't you do something about it then?" I went to Borders, bought a Linux magazine with Fedora 7 DVD..and nuked XP that day. Eventually I went to Ubuntu, and have been here since then.
Then I went through the house..and nuked every windows install and replaced it with a Linux of some type that was appropriate for the hardware. My wife's laptop now runs Xubuntu..and she had a hard time at first..but loves it now. The boys have a pair of computers running edubuntu, the girls have comps running the same. My firewall box now runs endian, and the fileserver runs 6.06 Server LTS version. And I have done so with zero notice. My entire family runs Linux now because being the IT guy in the house I made them. There were some trials and tribulations..but everyone is super happy now. And I don't have to feel like a hypocrite/pirate.

And thats why i use Linux now. The rest..stability, lack of malware, low price, free apps are all gravy now. Great stuff that should cause more to switch alone, but I can now feel a bit better about my machines. Hey this whole advocacy thing is great..I even wiped out mono..and that is another discussion for another time. Now I have my parents using Linux, 3 friends have switched at least one machine and counting.

Beau D.

[joe.turion64x2]

I like variety.

The thought of running multiple OSs fills me with indescribable joy. Ubuntu, XP, Vista, SLAX[, and if I could, I would install OSX]. It's shivers on the spine inducing. :)

I don't really get the "Siding with only one platform" mentality. If you have a machine that can dual-boot multiple OSs, and it's cost feasible for you, why not dual, or even tri-boot your box?
That is exactly what I do in my laptop, considering it has a big HD. It keeps the Windows XP Media Center Edition that came with it (just for compatibility with some programs) but in a tiny partition, along with two Linux distros (at least): one is my main one, and the other just the backdoor/replacement one (in case I manage to screw the main one :confused:).

Thanks.
Joe.

[madman1337]

Xubuntu took a very old machine (P3 processor 500MHz, 128MB RAM) that was going to get thrown out because it seemed too slow. With Xubuntu it appears to run faster than my brother's laptop (brand new P4 2GHz). It loads websites faster than my brother's laptop, and loads up programs faster (thanks to no clogged registry)

Xubuntu made it able to handle the latest versions of Flash (win95 can't...), the latest versions of Java Runtime Environment (once again win95 can't) and Xubuntu is one of the few OS'es that is up-to-date that can actually run on that machine...not to mention it just got me a nifty home server to host mp3's/ogg's for $5 at a computer resale shop...

I use both Windows Vista and Ubuntu on my two most used computers in my house. One, Windows Vista, I use primarily for games, since it has DX10. everything else, I use my nifty ubuntu media machine, since I was able to tweak all these settings to make the audio phenominal (got some professional sound equipment hooked up to it), and GAIM/Pidgin is far better than having to run AIM/MSN/ICQ/GoogleTalk. AND, it runs counterstrike:source, ut:2004, and WoW well enough natively or in WINE

...'nuff said...

[poof]

Why do I use Linux when I have Windows? Because I can... ;-)

Really though, each OS has it's own purpose. I like that Linux is Open Source and allows the user more flexibility.

[justin1278]

Well I like Linux and use it for almost everything on my notebook, in fact I may just be removing Windows XP completely from my notebook soon making it an Ubuntu notebook :-)

I use Windows mainly for the things Linux cannot do which is gameing for the most part. As well as some application where there are not opensource alternatives to and that won't run under WINE.

[koleoptero]

I prefer ubuntu because I just like it more. Although I first started using it because winxp just won't work with torrents (for some unknown reason) I now only rarely boot windows, and that just for when I need to transfer files to my external hard disk (because it's ntfs). When the next version of ubuntu comes out with the ntfs-3g thingy included I'll probably repartition my laptop's drive, and put only ubuntu in it, or perhaps kubuntu (I'm a man of leisure :P).

[Jockboy98295]

I use Ubuntu simply because win made my computer go up in smoke, literally. I used to be a win. Beta tester. I tested the version of win xp 64 edition, the last update sent my HD into a constant seek mode, and burnt up the comp. I switched to Ubuntu 5.10 (I think that was it) and never looked back. Took a while to get used to, but I have never been happier, no viruses, no bad updates, no patches over patches, no constantly re-installing the system, etc.
However, unfortunately, I am a Pilot and an A&P Mechanic, so I have to run win vista, but I control it through the use of VirtualBox and have no worries, all it runs are a few training programs and keeps info on aircraft (well, I do play Halo on it, but if someone can make it so I can play it on Ubuntu that would be great!). And as soon as I figure out how to install what i need from the vista OS to the Ubuntu OS and make it work, even vista will be gone. :biggrin:
Ubuntu is great, just try it, stick with it a while, ask some questions, and you'll get it. I recently installed Ubuntu Ultimate Edition 1.5, well see how that goes, seems to be a good OS. :)

[cleanbarn]

I am very happy with Ubuntu.

Linux provides me with the software that I need. I have spent 25 years learning to use computers. It is nice that things that worked 15 years ago on Unix still work today on Linux. I use GCC and shell scripts extensively and am used to using vi in xterm so it is an easy enviroment for me to work in.

Basically two years learning about linux puts you two years ahead, two years learning anything from microsoft puts you right back where you started when everything changes in the next version ( or worse just two things change the things you need)

So reason one: Long Term Development of expertise

Reason two is Linux works better. I bought a brand new laptop and it came with Vista. Running vista is very, very slow, it constantly spins the disk and who knows what it is doing.

Linux is very fast, and even with heavy loads I find I have lots or resources (cpu, disk, memory) free. I can get things done quickly,
this includes running a job that needs 100% of one cpu ( computational biology) watching a DVD quality Video and downloading more video at the same time. I still have 80% of one of the two cores availalbe.

So reason two: It works faster, uses less resources, and lets me get more done. I don't get frustrated waiting for the computer.

Reason 3 is it just makes me happier.

[joe.turion64x2]

I am very happy with Ubuntu.

Linux provides me with the software that I need. I have spent 25 years learning to use computers. It is nice that things that worked 15 years ago on Unix still work today on Linux. I use GCC and shell scripts extensively and am used to using vi in xterm so it is an easy enviroment for me to work in.

Basically two years learning about linux puts you two years ahead, two years learning anything from microsoft puts you right back where you started when everything changes in the next version ( or worse just two things change the things you need)

So reason one: Long Term Development of expertise

Reason two is Linux works better. I bought a brand new laptop and it came with Vista. Running vista is very, very slow, it constantly spins the disk and who knows what it is doing.

Linux is very fast, and even with heavy loads I find I have lots or resources (cpu, disk, memory) free. I can get things done quickly,
this includes running a job that needs 100% of one cpu ( computational biology) watching a DVD quality Video and downloading more video at the same time. I still have 80% of one of the two cores availalbe.

So reason two: It works faster, uses less resources, and lets me get more done. I don't get frustrated waiting for the computer.

Reason 3 is it just makes me happier.
I think that is about the best Linux has. I recall reading from the One Laptop per Child Project that Linux would be in the end one of the greatest share between rich and poor countries: knowledge. Unfortunately MS morons wanted their own version too.

Thanks.
Joe.

[WilSteele]

WOW!!!
First i must say, my god. So many posts in this topic. and because of that, i certainly don't have time to read them all, so if what i am about to say has been said.... sorry.

From the first post:

The only thing i have been using ubuntu for is web browsing playing music/movies (cant play games) which I can do better/hassle free in windows.

So what are the advantages of l using linux over xp?

OMG! are you for real.
I am a programming student, mostly visual and game programming, and as such i really can't give up windows entirely. But in my free time i watch lots of movies and tv on my pc (don't even own a tv) and all I can say when i play media on ubuntu is WOW. I have watched every episode of family guy on tv-links.co.uk through windows and am now rewatching through linux because it is a whole different experience. colors are more vivid, detail is better, and you can resize to full screen without loosing much picture quality (and you loose alot of quality when you do that in windows).
On top of it all, linux transfers information much faster, so any streaming media streams and plays much more smoothly.
And the sound has alot more clarity and for the first time ever it seems my sub-woofer is making a difference in the sound.

[kulturloseramerikaner]

Part of that is that Win downconverts audio, so if you start with a 44kbps source, ******* plays it back 44.1. I do quite a bit studying/listening/writing music, and I noticed the same sort of thing with my music files- they just seemed more full and vivid when I ran them on XMMS/Ubuntu vs. Window Media, and for the longest time thought it might just be me. I don't know if there is something similar as far as video playback is concerned, but you are not the first to notice an improvement in multimedia.

[64mbs]

there are a lot... really

a few practical ones:
no viruses, adware, spyware... whatever all that is called
you don't need to reinstall, just keep upgrading. at least debian based distros such as ubuntu
stability. it just _is_ more stable.

and once you know more about linux, you'll realise that you can tweak it as you want it, customize it to your needs.

plus you don't support an unethical monopolistic company.

my suggestions if you play games: dual boot with windows (games) and ubuntu (everything else)
go here: ubuntuguide.org
Isn't the fewer security problems due to fewer warez, worms and virui made for Linux just because Windows has such a larger user base and because of that and the programer nature of the linux OSs even percentage wise Linux has a lower amount of users that 'just click because it's clolorful and flashy'?

I wanted WinXP pro but if I had put that into my build budget I'd end up with close to what I had before, a sytem from 1997, the HD corrupted, a $5 used monitor, cheapo keyboard and mouse, 64mbs of ram, dead graphics card, the cd burner I bought for it, the dented case currently around my new build... you get the point. Still downloading drivers to a computer that can't get on the net and with a flashdrive that is past dead isn't easy.

What I don't get, is why with all these brilliant programers in the world, and some many in the cration of Linux OSs and drivers why aren't there drivers that let you play games without Windows? Or am I missing something?

[kulturloseramerikaner]

What I don't get, is why with all these brilliant programers in the world, and some many in the cration of Linux OSs and drivers why aren't there drivers that let you play games without Windows? Or am I missing something?
That's exactly what WINE/Cedega are intended for.

[vishzilla]

well, there are couple of reasons, i wished never existed. firstly, my banks website supports internet explorer which is really the main reason i keep some Gigs of space for XP. second, some of my work pertains to the use of Windows, which i cant help it

[catnappist]

On one hand, I started using ubuntu several months ago because of intense aggravation from having to re-install Windows (and all its settings) every two or three months. I'm still using Windows (often) as an alternate boot, but I think the reason I haven't had any problems with it lately is because I started using Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer and Thunderbird instead of Outlook Express. I like Feisty Fawn (a lot), but I don't mind that I had to pay for XP when it does so many things Linux doesn't or can't without a lot of 'tweaking.' Yeah, I've tried WINE. It's ugly and it sucks.

[The Foz]

I agree with your comments about Wine. I just tried it recently, to try to use Visio & MS-Project under Feisty. I haven't got either program working yet. I am really not impressed with Wine. The user interface is dog s*$t!

[pelicanghost]

I want to prove to myself that I don't' need windows.

[LunaMouse]

I'm on an old Dell Laptop -- Inspiron 4000, which I got back in 2000. I've gotten new computers since, but they're gone and now this is all I have. Anyway, it has all kinds of problems now that Windows 2000 and Windows XP just couldn't handle, so shortly before Ubuntu 5.10 came out I downloaded the pre-release version and gave it a shot. I had already tried several other Linux distros (Fedora Core 1 was absolutely awesome on this laptop) but being the huge geek I am, I'm always trying new distros just for fun. I put it on and everything worked right off. I was amazed, even though it was far too bloated to be of much enjoyment given the age of the laptop.

So far, Xubuntu 6.06 is the only version that just works and isn't slow. I had to tweak 7.04 to get 1024x768 resolution -- which was easy to do thanks to the awesome support on these forums. I didn't even have to join and ask to find the answer. I like being able to do anything I want to with an OS. I like being able to figure out how things work. That's why I liked DOS, Windows 3.0, 3.1, and 3.11.

Why do I use GNU/Linux? Because it's fun. Windows hasn't been fun since DOS with Win 3.11. Why do I use Xubuntu specifically? Speed, reliability, it's more up-to-date and has better support than Debian. I'll probably try another distribution sometime, but for now I'm happy with Xubuntu. I can do anything I want to -- and since I don't want to play games on my computer, Windows has no appeal to me at all.

[yowshi]

Isn't the fewer security problems due to fewer warez, worms and virui made for Linux just because Windows has such a larger user base and because of that and the programer nature of the linux OSs even percentage wise Linux has a lower amount of users that 'just click because it's clolorful and flashy'?


ummm no well partly no. while it is true that fewer linux users just click on things because it is pretty and flashy it isnt true about safety in few numbers. put simply a large chunk of the server community runs apache or other *nix related stuff and they stay online longer with fewer reboots then any of the windows based stuff. most desktops linux desktops have the same leve if not more security (i think, and maybe more simply because they have less exposure from server protocols) and generally linux is inherently more secure then windows

[weblordpepe]

This 'debate' has been doomed from the start.
He's already got XP, so why should he move?

The real question should be 'use XP or Linux?'. You could even be bold and say 'Since I already have Linux, why go to XP?'

[yowshi]

but most people dont have linux they start with windows of one sort or another. the question being asked is why should they switch

[ljonesj]

my main surfing of the internet and playing my dvd movies i will use linux from now on but when i want to play games i will use my xp machine needs to be redone again as i installed way to many things so it screw up so now when i get it back there will be only antivirus and anti spyware programs and my ipod things and my games thats it from now on i will use it also to burn dvd thats it as the new linux machine does not have a dvd burner but it does have a cd burner which i like

[maharbA]

I dual-boot. I need XP for estimating software and digitizer/take-off support (does anyone know of linux alternatives?)

I use Ubuntu for "everyday" use, such as web and email, because it takes about 1/5 the time to boot up as XP+Norton. I won't wait for ~10 minutes just to bum around online.

[MONODA]

Well mainly because When I had been using vista for a while I realized that with every application i install the computer gets slower and slower and crashes more and more and the bugs keep on coming with every update and service pack and the requirements keep on getting higher and higher. I dont really want to pay $300 for something liek that so why not get something that is free and does ot have any of those problems.

[Samhain13]

So what are the advantages of l using linux over xp?

I. Ease of installing and updating essential applications. For me, they are:

1. AMP (Apache, Php, MySQL) and PhpMyAdmin
2. Gimp, Inkscape, ImageMagick
3. Firefox, Epiphany, Lynx, Opera
4. IEs 5 to 7 (in Wine)
5. FFMpeg, FFMpeg2Theora, Mencoder

For #1, I've been able to use that in XP via PhpDev but PhpDev, I think, isn't really meant to be a production environment. There were situations wherein I'd write/modify a script but when I reload my preview browser, nothing changes. This is probably a PhpDev problem and not XP's, but I have no time to learn how other AMP packages are installed and used in XP (PhpDev comes with a clickable installer, by the way); in Ubuntu, AMP is simply installed through apt and everything fits together already.

For #2, a simple solution would be to just install Photoshop. But there is also a question of "for what specifically do I use Photoshop"? There's a utility there called "Actions" where one can record a task that should be repeated-- an example would be: resize, set contrast, save to a similar filename but to a different folder, close the file.

This Actions utility is great when say, processing portraits of a school yearbook that contains some 150 images. Two years ago, I did just that-- it took me several hours opening image files and running the Action I created for each one.

A few months ago, when I was already using Ubuntu, I did a similar thing but this time for a shopping site. Client gave me some 200 images that I had to resample (scale down to a web-friendly size and resolution). I found a tutorial for ImageMagick somewhere that also gave an example bash script for converting all images in a specified folder. The entire operation took somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes. And I didn't even need to be in front of the computer.

You might say, "but Photoshop can do so many other stuff!!!" Well, that's what The Gimp and Inkscape are for. And even with these three applications combined, Photoshop will still require a lot more space in my HD.

For #3 and #4, well, I think this is pretty self-explanatory. I'm a web designer and I need to test my work on as many browsers as I can. It may be true that these are all available in XP too, but there you just don't install multiple versions of IE-- there needs to be another application to allow you to do that.

In Ubuntu, I need another application to do that as well. But then Wine is also good for other things like running Flash Professional. :D

#5 are format converters. It's only when I started using Ubuntu that I learned about them.

II. Ease of installing, keeping and/or removing applications that I come across and find somewhat interesting. Examples:

1. Stellarium
2. gDesklets
3. gtkRecordMyDesktop
4. Beryl/Compiz
5. Camorama
6. ScreemHTML editor
7. Blender 3D
8. etc., etc.

In XP, you don't just install and remove stuff. I'm sure you've experienced uninstalling something and still finding a directory (and files) for it afterward. If you delete that directory but in the future you decide to install that thing again, there's a chance you'll get an error that I believe has something to do in a registry entry (which is beyond my understanding).

In Ubuntu, you just remove an application using apt and delete the ".nameOfApp" directory without worry. If you want to get rid of the package files, simply pick "local (auto-removable)" in status in Synaptic and choose "completely remove" for each of the files you want to completely remove.

[Motorhead Kaze]

Ah.

1. Forum community. I can ask a question and get an answer. People even answer when they aren't pros, but "This worked for me" is still helpful. I have never received a polite answer about computing from a geek until I switched to Ubuntu. (It's always got to be a sigh first, followed by attitude.)

Nobody likes to be treated like an idiot, especially when their computer is messed up.

2. It is free. Windows is easy enough to get "For free" but I have always been pissed off about the huge prices on software...Photoshop, for example. Computing should be cheap, it's no longer a fancy gizwhiz for the elite to play around with.

There are some things I really liked about XP. There are some good programs for putting together video, and now in Ubuntu it seems I need 4 programs to do what I did with 1 in Windows. But there are lots of things about Ubuntu that I enjoy too. Really, I would be happy with either XP or Ubuntu. But, free and friendly beat the crap out of what I was used to.

[SteveHillier]

[QUOTE=im_ka;304731]there are a lot... really

Amongst the very good comments im_ka made he included the one below

"plus you don't support an unethical monopolistic company."

I try not to go in for Microsoft bashing. Not to say that I am not critical of the giant, I would not be on this forum if I was a total fan of MS but in my mind is this thought.

If it hadn't been Microsoft it would have been Digital Research. Whoever tied themselves up with IBM in those heady days of early PC land would have had an advantage over their rivals. In 1983 I bought a DEC PC with CP/M as the O/S. I soon had to get rid of that and put MS-DOS on it because every other vendor was following the IBM lead.

Technically CP/M and it derivatives were superior to MS-DOS particularly when the multi tasking versions came out. But once business had latched on to Microsoft products it just went from there. Can anyone remember Word Star, and Word Perfect? Who remembers Supacalc? Admittedly Word Star was a bit crappy in places but in a number of ways Supacalc was better then Excel, and had some features still not present in Excel.

None of this has anything to do with technical excellence or monopolistic tendencies it has everything to do with marketing. Can any one remember the old 8 track audio tapes of the 70's which were superseded by the inferior 2 track audio tape? Remember the old Betamax v VHS war?

And please do not get caught up in the hype from this forum. Those of us partaking herein do so because we are probably better technically than those who don't get involved. If you have a business that is for example selling houses and you want a system to help you with your accounts, to send emails and search the internet, to help with the lettings or sales of houses you are unlikely to move in the Linux direction because there is not the support out there. If there were a viable solutions alternative people would take it.

Ubuntu is by far the best Linux offering I have come across but I am still reluctant to offer it to any of my customers because of the broader support issues. I therefore supply MS based systems because I know my customers will accept them and by so doing they mitigate some of the risk to their business - not all of it but some of it. That is important.
Sorry to drone on

[sgtbob]

I've tried Redhat 6, 7, ....., Fedora 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, SuSE (all versions), Mandrake/Mandriva, and lots of other 'flavors' I forget at the moment, and have settled on Ubuntu as my choice for dual booting with XP on two boxes. Ubuntu seems to have about everything I need or has access to it with thousands of features to choose from and it doesn't require hours of download time for 6+ discs to get to the install phase.

Linux, and my Ubuntu, are so much faster in accessing the network, e-mail and other 'need for speed' items, that it leaves XP in the dust. It doesn't break every few days and the help available out there on the net is unparalleled in MS. If need be, I can 'see' and use files from the XP side of the box without a lot of tweaking - it is so simple. I've found that a lot of folks will respond with sound fixes when I am in a jam and that is the beauty of this whole Linux arena. If I could get one needed Windows program working in Ubuntu that I have to have, I would wash my HDD's this minute of XP.

I've had to re-install windows three times in the past year due to garbage issues - but my Ubuntu just keeps humming along.

Viva la Ubuntu!

Bob:popcorn:

[anarchist_hippy]

Why I'm using Linux?

Because, Linux is more flexible OS than Windows, there's many support from users (I mean humans, not workers :)). And When I'm trying something in Linux I can learn many things to edit my linux for my confortible... Windows is stable than Linux, It would be true for a begginner. But, If you use and a bit effort to learn Linux, you'll see that Linux is easy and more stable than Windows. 'cause with Linux, when a system errors happens, "you" can fix it. But at Windows, "you" may not be able to fix the problem... There's some disadvantages... Maybe a format fix it :D

And for games, movies, browsing... etc. Linux is rising, I think. If I "should" use a computer, why I spend much money to use it? If I'm user, I use it however I want and why do I limit myself with Windows limitations? Windows' limitations from company and "legal bla bla..."s are also limiting user's experiences at computers, I think. And they spend money to this limitations. Isn't this absurd?

One more thing, for a home user, I think, except for some games, Linux is the best. 'Cause;

Why do you spend money to browsing "free" web?
Why do you spend money to view your digital photos?
Why do you spend money to listen music?
Why do you spend money to watch a movie?
Why do you spend money to chat (with any client)?
Why do you spend money to ....bla bla bla...

But, at work, there needs a stable, easy useable computers, like MAC's :) Windows is between MacOsX and linux... And I think buying Windows is only way to fulfill the Bill (Gates)'s pocets with money :)

[joe.turion64x2]

Why I'm using Linux?

Because, Linux is more flexible OS than Windows, there's many support from users (I mean humans, not workers :)). And When I'm trying something in Linux I can learn many things to edit my linux for my confortible... Windows is stable than Linux, It would be true for a begginner. But, If you use and a bit effort to learn Linux, you'll see that Linux is easy and more stable than Windows. 'cause with Linux, when a system errors happens, "you" can fix it. But at Windows, "you" may not be able to fix the problem... There's some disadvantages... Maybe a format fix it :D

And for games, movies, browsing... etc. Linux is rising, I think. If I "should" use a computer, why I spend much money to use it? If I'm user, I use it however I want and why do I limit myself with Windows limitations? Windows' limitations from company and "legal bla bla..."s are also limiting user's experiences at computers, I think. And they spend money to this limitations. Isn't this absurd?

One more thing, for a home user, I think, except for some games, Linux is the best. 'Cause;

Why do you spend money to browsing "free" web?
Why do you spend money to view your digital photos?
Why do you spend money to listen music?
Why do you spend money to watch a movie?
Why do you spend money to chat (with any client)?
Why do you spend money to ....bla bla bla...

But, at work, there needs a stable, easy useable computers, like MAC's :) Windows is between MacOsX and linux... And I think buying Windows is only way to fulfill the Bill (Gates)'s pocets with money :)
Why would you put Windows between MAC and Linux. Due to their *nix nature MAC and Linux and more closely related than Windows.

IMHO Windows is a third category OS.

Joe.

[64mbs]

You can't download an OS with dial-up, you will have to spend at least $10 to get a disk off of ebay. Not only would it take DAYS to download, but with dissonnects it's IMPOSSIBLE. No, I'm not over exagerating, it's the truth.

[hoosickk]

There are a bunch. Here is a few...
1) no viruses/adware/crapware
2) linux games (Return To Castle Wolfenstein)
3) support open source (free)
4) no privacy issues
5) ubuntu isn't based on a registry so it is never slower than it was on the first boot.
6) WGA is a bunch of ********
7) freedom to customize EVERY detail of your PC

XP is (more like was) a solid OS, minus the viruses. XP SP3 will be decent for a while as well...

[evets]

I could give you a very long list of my reasons, as many have. But, if you want to know the one, overriding, all important, reason that trumps all others, I'll tell ya'...

I simply do not trust MS any longer.

Not.
One.
Bit.

[tony.morse]

A million reasons and then some. I still have to use it a work and it stinks. So some of the top reasons for ubuntu over xp

1. My Ubuntu athlon xp2200+ is A LOT FASTER than my XP duel core 2.6 work computer

2. I have control over Linux while XP just does random things all by itself

3. Does your XP computer slow down over time as the mythical registry fills up with crap? mine does, but my linux machine doesn't!!!

4. these are so many niggly things about xp, like you read an e-mail and click a link to a web site, so your browser loads up showing you a blanc screen, so while it loads you click back on the e-mail to read more then a few second later its obscured again by a loading window etc. etc. AARRGGG windows is rubbish. sorry for ranting but it really gets on my goat. I'm kinda new to linux but my experience so far is so much more plesent, I'm converted

[dynamethod]

only because the course im taking sometimes requires homework that has to be done with vb and what not, otherwise my win xp partition would be long gone, im loving ubuntu, since ive installed it i havent used xp at all, i did log into xp the other day, it blew me away at how slow it ran after using ubuntu for this long, ubuntu is soooooooooooooooooo much quicker at anything! loving it :D

[liegerm]

You can't download an OS with dial-up, you will have to spend at least $10 to get a disk off of ebay. Not only would it take DAYS to download, but with dissonnects it's IMPOSSIBLE. No, I'm not over exagerating, it's the truth.

Do you mean it costs $10 for Ubuntu? But Canonical will send you a copy for free if you sign up to their Shipit programme...

[boyeut]

At first, I use it just for fun, but now I am switching to it.

[dmf86]

Ubuntu, althougth it requires a bit more pacience and learning, it rules. :) I just need that damn support for ATI 9200 @ 7.10! Grrr...

[Frank_l]

I do like the customization of linux but the whole spyware/adware thing and viruses I have never had a problem with, as long as your not being dumb opening random exe's its pretty much non existent. In reality the spyware is a big problem only because of the fact that the average computer user is attracted to flashy things and clicks.


If it wasnt for the games I could dump windows entirely but i play games on a whim and I hate having to restart just to play it. I could get used to the complexity of it. Honestly though I dont think I will switch to full install of linux or even being first on the boot up list because of the fact that I have the exact same things on windows and linux.

To me this is the real reason that linux is not adopted by the mass public, theres really no reason to go over to linux if you have windows and a casual computer user. However I do think if you dont have an OS and dont plan on being a gamer you should use linux because it is a good system. I also think its perfect for schools/governments/large business because you wouldnt have the major problems a windows network environment has curious/dumb users.

Adware and Spyware is always a problem on any windows machine it doesent matter what you do or where you go on the internet.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I havent had apyware/adware problems. Nor have i had any virus threats on XP.

[Frak]

I havent had apyware/adware problems. Nor have i had any virus threats on XP.
Wow, your so freakin lucky. You know that you can get spyware from popup, banner, etc. ads right?

[sylecn]

There are many benifies, however, in China the most important one may be you don't have to reinstall your OS once a month and still facing many problems.

[NoSmokingBandit]

Wow, your so freakin lucky. You know that you can get spyware from popup, banner, etc. ads right?

Firefox and AdBlock plus take care of all my ads ;)
I have NOD32 as my antivirus. I used to use norton, but switched to something lighter. I have comodo as my firewall mainly to keep my pirated programs from checking in with their respective companies. If i werent a pirate i would let my router handle everything for me. :D
I actually have no problems at all with windows. I've never had to "install every few months" like some people here complain about. I have reinstalled several times due to me fooking up something i shouldnt have, but that happens to all os's. Good thing now is that i have the ubuntu live cd to go back and fix stuff i break in windows.

[Frak]

Firefox and AdBlock plus take care of all my ads ;)
I have NOD32 as my antivirus. I used to use norton, but switched to something lighter. I have comodo as my firewall mainly to keep my pirated programs from checking in with their respective companies. If i werent a pirate i would let my router handle everything for me. :D
I actually have no problems at all with windows. I've never had to "install every few months" like some people here complain about. I have reinstalled several times due to me fooking up something i shouldnt have, but that happens to all os's. Good thing now is that i have the ubuntu live cd to go back and fix stuff i break in windows.
exact same with me, except I still had some spyware on my Windows Part. Just happens, some programs, free or not, install some spyware.

[NoSmokingBandit]

the fact that there is a huge 3rd party programming scene for windows sucks. There is some really terrible software out there. Linux on the other hand has only a few people that program for it, so the quality of software is generally higher.

[Johan_SV]

the fact that there is a huge 3rd party programming scene for windows sucks. There is some really terrible software out there. Linux on the other hand has only a few people that program for it, so the quality of software is generally higher.

I don't care about the terrible software for Windows, since I don't use it. I only use quality Windows software, which is way better than what Linux offers.

[drbob07]

Well, I use WINE to run Steam (which all of my games are on) and it runs all of them without a hitch, I do have XP on another partition, but I haven't booted into it for god knows how long

[NoSmokingBandit]

I don't care about the terrible software for Windows, since I don't use it. I only use quality Windows software, which is way better than what Linux offers.

Tru dat, but my sister is computer-tarded and downloads and installs everything she sees then gets all pissed off because her computer is all clogged up full of junk.
Until i cen get Guitar Pro and Photoshop support for linux i must remain in windows all the time. The linux market would explode if endusers could get a free unix-based non-proprietary operating system with all their favorite apps.

[victor_c26]

Wow, your so freakin lucky. You know that you can get spyware from popup, banner, etc. ads right?

If you go to malicious sites, or click on the damn things. Common sense should tell you not to click on them.

And even then, you can turn off scripting on your browser. Like, say, Firefox, and only allow sites you trust. With No Script + Router + AVG + Common sense, your Windows install is just as secure as your Linux install.

The only way you can get a virus by doing what was shown above is if you actually download an infected exe on purpose and execute it manually. There's no saving you if you do that, even in Linux if some jack*** decides to make a malware package.

[Frak]

That is why there are repo's, and why it is recommended to stick with the repo's and/or trusted sites via GPG keys.

[victor_c26]

That is why there are repo's, and why it is recommended to stick with the repo's and/or trusted sites via GPG keys.

Exactly. Only use what you trust and know is legit.

Don't just assume anything and everything will run on any OS without mucking it up.

[Frak]

Exactly. Only use what you trust and know is legit.

Don't just assume anything and everything will run on any OS without mucking it up.
Of course, though I wish others understood that.

[AgentZ86]

Refueling this old post.

But to answer the question, Why Linux if you have XP, is simple.

Because of the price silly.

The better question is if you can use linux and do what you need to do, why buy XP unless of course you are a bootlegger and have a nice free bootlegged copy.

Many people may not think of this subject, but if you us a bootlet copy of XP then why be illegal when you can be legit is another nice question to ask.

Not to change the subject, however it's also hand in hand with the price topic.

And lets not forget if you have purchased XP then you will need or most likely use MS office as well, so tack on another $200 plus for your legit copy, and then also don't forget the cost of the spyware/antivirus etc.etc I would say tack on at least another $49 bucks for that as well.

And then last the annoying constant updates of all of the required programs that I've just listed.

I have a XP box for my charting software only, and in order to only use that I have all this extra stuff, and if I don't login for a week, then I get to watch the computer install updates, restart, then virus update, then restart (required) then sometimes even a third update to waist more of my time.

So the cost for MS products is just too high for the things I do with my computer.

So the short answer is because of the cost plain and simple

Happy posting

[victor_c26]

Well, in reality, you don't need to buy a thing. You're forgetting how big the free software community is on the Windows platform.

I don't use MS Office, I use Open Office. I don't use NAV (Norton's), I use AVG. And of course I update Windows, it be stupid not to. I do it in Ubuntu anyway, I don't understand how updating in Windows is harder than updating in Ubuntu.

There are tons and tons of free Windows apps available on the net.

Second of all, I think of it as the other way around. If you have Windows, why not try Linux?

Windows is something you buy, and Linux is an excellent perk to having an x86 system.

Which brings me to how I think about the whole situation: Why not install as many OSs as you can on your system if it's economically feasible for you? Some think if it as blasphemy, I think of it as being in an app and software paradise.

[man_bash]

To me this is the real reason that linux is not adopted by the mass public, theres really no reason to go over to linux if you have windows and a casual computer user.

WRONG

here is WHY linux is NOT adopted by masses.

When a new linux kernel update comes out, do you hear about it on TV/Radio/mass newsprint??? NO.

Windows? I looked at some computer magazine in a library, and I felt that the whole stupid mess of paper was one large Vista commercial. Every single Best Buy commercial screams "Vista Loaded PCs". Every new piece of hardware screams "Designed for Vista"

Also, what appears to be the case, most users HAVE NOT even tried Linux/Ubuntu/Debian/Fedora etc., (I mean linux with desktop manager on top), because a new user, with 5 minutes of instruction, can click "Applications" -> Firefox for internet, -> Open Office for Office, etc etc etc. And, as I hear from my "Microsoft Fanatic" friend, (from here on MF), "Linux is too hard". BS!~!~!~! If my mother, who can barely speak English, let alone be a computer wiz, can use Ubuntu after I wrote down 5 lines for her on an old-fashioned piece of paper, since the computer (which has WIndows on it) refuses to share the printer even after letting me print originally, than near-anyone can (except for the Blind, the Dumb, and the MF).

Also, which REALLY irked me about Windows, is that I had W2K, and some program would refuse to run requiring XP. 2K and XP are really the same OS, so, can any MF tell me, why I could not run those long-forgotten-about apps, if I could force installation of such a complicated and deeply integrating piece of software "Designed for XP" such as ATi Catalyst driver, which would work just fine??? Sorry about this paragraph, it is my rant about Windows world....

I saw this quote online, which is probably the best answer as to "why" someone uses Linux instead of Windows XP:
"In the world without walls, why would anyone need Windows?"

[NoSmokingBandit]

linux is not as easy to use as alot of people make it out to be here. I have never been able to get my SBLive sound card working or be able to write a cd. Then of course you have the software dev's that are too lazy to make a deb/rpm and make users compile it themselves. The terminal is something a new user doesnt want to see.

[desertboy]

It's faster, it looks nicer, it's future proof (to some extent) and it's just feels damn cool.

That and I only own an OEM copy of XP for an old pc so legally I can't use with my new pc (It also doesn't boot) I do own an OEM vista for this machine but Vista is the biggest pile of crap I've ever used. I liked XP and it never gave the BSOD in 5 years of constant use 24/7.

I adore Ubuntu and I don't miss windows but I would be perfectly happy on XP just not Vista (Which crashed a lot on me).

That said I can't see myself ever using windows again (Except at work/friends houses).

[Walter_Crankite]

I also like XP. But ubuntu just is better and nicer to work with.
You can tweak it a lot more AND the tweaks are better.

If you want a nice theme for your desktop for instance, you must pay in XP. In ubuntu, themes are free, and looks a lot nicer.

[p.i.m.p]

themes for xp? don't you have to hack a dll file or use some ugly spyware infested software like windows blinds?

[aysiu]

themes for xp? don't you have to hack a dll file or use some ugly spyware infested software like windows blinds?
Yes.

I even tried LiteStep, but it took forever to find a real (not 404) download, and even after I installed it, I couldn't get it working. And every time I wanted to turn it off or on, I had to reboot my computer.

Theming in Ubuntu is much easier.

[Unreal223linux]

You make it sounds like the dll hack is hard. You just run a .exe and reboot.
Dont want the hack anymore? Double click again and you back to where you were. :lol:

I dont care about tweaks/customizations(I still use winodws classic theme. :P) I just want an OS that works out of the box, offers the software I needs(free or not), and doesn't randomly have problems that no one seems to understand or know how to fix. That is why I use windows XP.

[aysiu]

You make it sounds like the dll hack is hard. You just run a .exe and reboot.
Dont want the hack anymore? Double click again and you back to where you were. :lol: Hasn't been my experience at all. In fact, something weird happened where I could not delete the setup.exe for LiteStep off my XP desktop, even as administrator. I had to boot up a Ubuntu live CD and enable NTFS-3G in order to delete the LiteStep setup.exe file.


I just want an OS that works out of the box, offers the software I needs(free or not), and doesn't randomly have problems that no one seems to understand or know how to fix. That is why I use windows XP. So do I, and that's why I use Ubuntu.

[victor_c26]

Hasn't been my experience at all. In fact, something weird happened where I could not delete the setup.exe for LiteStep off my XP desktop, even as administrator. I had to boot up a Ubuntu live CD and enable NTFS-3G in order to delete the LiteStep setup.exe file.

Don't run any of those auto apps, most of them fail most of the time.

Just run something called "Replacer", it's a command based app that replaces windows system files. You provide the replacer file, and just point the app to where the file you want to replace is.

It's simple, just follow the instructions that show up in the command line.

After that, just reboot, and bam, you can skin your Windows install. But that's the procedure for XP. I've heard that you have to replace other files in Vista, but it's doable. Haven't tried it myself though.

[ryanVickers]

please see here. (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=467469)

[joe.turion64x2]

themes for xp? don't you have to hack a dll file or use some ugly spyware infested software like windows blinds?
I started my own 'computing experience' with Windows 98SE, and kinda liked it. I loved specially its ability to use/easily install themes, in fact I downloaded tons of them.

I wonder why MS dropped that nice feature in their OS's (starting with W2K), and made it much more hard to accomplish. Of course W98SE's theming ability is no match for GNOME's, but it was better than nothing at all.

Thanks.
Joe.

[jcfra420]

This is my first official post, but I wanted to put my 2 cents in. Unfortunately, I need a copy of windows for video editing, and other utilities. But I have to say, that when you state you have never had any problems with spyware, more then likely, your box is infected, and you just don't know it.

Personally, I laugh at the Mac people, thinking that they need a mac to be creative, or this and that. It is just they want to be in the cool crowd and say I got a mac.

I use all systems, they are just tools to get the job done. But the reason I decided to install ubuntu on one of my laptops (toshiba), it was for rails development. I have been using the WAMP stack, and decided to have a LAMP available as well.

But ubuntu is soooo addictive. Once you start playing with it, it gets in your blood. I love how you can boot up to previous kernels, the fact that I FINALLY get to see the advantage of the tar archive (terminal installation takes a little getting used to, but it ROCKS!).

And not to mention, I am just waiting for microsoft to phase of XP pro for that vista crap, and I will not use it.

Honestly, in the real world, you have to have at least one microsoft install, because that is what 90% of the world is using, just like I think it is funny that some web designers design their site to look perfect in firefox, but then it is broken in IE.

Yes I know, firefox is a better browser, but IE is still the main browser, so that is the one you have to develop for, and firefox secondary. I make sure all my sites are viewed the same in the top 3 (IE, firefox, safari), but it amazes me how many developers don't do that.

Anyways, I am rambling now.

[tech9]

Basically I dont see any advantages to using linux over windows xp, Im dual booting windows and ubuntu. Ubuntu is nice and all but I dont see anything that would make me prefer it over windows.The only thing i have been using ubuntu for is web browsing playing music/movies (cant play games) which I can do better/hassle free in windows.

So what are the advantages of l using linux over xp?

Well, let's see...

Ubuntu is free and Windows is NOT[-(

[jonobr]

The wonderful windows/linux argument!

A few things I would like to mention,
Im using Ubuntu as my desktop and only use XP on another to be compliant to corperate policy,
I have an engineering and PM background so my comments come from that perspective
Aside from the stability, reliability etc arguments that usually are given, I would like to add a few more.

If anyone who does data processing/parsing/scripting etc.... a windows box just doesnt stack up against linux.

A community of excellent people who go out of their way to make things better/work and contribute to this forum.



I would like to think that linux is similar to climbing mountains, the climb to the top can be easy or hard, depending on what you want to get out of it. Some people just dont link it and turn back, others get a great kick out of it, while even more soldier through it... In the end though, its worth it for the view,
In the end, its down to what you want to get out of it,

PLease feel free to pull this analogy apart.

And just by way of a laugh, I heard this plane analogy a while back and found again using google.


http://verens.com/archives/2004/09/28/linux-vs-everything/

[Osku]

Well, i see no point to use windows xp (or any windows) Except that you can get games, and some other software to work on it easier.
People are scared of using command line for some reason... For me, a simple few commands are much easier to memorize than memorizing the way to click your way through crap to open some program/settings/whatever.
And it isnt really that windows is "easier to use". Its just that people have gotten used to windowses. I mean, you talk to randoms about computers, and they probably immediately think about windows computers! Also, ubuntu is free ;)

[ryanVickers]

...People are scared of using command line for some reason......

I think the big reason for that is that people are used to being able to easily see everything, and they feel better knowing everything that's going on, but the command line, I compare it (for this arguments sake) to having this huge, heavily shielded tank, and driving around and shooting while blindfolded in your computer. This is the command line to some people. Now, imagine the same tank, but less powerful, yet unnoticeable to most, and you can see - this is the GUI to most people...

[victor_c26]

I think the big reason for that is that people are used to being able to easily see everything, and they feel better knowing everything that's going on, but the command line, I compare it (for this arguments sake) to having this huge, heavily shielded tank, and driving around and shooting while blindfolded in your computer. This is the command line to some people. Now, imagine the same tank, but less powerful, yet unnoticeable to most, and you can see - this is the GUI to most people...

But the fact of the matter is. Most people would be scared of the command line, if they even knew what they had to do with it. Most people nowadays don't even know what a command line is. When they see it, the first thing they'll say is "OK, now what". And if you try to explain to them what you have to do, they'll laugh at the concept. And if you ask them if they can use the command line on a daily bases as part of their routine, they'll laugh yet again at the concept and shrug you off.

If you even dare replace their GUI OS with a command line only interface, they'll freak out and badger you to make things go back to normal.

The command line is a big void for the casual computer user.

But that's neither here nor there, as many times Ubuntu can be setup up rather easily with the right hardware combination.

[ryanVickers]

I think one of the main causes for this is people are usually coming from the windows world where the command line is basically never used, and entering into Linux where it is used frequently; it's one more scary tool to learn! ;)

[victor_c26]

I think one of the main causes for this is people are usually coming from the windows world where the command line is basically never used, and entering into Linux where it is used frequently; it's one more scary tool to learn! ;)

Exactly. The DOS/Unix generation isn't the majority anymore.

Those were the days of wonder. :)

[toupeiro]

I'd like to reapply the logic of the original question to a few different scenarios.

If you know you like Chocolate Chip Ice Cream, why did you try another flavor?

If you currently own a car, why would you ever want a new (or another) one?

If you've ever said, or heard " that was the best sex I've ever had," why didn't you stop there?


The universal answer is because there is always the chance for something you don't know about to be exceedingly better than something you're used to.

[NoSmokingBandit]

yes, but the op did try linux and didnt find it usable for his needs.

[unseenmachine]

Firstly - I have a Dual boot aswell, XP Pro and Feisty - i also have MCE2005 at home....so why Linux?

I work for a charity that supports disabled people in regard to ICT. The biggest barrier they face is the cost of stuff, be it screen readers magnification software or simply buying a computer....i am currently testing linux to see if it can be utilised to reduce these barriers...

1: it is free -

2: it has lots of educational packages included which could be off great use to children with learning difficulties

3: i used to LOVE DOS!!!! I hate windows!!!! Having a command line is like, well, simple bliss....

4: when i want an update - i dont need to validate

5: it makes Microsoft look silly as all the lovely effects in vista (that require insane amounts of ram and dogs danglers graphics cards) are easily acheivable in linux without making your system crash and maon

6: Have you ever crashed Vista? (my girlfriend has so it is possible)

[joe.turion64x2]

Firstly - I have a Dual boot aswell, XP Pro and Feisty - i also have MCE2005 at home....so why Linux?

I work for a charity that supports disabled people in regard to ICT. The biggest barrier they face is the cost of stuff, be it screen readers magnification software or simply buying a computer....i am currently testing linux to see if it can be utilised to reduce these barriers...

1: it is free -

2: it has lots of educational packages included which could be off great use to children with learning difficulties

3: i used to LOVE DOS!!!! I hate windows!!!! Having a command line is like, well, simple bliss....

4: when i want an update - i dont need to validate

5: it makes Microsoft look silly as all the lovely effects in vista (that require insane amounts of ram and dogs danglers graphics cards) are easily acheivable in linux without making your system crash and maon

6: Have you ever crashed Vista? (my girlfriend has so it is possible)
I managed to corrupt a Vista install in 30 minutes by installing a program 'Designed for Vista'. It would never work again (only fail safe). I reinstalled it because I was NOT gonna spend any time trying to fix (?) it.

[Earthwormzim]

I keep seeing people say stuff like, "because Linux doesn't have malware problems," and such...but to me, this point is quite weak. Why? Because Windows doesn't really have a problem with malware either...that is, if you are a responsible user. Yeah, I know, downloading kegens and porn from shady websites, and off p2p networks like Kazaa is very tempting...but if you'd just get your temptation under control, your malware problems will virtually disappear.

Heck, more and more, I keep losing interest in the internet, with the exception of a small list of websites, like this one, Digg, and a few other news/forum sites. And because of this, its been years since I've gotten any malware from any website.

So, if you are looking for kegens and/or porn...stop going to those shady websites! Or else you are holding the door WIDE OPEN for malware to make it on to your system.

And as far as keygens are considered...most apps have a freeware/foss clone available, so get that instead. And the porn...just be a little more selective over which files you download.

In all...if you use the net responsibly, malware problems tend to disappear.

[linux phreak]

i love xp as well as ubuntu but xp seems to be more versatile for me

[tech9]

Firstly - I have a Dual boot aswell, XP Pro and Feisty - i also have MCE2005 at home....so why Linux?

I work for a charity that supports disabled people in regard to ICT. The biggest barrier they face is the cost of stuff, be it screen readers magnification software or simply buying a computer....i am currently testing linux to see if it can be utilised to reduce these barriers...

1: it is free -

2: it has lots of educational packages included which could be off great use to children with learning difficulties

3: i used to LOVE DOS!!!! I hate windows!!!! Having a command line is like, well, simple bliss....

4: when i want an update - i dont need to validate

5: it makes Microsoft look silly as all the lovely effects in vista (that require insane amounts of ram and dogs danglers graphics cards) are easily acheivable in linux without making your system crash and maon

6: Have you ever crashed Vista? (my girlfriend has so it is possible)


yes, I have crashed Vista... it's not very compatible with older apps

[tech9]

i love xp as well as ubuntu but xp seems to be more versatile for me

Keep using Ubuntu more than xp, you'll change your mind.

[ExSuSEusr]

I do like the customization of linux but the whole spyware/adware thing and viruses I have never had a problem with, as long as your not being dumb opening random exe's its pretty much non existent. In reality the spyware is a big problem only because of the fact that the average computer user is attracted to flashy things and clicks.


If it wasnt for the games I could dump windows entirely but i play games on a whim and I hate having to restart just to play it. I could get used to the complexity of it. Honestly though I dont think I will switch to full install of linux or even being first on the boot up list because of the fact that I have the exact same things on windows and linux.

To me this is the real reason that linux is not adopted by the mass public, theres really no reason to go over to linux if you have windows and a casual computer user. However I do think if you dont have an OS and dont plan on being a gamer you should use linux because it is a good system. I also think its perfect for schools/governments/large business because you wouldnt have the major problems a windows network environment has curious/dumb users.

I hope you realize that it's not just a matter of blindly opening a random exe file get a virus, right? Do you deal realize that when you visit a web site, the page is essentially downloaded into your RAM and from there a virus can easily find its way to your registry.

I don't understand why *everyone* thinks that you have to *do* something to get a virus in Windows... when in reality it's just as simple as clicking on the wrong web link at the wrong time.

[Paqman]

So what are the advantages of l using linux over xp?

More speed
More customisation
More eye-candy
Less malware
Less system-hogging antivirus software
Less disk fragmentation
Full support for 64-bit chips
Free upgrades every 6 months
Cheaper
Better system for installing/removing software
Supports ordinary people, not faceless corporates
And so many other reasons

I still use XP actually. It's a great games platform. I just think Ubuntu is better at everything else.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I hope you realize that it's not just a matter of blindly opening a random exe file get a virus, right?

At the same time, blindly running any deb you come across could completely screw over your linux installation, how many times do you really take the time to look at all of the debs to find out if they are malicious? Of course that never happens, but it could...
Email viruses are the kick in the nads though. People open attachments like a 10 year old ripping open presents christmas morning. Luckily i have no friends thus get no email attachment lol.
In vista you can set IE7 to run completely closed off from the rest of the os so you cant get viruses from opening a webpage. Those kinds of viruses are very rare anyway...

[flawedprefect]

We've got a token Windows machine in the corner at work, just to test stuff out for the clients who still use Windows just cos they don't realize there is a choice... but I can rarely get anything running on it. It is "so secure" even I can't use it to just play a damn video, or song.

I ditched my XP hard drive this week, keeping my Ubuntu one, just cos it boots faster, and I have found alternatives for everything I used on Windows: Office (OOo); Video editing (KDEnlive); 3D (blender - tho I used it in windows too); CD and DVD burning (K3B); web, email, sound recording, skype, chat, playing DVDs, music (Amarok, but I admit I miss iTunes every now and then)... have I skipped anything? I hope to not have repeated much. I couldn't read through the 101 pages of comments to which I am sure I have now joined the ranks of the majority here. :D

I also love how I can customize, install, uninstall, and generally keep track of programs with ease, and know there are simple solutions to getting rid of the whole package once I don't require it any longer.

No virus; no defrag...

LOVE IT.

[djchandler]

I'm rescuing my brother's data on a hard drive that's unbootable due to a scourge of trojans that have overtaken his XP system. He has two teenage daughters, one of whom cannot resist the impulse to click on things she shouldn't. Show me a thirteen year old who's not impulsive and easily socially engineered by the unscrupulous. Linux is making it possible to recover his personal data without endangering either of two Windows boxes of mine.

Now if I could just get him to do back ups and run Ubuntu on a separate computer...

DJ

[yowshi]

heh i suggested ubuntu to one of my friends he said "it isnt one of those OS's that you have to input your password whenever you install something is it? because i would really hate that" not shitting here either. i dont think it a great hassle. although half the time i forge to type sudo infront of make and stuff.

on another note i cant find a programme that has aim voice chat capability. and dont say skype i am on a 64bit system. besides which that is yet another messenger programme with yet another messenger account to make. i already have 4 (aim,msn,icq and yahoo) i dont need yet another

[ryanVickers]

I'm rescuing my brother's data on a hard drive that's unbootable due to a scourge of trojans that have overtaken his XP system. He has two teenage daughters, one of whom cannot resist the impulse to click on things she shouldn't. Show me a thirteen year old who's not impulsive and easily socially engineered by the unscrupulous. Linux is making it possible to recover his personal data without endangering either of two Windows boxes of mine.

Now if I could just get him to do back ups and run Ubuntu on a separate computer...

DJ

exactly - a few months ago, my XP decided to corrupt because of a power failure, but I was able to get everything back unharmed because of Linux! :p This incident cupped with the release of feisty and all it's goodness is the reason I switched to Linux full time - never had those problems since! ;)

[config]

In my case the question should be different: "If you have Linux why do you use Windows?" :). The answer for this question is that I need to work with a lot of big formulas and OpenOffice and MS Office formats differ... Unfortunately people who work in MS Office are not able to read my formulas correctly :(. Oh, and there are also some programs in Windows that don't have worthy analogs in Linux... Oh, and computer games run smoother in Windows...
For now my Ubuntu is tuned and working better than my Windows does. And I hope that in the future the situation will change and ALL the things that I need will work in Linux not worse than in Windows! :)

[LT1Caprice57L]

Me, personally, I've used Windows since 3.0 - however, I don't think I've ever actually liked it. I maybe liked 98 a little when it first came out. XP couldn't run some of my beloved DOS games, and I couldn't restart in full DOS mode, so I never liked it either. (guess what that line means? oh yeah, I ain't afraid of command line folks :biggrin:)

I still have windows XP on my desktop, out of necessity. A: I have some progs that WINE just won't run on the laptop, and B: I can't get any flavor of Linux to run quite right on it. LinuxMint was almost there, but it won't shut down properly.

[joe.turion64x2]

In my case the question should be different: "If you have Linux why do you use Windows?" :). The answer for this question is that I need to work with a lot of big formulas and OpenOffice and MS Office formats differ... Unfortunately people who work in MS Office are not able to read my formulas correctly :(. Oh, and there are also some programs in Windows that don't have worthy analogs in Linux... Oh, and computer games run smoother in Windows...
For now my Ubuntu is tuned and working better than my Windows does. And I hope that in the future the situation will change and ALL the things that I need will work in Linux not worse than in Windows! :)
If you have to use a lot of big formulas then you'd better try to use LATEX. It is freely available in both Linux and Windows, but in Linux it is simply easier through its amazing KDE's front end: KILE (it works in GNOME too).

LATEX can output data in DVI, PS, or PDF, so your Windows mates will read them easily.

[snocap]

Quite simply Windows is garbage! Enough said. Go have fun playing your little games and such, the Microsoft will kill your machine eventually. Forget the horrible security threats, the Blue Screen of Death that killed my machine time and time again because of some windows problem was far worse than any trojans or spywares I ever had.

[zhanglini]

I use Linux because I hate Winnows with a passion!!!
However, that said, I am not ready to get off Winnows for good yet because I don't think Linux is ready for the mass.
I started using Linux ~ 6 weeks ago (Feisty +XP dual), have gone thru the bcm4306 torture, stumbled thru using this unfamiliar terminal thing, NTFS/FAT32 on my external hard drive, having to remount my external hd all the time, etc. These are the problems I have solved now, with the help from my fellow Ubuntu-ians.
Problems remaining:
1. I have an Excel spreadsheet that tracks stocks, could not do it in Calc, could not install Excel under Wine either (cuz the Excel program is corrupted, maybe Micro$oft is corrupted, darn).
2. Trying to run Sopcast under wine, the buffer runs to 100%, nothing else happened. Try to uninstall it, but could not find it anywhere: Synapsis, Install/Uninstall, some terminal commands or the directories I could think of. Nothing worked. The software is sitting right there, but I can't find it!!!
3. I am sure there are other issues I have not encountered yet. So I will wait a few weeks, upgrade/clean install to Gutsy, and run dual boot for a while, until I find ways to do everything in Linux.

[Happy_Man]

You should delete the folder in ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files if you want to uninstall your app.

[perixx]

Hmm. Maybe one might say, if you don't know what's better about Linux, you don't need it. This implies, of course, that one had have a look beyond one's own nOSe so far :^)

It might be easier to see advantages in Linux, if you think about what you're missing in Windows - provided that you have some basic needs like self-determination, freedom of choice and system security...?

perixx

[eagletip]

Hey,
I am no professionalby a long run !!!!
But I have seen very many days with many problems usinog win xp. I have encountered my first issue with Feisty yesterday. Been using Feisty for about four months steady without booting windows hard drive. First plus...

Then I have total freedom on progs I need installed. All I have to do is pick and install. No running around tofind with very high costs wich I cannot aford. (thank you ubuntu society).

Then I can convert, burn movies in a click of the key. Never been able with win xp.

Windows is very unstab le. Always had freezees and never had any with feisty doing the same thing I did with win xp....

So for whatever it is worth, I will swear by Kubuntu and am anxious to upgrade to Gutsy !!!

Regards

Larry

[PCFascist]

I do like the customization of linux but the whole spyware/adware thing and viruses I have never had a problem with, as long as your not being dumb opening random exe's its pretty much non existent. In reality the spyware is a big problem only because of the fact that the average computer user is attracted to flashy things and clicks.

*snip*

To me this is the real reason that linux is not adopted by the mass public, theres really no reason to go over to linux if you have windows and a casual computer user. However I do think if you dont have an OS and dont plan on being a gamer you should use linux because it is a good system. I also think its perfect for schools/governments/large business because you wouldnt have the major problems a windows network environment has curious/dumb users.

But if you ever happen to get a virus, what a pain (http://www.clamwin.com/content/view/146/27/),
I also think most users don't play the games on their computers that couldn't be run in free dos or wine. I think it is a very small number of users that run these games that are more complex to install. Maybe I am wrong though...

[Frak]

But if you ever happen to get a virus, what a pain (http://www.clamwin.com/content/view/146/27/),
I also think most users don't play the games on their computers that couldn't be run in free dos or wine. I think it is a very small number of users that run these games that are more complex to install. Maybe I am wrong though...
Clicking apt:tremulous, apt:nexuiz, or apt:warsow is not hard to do to install some pretty great games... as long as you are running Gutsy and have the latest graphics drivers installed, which is not rocket science. A monkey could do it as long as Gutsy was installed.

[yowshi]

I use Linux because I hate Winnows with a passion!!!
However, that said, I am not ready to get off Winnows for good yet because I don't think Linux is ready for the mass.
I started using Linux ~ 6 weeks ago (Feisty +XP dual), have gone thru the bcm4306 torture, stumbled thru using this unfamiliar terminal thing, NTFS/FAT32 on my external hard drive, having to remount my external hd all the time, etc. These are the problems I have solved now, with the help from my fellow Ubuntu-ians.
Problems remaining:
1. I have an Excel spreadsheet that tracks stocks, could not do it in Calc, could not install Excel under Wine either (cuz the Excel program is corrupted, maybe Micro$oft is corrupted, darn).
2. Trying to run Sopcast under wine, the buffer runs to 100%, nothing else happened. Try to uninstall it, but could not find it anywhere: Synapsis, Install/Uninstall, some terminal commands or the directories I could think of. Nothing worked. The software is sitting right there, but I can't find it!!!
3. I am sure there are other issues I have not encountered yet. So I will wait a few weeks, upgrade/clean install to Gutsy, and run dual boot for a while, until I find ways to do everything in Linux.

did you try .wine from your home directory? all wine installed programmes run from a folder in there called drive_c

[yowshi]

personally i am a bit wary of upgrading so soon after my install. it may have been not long ago that i installed ubutu but i have already acumulated dozens of gigs of data that would take up ALOT of dvd space to back up and if i didnt back it up would be difficult and or time consuming to replace

[zzandeamos]

Then don't. You are wasting space and plugging up the forum with this drivel.
If you want to use XP use it. If you want to use linux use it, If you can't make up your mind go some where else and do it.

[Happy_Man]

Then don't. You are wasting space and plugging up the forum with this drivel.
If you want to use XP use it. If you want to use linux use it, If you can't make up your mind go some where else and do it.
Why do you have to be so harsh, man?

It's his computer, his choice. He doesn't need haters telling him to leave.

[yowshi]

Then don't. You are wasting space and plugging up the forum with this drivel.
If you want to use XP use it. If you want to use linux use it, If you can't make up your mind go some where else and do it.
happy_man is right why do you have to be so harsh. i am sure i am not the only one who doesnt like the fact that ubuntu rolls out a new version so frequently. and i kind of have to upgrade when they roll out a new one because feisty wont be supported as much if at all after it. 7.04 was released in April this year and in October of the very same year 7.10 is out

[zhanglini]

did you try .wine from your home directory? all wine installed programmes run from a folder in there called drive_c

I did, I have only three directories in /home ---- /my name, /program Files, /windows. No /wine, no /drive_c (in /home or any sub).
It seems all windows softwares are in /program Files and all wine FILES are in /windows. I could not find sopcast either.

[yowshi]

no not /wine it is /.wine the . infront of wine makes it an invisible directory. if there is a way to force ubuntu to show them i havent found it yet. so you have either use a terminal or manually enter it into the folders directory browser window. (it's at the top labaled location)

[joe.turion64x2]

no not /wine it is /.wine the . infront of wine makes it an invisible directory. if there is a way to force ubuntu to show them i havent found it yet. so you have either use a terminal or manually enter it into the folders directory browser window. (it's at the top labaled location)
Which file manager do you use? Nautilus is quite capable of showing hidden files, you just need to select the option.

[Frak]

no not /wine it is /.wine the . infront of wine makes it an invisible directory. if there is a way to force ubuntu to show them i havent found it yet. so you have either use a terminal or manually enter it into the folders directory browser window. (it's at the top labaled location)
View->show hidden files

[yowshi]

found it. thanks

[zhanglini]

I tried both terminal and folder view, view>show hidden, but I could see pretty much the same thing!!! I just can't find /.wine and /drive_c. what is happening?
Thanks guys:(

[Frak]

I tried both terminal and folder view, view>show hidden, but I could see pretty much the same thing!!! I just can't find /.wine and /drive_c. what is happening?
Thanks guys:(
Have you run

winecfg
yet?

[zhanglini]

Have you run

winecfg
yet?

I don't remember doing that before so I just ran it this time. It gave me some options one of which is default, which I chose.
Same thing, nothing shows.
Thank you for patience

[Hopworks]

Staying with the thread topic; If you have Windows XP, why do you use linux?

I'm a real noob at Linux, and I can already think of dozens of things that have lured me to Ubuntu Feisty.

For one, I had a spare machine that needed an OS reinstall, and this little Ubuntu thing whispered in my ear "don't be afraid, it's safe, and you always wanted to try linux". Now I can't imagine a minute without exposure to it. As soon as I boot my XP machines, I have a putty session going, and now tightvnc as well.

LAMP! for sure. That Linux box of mine serves up the home's website on our LAN.

SNMP!!! Using my network to report status of just about anything to clients I write that might care.

You don't have to defrag!

HellaNZB! MY GOD! I had to write a VBScript to move an NZB I get on a windows machine to the queue on my linux box because I can't figure out how to set separate save folder destinations in firefox, but I grabbed and modified zussaweb to fit my needs and getting something from usenet has never been easier.

Stability! My Linux box reboots when I want it to. Especially now since I replaced the power supply on that box because of a problem with vanishing SATA raid drives. A way of thinking for me that I had to change; when the OS locks up, crashes, or restarts, blame the hardware first, not windows, because you're not using windows. lol

OPTIONS! You just get so many more with Linux. Need to do something, script it. Need an application to do something specific? Command Line Parameters. It's amazing I had no idea the shackles windows has had on me all these decades.

Distro-Specific (Ubuntu) - Frequent updates and a massive user base loaded with help and information.

Geek Factor: I love learning more about what you can do, and also knowing that the door you go through will show a room with more doors, all unlocked if you want them to be.

And all the software is FREE! Maintained (mostly) by capable individuals and groups that care more about the quality of their work than compensation. A movement for sure.

My only complaint isn't about Linux at all, but about companies that put out hardware without a care in the world for the Linux community, E.G. Hauppauge, for putting out the HVR-1600 and then dragging their feet releasing drivers for Linux. I had to use it in my Windows machine, and it crashes all the time now when I use it. My new rule is, if it isn't Linux supported, it isn't purchased by me.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to post what I think of Linux over Windows, and that is just from a few months use. Imagine what someone could say after a year.

EDIT: That spare box I'm using is an old Athlon XP 2600+ on a newer nForce chipset mobo. It hardly did anything for me when running windows, and now it's working its tail off. It's pretty efficient doing what I want it to do, but can't imagine the power when I move my P4 over to that role when I finish building my dual core box. I just can't let go of Windows yet, but its grip is waning. Need to get WoW working on Ubuntu, then... well. =D

[benweston]

I am avid Ubuntu user but it would be naive and ill-informed to suggest that Windows is somehow inferior. Comparing Gutsy 7.10 and Vista, the stability is the same. The security, to all intents and purposes, is the same. Standards compatibility is slightly better on Vista. And I tend to think Vista's Aero theme is nicer than anything I've seen on Compiz.

However, Ubuntu offers freedom. Customisability (is that a word!?). Modular updates. Easy software install. Less RISK of a virus. Better bug fix support. The list goes on.

I do agree that there is no REAL reason to switch to Ubuntu vs Vista (there is vs older systems like ME), but then again there's no real reason NOT to!

[utnubuuser]

Hello -- I have both systems available to me as well, but for some reason, every time I load Windows, some part of me wishes it were Ubuntu! (And sometimes, when I load Ubuntu, I wish it were completely as easy (I say easy, because user-friendly is a word I've stopped using in reference to Windows) as Windows.
From a users (non-hacker/non-tech) perspective, both systems rock, but Ubuntu has the fact that it's open source, and that just feels so darn natural, and "user-friendly".
I love wealth creation as much as anyone, but there is an inherent freedom in Ubuntu and other linux ditros, that Windows and other proprietary systems just can't match.
It's not that it's free, or that I expect it to be free, so much as that there's an abscence of the "I've got you now", or, "were gonna get you" feeling that seems so inherent amongst the proprietary software/hardware/firmware.
Nothing wrong with "proprietary", but non-proprietary/Open source is almost like an acknowlegement of the value of diversity.
Hats off, and three cheers for LInus and co.

[perixx]

Hey, benweston... Vista / Linux 'compared' -- maybe something to think about:

When it comes to security I doubt, Vista can be compared to Linux - why?

Because it's proprietary and no one can ever verify what kinds of bugs or conceptual issues the source code has. There might as well be non-fixable problems contained - no one will ever know of, unless some cracker exploits it.

Claiming that something is perfectly secure (e.g. like virtualization methods) is not the same as instead admitting that, due to complexity, it cannot be fully secure in any way whatsoever.
And that it's better to work in a free community together, on making it more and more secure every day, where bugs can be discovered by many eyes - and where discovering bugs is no sign of sorry design, but of making progress.

Speaking of design - I think there are considerably more ties in a huge corporation, preventing the programmers from making an OS like they want it to be, than there are in an open community.


I don't want to quote the interdependency of software monopolists and hardware-vendors again; nevertheless it's obvious that Vista is consuming computing resources beyond any good proportion to it's performance. Even gamers still agree that XP is a good deal better here and by far more compatible - if it weren't for DX10, MS might be in big trouble now (mayhaps the reason why they won't port it to XP)
- well, they maybe wouldn't, because they can enforce normal customers to stick to their Vista-xxxx , even if they like to downgrade, as they're enforcing every new PC to have Vista...
Vista needs at least 1GB of RAM and a high-end CPU to run, Linux can run from nearly anything up from 64MB to 512MB, depending on the Distro, of course. I feel that especially Xfce and Gtk2 is a nice couple.

Analog to this, nobody could (or would) enforce anybody to use a Linux version that's still in alpha-phase, simply because some money has to be raised and more intensive testing is needed - it's more like the other way round, think. At least you get a beta-phase piece of software of Ubuntu with a new release :-]

Besides, if you'd like to 'compare' the terms of customer care -- I've looked into it a bit:
think of OEM-version customer care' à la Microsoft' - not exactly 'à la carte' - isn't it?
Well, granted, so far you still have your 5 years of customer- and upgrade-support for expensive 'full' licenses. And really expensive 'extended' support for companies another 5 years. Well, Ubuntu (FREE) has about 2 years of guaranteed security updates for every version for FREE and certain (LST-) versions with (3 years desktop- / 5 years server-versions) constant support - for both companies AND normal users - for FREE. I don't know about Suse Linux or Red Hat - they might be even better, with paid support, naturally.

Vista will run out of support even before XP, by the way, which will expire by 2014 (but that will be an absolute exception at MS) ... so it's not so much of a 'future horse' imho.

With MS, you'll have an ENFORCED OS-change every 3-4 years - where you'll likely get a completely different user interface - along with new PC's, if you like it and its performance or not.

With Linux you're completely your own Lord in choosing what your OS looks and feels like. It's the same as building your new PC up by yourself - you'll need to invest some time and effort into making it right - but you'll be satisfied with the outcome in the end...


perixx

[bwallum]

Gutsy

[tomcat2007]

I like the open source concept. A program loader, which to me, is all that an OS is, should not sell for hundreds of dollars. Every piece of software I have ever privately written, is and always has been freeware.

[Priswell]

If you have Windows XP, why do you use linux?

So I can learn linux now so I won't have to use Vista later.

[ayllu]

jiji, wow, Virus windows allways get virueses, The security is the most important advantage, believe me one time you will get infected, and no more Pc, no more Windows, no more Files. The security in Linux is 100 times better, Also all is free, all software you need. There is no reason to be a pirate. Also the graphics, 3d Effects, no way in XP you cannot do anything. For Games, Trans Gaming CEDEGA is not free but works fine.

[gilligan]

That's because Windows sucks!!

[NotTheMessiah]

I was very sick of XP.....i've used it for a long time and was getting more and more frustrated with it even though i know it like the back of my hand. I realized that it was time for a change. Then Vista was coming out(rc's, beta etc) and then i saw how much it will cost to buy and also to run properly but still slower(with expensive hardware upgrades), then i was upset by the versions and how microsoft restricts technology based on your purchasing power, then i was laughing out loud in dismay at the 'vista capable' c**p marketing lies....so when everyone was getting ready to downgrade to Vista i went the other way and upgraded to linux- Ubuntu. I still use my XP partitions and i am currently developing my virtual XP machines so the idea is to get rid of my XP partition - at least on my Laptop. I will keep my Desktop XP partition(which i hardly use), but i 've paid money for the OS and it's fully configured so i'll keep it for not many reasons.

[kev45]

Only a matter of time before micrsoft phases out support for xp - and I can't trust their new operating systems because they will support the software companies who want everything locked down drm style, too many problems .. I never got viruses in xp using firefox+thunderbird+symantec-antivirus but I'm more in control of my system now in general.

[Kymus]

Basically I dont see any advantages to using linux over windows xp, Im dual booting windows and ubuntu. Ubuntu is nice and all but I dont see anything that would make me prefer it over windows.The only thing i have been using ubuntu for is web browsing playing music/movies (cant play games) which I can do better/hassle free in windows.

So what are the advantages of l using linux over xp?


It's not windows (seriously. I've dealt with windows for 20 years; it's buggier than hell)
Better all-around-programs (I've been using Ubuntu for 4 days, and already almost all the regular programs that I used before, I've found linux replacements for that IMO are much better)
Open Source (IMO, that means better software, and certainly more control over everything)
Less risk of Viruses and Spyware (since majority are programed to operate in windows)
Great community support (The money I spent on the Ubuntu Linux Bible almost seems like a waste now. Google has given me nearly all the answers I need)
I like the look and feel of Gnome MUCH better than windows
Faster write times (for me, it's at least 6x faster. I base this on the time it took to move my backup of 210/230gb of data from my windows partition to my linux partition)
Security
All the available free content
Morality (I refuse to support Microsoft. It's a greedy corporation that obviously (if you compare their revenue and development times to the final product) doesn't give a crap about the end user)
No DRM (thanks kev45)
Every time I see the Ubuntu splash screen I'm relieved (as apposed to praying that everything works ok; which is what it came down to with Windows)


In 4 days, those are all the reasons I can come up with.

[gb5uqx]

Only a matter of time before micrsoft phases out support for xp - and I can't trust their new operating systems because they will support the software companies who want everything locked down drm style, too many problems .. I never got viruses in xp using firefox+thunderbird+symantec-antivirus but I'm more in control of my system now in general.


Exactly my reason for beginning a transition. Once XP is beyond practical value, if not before I will NOT be going down the Vista route for the reasons you said and then some. By this time next year I hope to be 100% Linux here.

Best of all Linux is actually FUN !! :)

[new2*buntu]

I have used Ubuntu (and Linux, since Ubuntu was my intro into Linux) for about 3 weeks and I agree with everything that Kymus says. Ubuntu has also helped me learn about Linux in general, and I have tried several distros because of it. I guess what I am getting at is the CHOICE. You can choose everything, from your programs, all the way to your OS.

[Sendaii]

1) Very little chance, if any at all, to be infected by malware
2) The community is very friendly
3) I hate money-grabbing corporations
4) I only have Window$ XP for work (and as soon as I can be bothered to set up my printer with Ubuntu, I won't need XP at all)
5) If you want to, in Linux, you can see every line of code in any piece of software
6) The requirements to run Ubuntu are rather low, making it suitable for people using a less powerful computer, such as myself

[dagowop]

I use it for the reliability. I do life cycle management for 2k3 environments so I have managed many a 2k3 server in my lifetime. I decided to work outside the box one day and install a test Ubuntu server at home. I now have that machine running pppoe, dns, dhcp, apache, samba, and a slew of other services and have noticed uptimes that double that of previous, and better constructed 2k3 boxes. Restarting servers less . . . Means less work for me :cool:

[Ubuntized!]

...and best of all, when I mention to my friends or relatives that I use linux instead of windows, they panic, go pale white, smiles nervously and stutters "heh, eh... t-t-tthat i-is wa-way too advanced for me". Afterwards that they think I'm some kind of 'super hacker' who knows everything about windows.

:):):)yeah that happens to me too! And that's toooo funny!!

[wolfen69]

I was very sick of XP.....i've used it for a long time and was getting more and more frustrated with it even though i know it like the back of my hand. I realized that it was time for a change. Then Vista was coming out(rc's, beta etc) and then i saw how much it will cost to buy and also to run properly but still slower(with expensive hardware upgrades), then i was upset by the versions and how microsoft restricts technology based on your purchasing power, then i was laughing out loud in dismay at the 'vista capable' c**p marketing lies....so when everyone was getting ready to downgrade to Vista i went the other way and upgraded to linux- Ubuntu. I still use my XP partitions and i am currently developing my virtual XP machines so the idea is to get rid of my XP partition - at least on my Laptop. I will keep my Desktop XP partition(which i hardly use), but i 've paid money for the OS and it's fully configured so i'll keep it for not many reasons.

i hear ya. agreed. the only difference between you and me is, that i scrapped my windows drive recently and went to linux full time. (which i was doing anyway) i just got tired of having windows hanging around. but to each his/her own. it's all about the freedom to choose.

[biomedtech]

I second the mention of virus, adware, and spyware issues. I like being able to have a secure broadband connection (without having to shell corporate dollars out for Cisco solutions), and I like having free Office compatibility.

Since migrating to XP, I've re-installed Windows a half-dozen times when internet viruses are smarter than Norton or McAfee. So far, I haven't had to re-install Ubuntu once, and it does 90% of my computer needs.

I only boot into Windows for convenience, and for occassional use of my commercial software that previous projects are based upon.

[stomponthis]

Also, no ActiveX or registry, which is enough for me.

Agreed!
No spyware and other malicious software.
The feeling to use legal free software with just as good, and in many cases better, than Windows Apps.
After making the full change I do not regret it :-)

[dimbulb1024]

I use Ubuntu on my laptop but I have a DVR that uses WinXP and BeyondTV. I never have gotten the guts to try a Myth install. I am to intimidated by the whole thing. :lolflag:

[flegory]

Basically I dont see any advantages to using linux over windows xp, Im dual booting windows and ubuntu. Ubuntu is nice and all but I dont see anything that would make me prefer it over windows.The only thing i have been using ubuntu for is web browsing playing music/movies (cant play games) which I can do better/hassle free in windows.

So what are the advantages of l using linux over xp?

Try opening an *.SVC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scalable_Vector_Graphics)file in windows... What about all the free open source programs available in the linux community that one would have to pay for to get equivalent programs in windows community (MS Office, photoshop, adobe premier)? That's why I switched.

[NoSmokingBandit]

You do know open office and the gimp exist for windows, right? Idk about free video editing because i never do that, but im sure there are some decent ones. Open source software is available for windows, you dont have to pay for every app. That being said, Integration of open source software is better on linux since its usually ported over to windows which makes problems since ports are usually unnatural feeling instead of a complete rewrite for a new os.

[mdpalow]

Wow. You must be really wanting Windows to be better to not be able to see ANY benefits.

You don't pay $300 for the OS
You don't pay $300 for an Office Suite
You don't pay $60 for firewall/virus protection
You don't pay $50 for Nero
You don't pay $$ for practically anything you want to install/run

It installs with all updates in less than 20 minutes
There's no viruses to worry about
It's easy to use even for me as a newb
Backups are MUCH MUCH easier and MUCH more reliable
It's better looking than XP and as good as Vista
It's easier to setup. I did nothing and everything works after install

You find playing music/movies difficult in Ubuntu? That really tells me you have not given Ubuntu a fair shot. You click on a file and it plays for you automatically. How much more simple can it get?

That's what I can come up with only a couple minutes for a quick reply and I've only been using Ubuntu for a week now.

Give it an unbiased and WORTHY try and I think you'll see the benefits. It sounds like your Hardware is working, so you shouldn't be frustrated by that....

good luck,

***************************

"I haven't used Window$ since 18 Oct 2007"

[NoSmokingBandit]

If you install windows you really only need to pay for th os. Heres a list of my free windows software:

OOo: $0
Gimp: $0
Comodo: $0
CDBurnerXP: $0

Yes the os costs money, but linux zealots tend to forget that free software exists no matter what os you use.
Now on widows i did not spend:

$300 for an Office Suite
$60 for firewall/virus protection
$50 for Nero

I love linux and i will use it constantly if someone ever helps me fix my wireless issue, but i have to keep xp around for cs2 and guitar pro. I should really get rid of the Gimp, i dont use it anymore.

[The Joe]

I use Ubuntu because...
I don't have to listen to some representative to get my OS validated
I don't have to trawl the internet for my hardware drivers
I can have wobbly windows
I can surf and not be attacked by viruses
I don't get slowed down by Norton, AVG or whatever
I can have a failsafe login, IE: Windows turns all the programs on at once, Linux does it one by one, quickly
I have a whole catalouge of software I don't even need Google for
I have more customisation of my desktop, I'm not held down by a chunky blue start bar
My default theme isn't blindingly bright
It's Open Source, so I know I can have it my way

And most of all: It's free.
I don't pay hundreds of pounds to use my PC that I already paid hundreds of pounds for (this laptop cost me £350)

Sums it up really.

[stuffer007]

After growing up on Windows and getting used to it and almost loving it, then seeing that Microsoft was coming out with Vista and how it looked almost identical to Mac OS X and felt so ashamed. Then shortly after my friend showed me Ubuntu 6.10 running Beryl, I was sold. I have have now put windows in its place, running inside a virtual machine that run on linux and run better virtually than it does on its own.

On top of that Linux has free tech support with friendly people... find that in the microsoft world.

[biomedtech]

I forgot to add that I am addicted to apt-get.

having one short command to retrieve, install, and configure is almost the kewlest thing in my personal computing experience.

[saintlostone]

Sorry if I missd this on some other part of the forums, but... I just built a custom because I was tired of my games not running. I really hate the idea of supporting windows; it just gets slow and laggy over time. Plus, I think Mr. Gates has enough money. I'm also curious about Linux, so I put Ubuntu on my new build. The problem is: "How do I play my games (Age of empires 3, Quake 4, Civ 3, etc) on linux without installing windows?"

I realize that Wine and other applications do it, but wine doesn't suppore AOE 3. I was looking at some posts on Win4Lin, but aside from bing another 50-60 USD, the forum made it sound like you needed a windows boot cd.

Thanx in advace for helping a newbster.

[the.ubiquitary]

You just need to get VMware...

Yu can do a virtual install of windows on it if wine doesn't support games you play.

[super-sauce]

I still have ******* XP, but the only reason is because its the ONLY way to play GTA: SaMp. If samp ran flawlessly under wine, ******* would be gone from my hd forever. Oh yeah, and some school requires me to use programs which I cant use under wine. I dont know why companies wont use open source file formats by default, it's much more afforadble and eaiser to access for the average person, instead of spending 300 bucks on an office suite for a term project, etc. Open Source and everything it represents is pushing its way to the mainstream though and with more ppl backing open source, and linux in general, the better off we will all be (rather u like ******* or not).

[yowshi]

there's cedega for games that wine cant cover though it costs
open source means not only can i know what is in any programme i want to install i can also change it and learn programming by example "usually done with games since alot of them are in python"

also companies wont use open source formats because they are open meaning anyone can use them. if anyone can use your file formats then customers arent chained to your programmes

[Can+~]

Answering the original question:

I use ubuntu (therefor linux) because of:

Lack of viruses/spyware/trojans/etc.
Because I like to know how my computer works, I usually spy on system files.
I am studing programming, and I like to compile C/C++ directly with the terminal, or create flowcharts with Dia.
It's awesome to just grab a repositorie to add new software, instead of dig around the web in search of a paid application.
Bash is awesome. All those redundant tasks are easily done with two commands

[Frak]

You just need to get VMware...

Yu can do a virtual install of windows on it if wine doesn't support games you play.
He's better off with Cedega

VMWare cannot run graphical games. It doesn't have the capability, and it will be some time before it does.

[joe.turion64x2]

He's better off with Cedega

VMWare cannot run graphical games. It doesn't have the capability, and it will be some time before it does.
And by then there will be new games, which people will like and VMWare won't be able to play. Then the story repeats...

[tomcat2007]

I forgot to add that I am addicted to apt-get.

having one short command to retrieve, install, and configure is almost the kewlest thing in my personal computing experience.I'm finding that it is a tremendous convenience to install on demand an application that strikes my eye... and if it turns out not to suit my need (or whim) then it can be removed and it has cost nothing but a little bit of time.

[theman]

Well Quake 4 has a native Linux installer. There is FreeCiv for civilization. Keep on looking for AOE 3.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I'm finding that it is a tremendous convenience to install on demand an application that strikes my eye... and if it turns out not to suit my need (or whim) then it can be removed and it has cost nothing but a little bit of time.

i love that too. for the most part i just choose a program from the grocery list of apps, decide if it works like i want and if it doesnt im out 3 minutes of my day and thats it.

[mgc1952]

Besides all the mentioned items I read on the first page (stability, lack of viruses written against linux, etc) one thing I have observed is the difference in memory load. XP always uses about 280MB of my 1 GB, Vista uses about 680 to 820 and linux of any flavor uses about 150 - 200. Linux is the least resource load of any OS I have run

Mark

[NoSmokingBandit]

i use xp lite on my windows partition and it is pretty even with gusty in terms of resource usage.

[SM0k3]

It took me a long while to completely ditch windows and get over the withdrawals hah but the reason I made the switch was stability and the fact that it's open source and free for me to modify as I will to fit my needs.

Plus I can do everything I was able to do in windows(including playing some games), only better. The only thing that I miss out of Winblows is being able to use Photoshop CS , that was one of the main programs I used and I haven't been able to get it working in linux.

Other than that I don't think I'll ever go back to windows again beside on maybe a testing machine or dual boot. 8)

[NoSmokingBandit]

The new version of Wine supports CS2. Its not perfect, but it works.

[xlr8ed]

I don't use Linux nor Windows....."No one uses an OS, they use the apps that run on it" - Linus Torvalds

And that is the reason that I have both OS's running. There are apps that I need that need Windows, and there are apps that I need that need Linux. If you apt-get me, you would get the dependencies of Apache, cron, Dreamweaver, Money, MySql, Outlook, Photoshop, PHP, Lightroom, rsync, Samba, and Zune.....it just so happens that they depend on both Linux and Windows.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I don't use Linux nor Windows....."No one uses an OS, they use the apps that run on it" - Linus Torvalds

And that is the reason that I have both OS's running. There are apps that I need that need Windows, and there are apps that I need that need Linux. If you apt-get me, you would get the dependencies of Apache, cron, Dreamweaver, Money, MySql, Outlook, Photoshop, PHP, Lightroom, rsync, Samba, and Zune.....it just so happens that they depend on both Linux and Windows.

I like you. I have both windows and ubuntu on my box because one os does not have all the tools i need. I would love to see ubuntu being able to do everything for me, and im sure it will in the future, but for now i have to use whatever tools are available to get the job done.

[oromisthewise]

I'd honestly dump Windows entirely if it weren't for lack of game support/lack of good ATI drivers on Linux

thats so true. i had to buy a new graphics card because i couldnt do proper dual monitors on the radeon x300 that came with my pc (well proper dual monitors with one workspace on one and one on the other) hopefully my new nvidia gforce 8600gt will arrive soon and let me game my little heart out :guitar:

ive been windows-free for 8 months now but im thinking when i get this new card ill dual boot xp just for games, unless anyone can comment on the quality of cedega?

[weblordpepe]

I think this marks an entire year of Ubuntu. I started with 6.10 when it was new, and now Im on 7.10 :)

[Pevichaey5]

i've always been known by my friends as a hard core gamer. i am playing games on my pc whenever i get a chance (google earth is great in lesson lol) linux does lake a few games, (i haven't been able to play my bioshock for a few weeks now :( ) but games like ut2004, quake1-4, alien arena, open arena, and the soon coming 'Unreal Tournament 3' are great games all 3D so i haven't missed my bioshock too much

i don't have any windows machines of mine now, there all ubuntu lol

cheers

[perixx]

i use xp lite on my windows partition and it is pretty even with gusty in terms of resource usage.

The effort needed to strip down XP to 'match' Xubuntu in its lean approach and security is not comparable to a simple Xubuntu install by any means...


perixx

[NoSmokingBandit]

i took me no effort at all ;)

[RebounD11]

I've installed XP in VirtualBox because I need certain apps that are only available for Windows platforms (for some there are open-source alternatives only I am not allowed to use them - damn school). For everything else there's OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Fedora, Sabayon, in one word Linux... and when I say everything I mean everything including gaming, I may not be able to run all the games but I play mostly if not exclusively ETQW, CS, Dota and NFS Carbon which either have Linux versions (ETQW) or run perfectly under Cedega.

And if someone wonders why I don't dual-boot, it's because I don't want to reboot every time I have to do 5 minutes of work in XP or want to try sth under Windows and this way I can keep the system more secure no matter which OS I use.

PS: Also have a virtual installation of PC-BSD, for satisfying my curiosity and for cnet which I couldn't get to work elsewhere (another school necessity - and if I remember well they also use cnet in a virtual FreeBSD installation).

[DonLorenzo]

To the OP:

If you like to play games, then Windows is just what you want: A Toy Operating System.

If you want a stable work platform where you can actually get some real work done, then use Linux.

If you absolutely have to run Windows because you have some application that only runs on Windows, the run Windows in virtualization.

OK, OK, OK. My response is snotty. So sue me.
Others have suggested that "Freedom" is the real issue.
In the end, it is.

Consider that sooner or later Windows users will be coerced into running Vista. At that point, your Freedom to play videos, music and the like will be severely limited by Vista. Worse, those hardware thingies that you already own, thinks that are only a year or two old, but do not have the DRM hardware features that Vista will be looking for, but on XP play your videos and music just fine, will stop working or work in what Microsoft calls "degraded mode". There will be no Vista device drivers for older hardware. ... In effect: you are screwed.

So, you'd best be moving now.

Another obvious reason to use Linux in lieu of Windows is price. Linux is free. Just download an ISO image of your favorite distribution. Windows costs big bux. On top of that, most Windows applications cost big bux too. OpenOffice is free. So are many other Linux applications.

For my own shop, formerly a Windows 2000 shop, the average per seat savings on software licenses, operating system and applications was about $1400 USD. For several hundred seats, that's real bux.

But wait, you say. Aren't support costs more than for Windows? My answer to that is not only NO but Hell NO. Hire one, just one, competent, somewhat overqualified Linux system administrator. He'll train the rest of your sysadmin staff. There will be some attrition because some of your existing sysadmins have a Windows bias and will leave rather than convert to Linux. So be it. You will most likely not neet to replace those that leave! ... It's that good!

But, you say, I'm a one man shop, a hobbiest that likes Windows just fine. I don't have any expensive applications, other than games. You say. ... OK, Windows is just what the doctor ordered for you. Don't change a thing. You are just fine the way you are.

Windows has its place. Where it fits, use it. Just get out your checkbook and pay Microsoft for it.

JMHO, HTH, HAND.

[NoSmokingBandit]

On top of that, most Windows applications cost big bux too. OpenOffice is free. So are many other Linux applications.


I have to stop you there. OOo is made for windows, Gimp is made for windows, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera, CdBurnerXp, etc are ALL FREE ON WINDOWS! Windows haters tend to forget that FLOSS exists on windows too.

[Frak]

I have to stop you there. OOo is made for windows, Gimp is made for windows, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera, CdBurnerXp, etc are ALL FREE ON WINDOWS! Windows haters tend to forget that FLOSS exists on windows too.
All of those with the exeption of OO.o were originally developed for Linux, while OO.o was originally developed for Solaris.

[NoSmokingBandit]

I dont give a rip what they were originally developed for, the exist in a windows binary, thus windows has free software just like linux does. On my windows partition i have OOo instead of ms office, but linux zealots seem to forget that and think that just because you run windows you have to pay for everything, which is completely untrue. Im not a windows fanboy, but if you are going to downtalk an OS at least do it with valid points.

[Frak]

Okay, Windows is proprietary and its kernel is closed. 'nuff said.

[yowshi]

I have to stop you there. OOo is made for windows, Gimp is made for windows, Firefox, Thunderbird, Opera, CdBurnerXp, etc are ALL FREE ON WINDOWS! Windows haters tend to forget that FLOSS exists on windows too.

ok it has been said that these foss programmes were originally developed for linux and ported to windows. what you seem to forget is that they are ported for free out of the kindness of the programmers heart. not everyone ports thier foss software or even the plain old open source stuff that you have to buy. and if a programmer just doesnt have the time to do it the resources, cant access enough of the components of a new windows version or maybe is just tired of writing/compiling thier **** twice you stop getting foss for windows. also since it wasnt made for windows it possibly wont work as well nor will you get the collective bug fixing resource pool that linux has behind anything windows. it just is to closed source for it to happen

[NoSmokingBandit]

His point against windows was that the user HAD to buy ms office. Thats simply not true. I hate it when people use blatantly invalid points to win an argument.

[34.50]

I use Linux just to see how other OS's are. I think Linux has come a long way, and its definitely gotten much easier to use. :)

[Hobo2021]

To the OP:

If you like to play games, then Windows is just what you want: A Toy Operating System.

If you want a stable work platform where you can actually get some real work done, then use Linux.

If you absolutely have to run Windows because you have some application that only runs on Windows, the run Windows in virtualization.

OK, OK, OK. My response is snotty. So sue me.
Others have suggested that "Freedom" is the real issue.
In the end, it is.
...
JMHO, HTH, HAND.

I've actually been using Ubuntu for about a month now. I like it. I prefer it to Windows. However, I NEED to be able to use the Adobe Suite - running it via virtualization just doesn't cut it - things are still slower, Wacom tablet functions don't work well, and I can't use as much RAM as I need. What I have decided to do in the end is run Ubuntu in virtualization on XP. If it wasn't for Adobe I'd be all Linux all the time.

My hope is that by the time that Vista becomes an actual necessity Wine will have evolved to the point that its a non issue - especially at the exponential rate that compatibility seems to be increasing.

[RTSnLV]

Basically I still use XP because there are certain apps I need to run my business that arent avail or the comparable app isnt robust enough to completely switch over. Also, I have to stay on top of current M$ releases because of my business(IT services)

[chicoicho]

I have Windows XP,but i love Ubuntu ,and i use the Ubuntu!!!

[mahousaru]

I play games on my XP box, so basically XP is a (very expensive) toy for me. All my serious work is done on Ubuntu :)

[perixx]

Well said, DonLorenzo, nothing much to add here ;-]


Yep, SmokingBandit... I'm sure you hadn't a hard time installing XPlite - I suppose you either had a nice'n'ready ISO download page, a nice'n'polite friend supplying an installation script or had some pre-mastered CD in your shelf on which you frickled for weeks some years ago?

/-D


perixx

[NoSmokingBandit]

say what you will, when i installed Xp Lite everything worked. Im still fixing things in ubuntu. I gave up on gusty because it was so bad and went back to feisty in which i cant write a cd which is a problem i had before to which i got no answer or suggestions.

Edit:
just notice i said "which" about 10 times in one sentence...

[perixx]

Ah, well, I have mixed this up with 'nlite' ;]

Surely a fine thing, Xplite... although it's company stuff. Seems one can slim down XP quite a lot with that. Most of it is possible with other tools as well, of course - like the invaluable pcw scripts.

But still, to really make the security-difference, you will have to dig deep into the security policies in the registry / secpol.msc of xp professional, I'm afraid... which tends to be a bit hairy!


perixx

[perixx]

I guess you're right, NoSmokingBandit - Gutsy seems not quite as stable as Feisty to me as well... I'm having serious trouble even getting it to run with my ATI x1950gt gc. Let's see what can be done...


perixx

[Musky Melon]

After having used Ubuntu for nearly a year I have to say I enjoy using Windows much more.

Why?

A big one is that I have 16 years of experience with Windows and have detailed knowledge of most aspects from operation to administration. I am far less familiar with Linux. Although I am learning more about Linux, it is not enough to offset my comfort in Windows.

Linux hardware device management sucks. Seeing as I am not familiar with the methods on how Linux interfaces with devices and stores the data and what the configurations mean, I need a UI and the UI provided isn't useful. Simple tasks such as changing a driver are more difficult than they need to be. For example, for unknown reasons after switching video cards everything that was drawn on the screen would have these ghost trails that were not previously there. After reading numerous articles and trying various things to resolve the issue I opted for the Windows fix-all treatment... format and start over. At least in Windows there various levels of device configuration utilities built right into the OS.

Various other administrative and preferential UIs are lacking. Sure, you can install some tools that will give you more customization but if you don't know they exist or what they are called it's hard to start customizing.

Yet to have a standardized way of launching executables. It's nice to double click and run. I hear there's a tool for that though... why not standardize it? Why wouldn't you want to double-click to run?

Lack of stand-alone installers. Seriously, you can't apt-get everything and since you can build from source why not automate that? I can't see a reason why you wouldn't want to make stand-alone installation easier especially if you have the base mechanisms already in place.

Anyway, I do contemplate switching every so often. However seeing as my Windows box runs great and does everything I currently want it to do, I don't see a huge pressing need to switch. Viruses? Spyware? Crashing? Only for noobs. Aside from the occasional hung application, I have yet to have my XP box crash on me. Hell, I still even have my original Windows 3.1 installation running on an old computer I have sitting in my garage. I've seen Windows crash a lot but I always wonder what people are doing or why I've been so lucky. Maybe it's my methodical and tidy approach to using computers.

Oh and notions of freedom are trivial aspects of interfacing with software in my opinion and thus have no weight. It's nice but not essential.

[ICEcoffee]

I've used windows as my main desktop since 3.1. I've flirted with Linux on and off for over a decade, but always gone back to windows, why? Productivity.

Running a small business, you can't afford to waste endless hours, chasing ones tale, and that's what I found myself doing in Linux, even up to and including Ubuntu 7.04. I dual booted for four months into PClinuxOS 2007, why? a lot of things worked out of the box, flash in the browser, access to windows partitions and working graphics drivers for my Intel chipset, none of which the previous version of Ubuntu did.

But now I have installed Ubuntu 7.10, AND I'M HAPPY with it. I dual boot into it daily. I still need to keep windows for Dreamweaver and Photoshop, flash and a professional level video editor.

What is the main reason for me sticking with Ubuntu 7.10? Freedom. It means more to me now more than ever, I don't want to be told (in very restrictive terms) what we can do and not do with a product we have spent a lot of money on.

[perixx]

I figured out that my Gutsy LiveCD will not boot at all when I manually choose 1280x1024 16/24k at the bootup. Only booting with 1024x768 will succeed - unless I let it boot itself, then I have a much higher resolution availible.

I've tried both Ubuntu 64AMD and Xubuntu 64AMD and it seems the Xfce version is more compatible and less troublesome in my system at the bootup,,,

Btw, I cannot get Mint 3.1 nor 4.0 to boot on my system.


perixx

[mmb1]

I used Windows for ten years and experienced its ups and downs firsthand. I recently switched to Linux and I'm never looking back. The learning curve isn't that bad at all, the stability is fantastic,and the freedom will never cease to amaze me. I'm writing this from a seven year old computer that ran terribly on XP, by the way: :)

[hogwartsnigel]

I've used windows extensively too for about 10 years also, fearful of seperation from the forced familiarity of programs.
I still have windows on at least one system for photoshop (but I'm learning all gimp has to offer and hopefully one day., and I use wine for my flash creation software.

It really is about FREEDOM and reduces the mighty corporate dollar...freeing the yoke.

Nigel

[anthonyJC]

It's about the financial benefits of operating in a freedom market place offsetting the relatively miniscule cost of a $100 USD /£200 GBP investment in XP/Vista.

[marco123]

-

[Mithrilhall]

I dumped XP for Vista for gaming reasons (DirectX 10) but....I game very little lately.

The reason I use Linux? Speed.

Linux is way faster on my computer than XP or Vista.

[ericesque]

I'll second ICEcoffee's notion. Linux has been on again, off again for a few years now due to stability issues or hardware compatibility issues. But 7.10 has actually been completely stable for me. I find that I'm more productive under linux because the software/tools are designed to enhance productivity-- not to earn marketshare. What's more is while I'm getting work done, I feel like I'm having more fun too! Yes, most of the Compiz effects are fluff. But they also give the GUI a more friendly feel. It gives the OS character-- as funny as that may sound.

[Mithrilhall]

I'll second ICEcoffee's notion. Linux has been on again, off again for a few years now due to stability issues or hardware compatibility issues.


Should that say Linux or Ubuntu? Stability can depend on what distro you're using. Debian has been rock solid for me for quite some time. Ubuntu/Kubuntu...so so but it's usable for me.

[Newbie1978]

Windows degrade every several months, thats why your computer seems to be slower than the firts time you use it, I use my laptop mostly for Internet and work related stuff so Linux works fine for me, I found myself using Linux for about 95% of the time for the rest I use Windows Vista (which is not great by the way) Windows OS top Linux on compatibility for example: my Sony walkman cellphone needs a program to put music on made only for Windows, and I also need Windows for my Internet banking which uses an install an authenticated certificate also made only for Windows, and I'm sure there is millions of examples just like this, so for me is about choices and Linux is a great choice to break free of Windows unsecured XP or the more secured but low performance Vista, in that sentence Linux top both Microsoft OS, keep in mind there is always dual boot and virtual box to help with this issues, I hope some day well see an integration of every OS in the planet.

[mahousaru]

Games, games, games... but I have to say that I use my XP box only to play a few games and watch films and I still end up re-installing it once about every 6 months. I put my OpenSuSE/Ubuntu boxes through the wringer known as the internet and I constantly am trying out new programs on them and I have yet to have a forced re-install. Once my licences for my security suites run out or I am forced to go for Vista, I'll take a step back from MS and move my gaming to a console instead.

[darksidedude]

a more secure version of windows would be those ment to run on servers, it will on PC hardware ( amd athlon 2000+ xp , 1.5gb ram) I have never goten any virus or anything ever, so if you need windows and want security, go with server 2003, ( not homeserver or server 2008)

[CAPLinux]

I am a Help Desk Technician and I spend eight hours a day supporting Windows users. At home for about a ionyear I dual booted Windows XP and Ubuntu. I got tired of the poor performance I was getting from the XP install. I am running an AMD Turion64 with 512 meg of ram and after I installed Norton Internet Security on the XP install it became almost unusable due to the poor performance. I thought about upgrading the PC to Vista, but it was going to cost me $239 for the software and another $200 for the memory upgrade. I loaded Ubuntu 7.4 and everything just works. My wife, who completely doesn't care about computers, she just wants something that works, commented how fast Ubuntu is. If I ever buy another PC it will be a Mac. That way I have OS X and I can dual boot Linux. I support and fix Windows at work I don't want to do it at home too.

[NoSmokingBandit]

lol, you're a 'Help desk technician' and you would install a piece of crap software like norton?

[uwishurockedthishxc]

because of all the free software. seriously you have free software with windows but every time you dl it it seems like i end up with another virus. plus i prefer open source. who wants to support a monopoly of a company like m$

[Mose250]

I tried multiple times before to switch to Linux for the normal reasons (free, stable, like the idea of open source, etc). but I always ended up going back to XP for something.

This time, with Gutsy, I find Ubuntu to be the better half of my dual-boot. Things look better, run faster, and I have cooler programs for a lot of things (Tomboy, for instance, or stupid little things like the little taskbar applet on the panel). I love actually having a built-in multiple-desktop system, instead of having to install extra stuff like in XP. Say what you will about Nautilus, but I like it a lot more than Windows' equivalent. And CheckGMail's ability to let me instantly mark conversations as "read" has saved me a ton of time waiting for Firefox to open, too. It's the little things, and Ubuntu's starting to do them really well.

A lot of open-source programs just look better and run smoother on Linux, too: OpenOffice and the Gimp come to mind as programs that I've tried to run on Windows that are just leaps and bounds better on Ubuntu. Ooo also has much better Spanish support now than in Plus, I've gotten wine to work for the first time in my life, so that I can run programs like autostitch and slingplayer. Plus, NTFS integration is a big plus for me, as I can work on documents in both FS.

And, of course, there's the more rapid release cycles and the higher security in Ubuntu when compared to XP.

The community is great - I've been able to fix any problem I've had with the install - and knowing which packages are well-supported via the add/remove dialog helps me not break my system as often.

When I get a new laptop, Ubuntu will definitely be my primary OS.

Edit: That isn't to say that there aren't some things that Ubuntu could fix: Blackberry support would be huge for me, and wireless support needs to be a little better (I use wicd instead of networkmanager and it helps a bit). But it's still excellent.

[inversekinetix]

I am a Help Desk Technician and I spend eight hours a day supporting Windows users. At home for about a ionyear I dual booted Windows XP and Ubuntu. I got tired of the poor performance I was getting from the XP install. I am running an AMD Turion64 with 512 meg of ram and after I installed Norton Internet Security on the XP install it became almost unusable due to the poor performance. I thought about upgrading the PC to Vista, but it was going to cost me $239 for the software and another $200 for the memory upgrade. I loaded Ubuntu 7.4 and everything just works. My wife, who completely doesn't care about computers, she just wants something that works, commented how fast Ubuntu is. If I ever buy another PC it will be a Mac. That way I have OS X and I can dual boot Linux. I support and fix Windows at work I don't want to do it at home too.



If you're a helpdesk technician for windows you should be able to set your own system up to perfect optimization or at very least know where to look to get such info, it's a very easy process to attain a stable efficient windows system.

I can't imagine why you would want to use Norton System Hog, it is a monster, it is running on this company laptop (XPsp2 with 256MB ram) it only slows down when doing a full system scan. There are many free lighter versions of AV software that you could try that would have no noticable effect on your system performance.

The system you mentioned is adequate for running vista home, if you wanted a higher version of vista you would only need to add another 512MB ram to meet the requirements. Even if you wanted to go to 2GB you could get it for less than $100.

If you buy another computer you will get a mac? Macs are very expensive for what they are, you might end up paying $200 for slow memory if you bought one, you could buy a whole ubuntu based pc for $200 right now.



I can't understand why people constantly complain about windows, without even trying to get it working well. It really does baffle me that people are willing to learn something new like linux but are unable to spend a couple of hours reading an optimization guide for windows.

I guess its just easy to do.

[MNICY]

No viruses, no activation hassle when you reinstall, can modify it, can edit it more then windows easily. GREAT support for editing.
Microsoft is evil.

[SnakeHips]

I would have thought the reliability of linux as opposed to the "blue screens" of win xp was enough for anyone to seriously consider moving over Apart from that no viruses and no licence fees.

Coming from the heady days of DOS 6.22 thru to XP and tasted all MS flavours (NT ,2000) I can honestly say I miss nothing since switching 6 months ago!

[eldragon]

in the 21st century, openness comes at a premium.

vista riddled with DRM

bluray and hddvd are more secure than FBI classifided documents.

ripped music through wmv11 is just a nightmare to transport

WGA snoops too much

these reasons alone make me not want to use closed source software.

i use linux becuase i can, i know most people simply cant, they need their computers to be able to talk to the rest of the world, and not have to adapt when they need to.

i know i can go along and export my documents to pdf, or even DOC or XLS when needed. i dont see the average joe even grasping the idea.

so, even if i have windows XP, it stands up for everything i loathe in the software world, i try to stay away from those things as much as i can.

this is why i dont use winxp, dont use macosx, dont use an ipod, or any media player that requires a propietary protocol to comunicate with.

i dont use VISTA because all of the above plus its just dog poo.

[peacepipejv]

Hmm. This thread is about testimony. Here's mine. Curiosity led me to Linux. The hook was freedom. I never really had a problem with windows only cuz I always had a hacked copy. It never sat well with me cuz i dont like trouble. My last copy was a hacked XP/Vista hybrid that worked well. Never had any problems cept a tiny conscientious one. Firefox turned me to opensource content to free me from guilt.

Here are the things that really hooked me. In order
Downloadable
Live CD
Ease of partition creation and modification of existing partition from live cd install
Excellent forum support
Customization (easy)
Apt-get installations
Freedom Freedom Freedom (apps, spyware, viruses, eh guilt)
Easy to learn, easy to use
Easy on resources (p3 900mhz, 384Mbs ram)
Quality + so much more

Windows seems so clunky to me now. I still use it from time to time (hardly). Linux just feels good. Its hard to explain. Sure there is some hassle, but well worth the end result.

Not having to pay for software has freed me from an unnecessary aspect of financial allocation. How can that not make sense? Why would someone be happy to pay for something when it is sooooooo completely unnecessary? Should I not be baffled? Especially when you're taking a hit on quality.

Windows is a corporation, Linux is a community.

Bottom line, Linux would have me even if windows was free (it sorta is in a way, illegally)
The open source philosophy has inspired me to greater things.:biggrin::

[TheTank]

Believe it or not I have had less problems with Ubuntu then with WinXP.

My mother in law wanted a PC for surfing the web and I had an old 500mhz celeron with 512mb left over. After a week I gave up on WinXP (installing didn't even work correctly) and moved to Ubuntu. Zero problems. Even the old 56k modem worked more or less, well compared to not even finding drivers for WinXP.
New printer? Just plug it in and Ubuntu will download the required drivers.

And a few days ago I wanted to capture some videos off of my camcorder. After search ing the web for two days looking for something that might do the task for free or trying to get the ones that were free to work correctly, I gave up.
Then I concidered doing it on Ubuntu. I had my doubts if it would work that well. But seeing my passed experiance I gave it a go.
And it worked! Well except the small problem in Kino if you run out of HD space.
I had the videos captured and using avidemux to batch compress the results, I was done in 2 hours.

The only thing that warrents XP now is the games.

[gofeddy]

I started using Linux basically to explore it and learn something new and I am still at the beginning stages. Using Windows was a cakewalk to me. Everything preconfigured and setup for use. But with Ubuntu, I had to install most of the packages myself and got used to the command line interface a lot. And with each use, I feel I am learning more about Computers than when I use Windows.
And ofcourse, its free and who can forget the Compiz and Beryl effects!
Ubuntu really keeps me on my toes!!

[Newbie1978]

Well after a lot of frustration I discover that my new laptop don't work with Linux (hardware issues) this are my specs HP Pavilion Entertainment-center notebook PC DV6660se 64-bit 1.9 GHz AMD Turion 64 X2 TL-58 processor, 250 GB hard drive, 2 GB RAM Nvidia GeForce Go 7150 graphics if anyone manage to install a Linux distro in this model please help me

[LinuxGuy1234]

Window$ XP is just a picture of messes made by Micro$oft. If I were to buy a new computer I would want to have Ubuntu or I would get a Mac. Window$ Vi$ta is just poop. I am forced to have it! Right now I'm posting this from Ubuntu! Proof... in a screenshot.

[Hopworks]

I posted earlier in this thread about what I wanted for myself from Linux, and why I can't quite go Winblows-FREE, but I had something come up that made me realize another thing I forgot to mention.

My daughter's Windows needs!

And after reinstalling her XP OS a record 5 times this year because she finds a way to hose it, I'd LOVE to get her on Linux.

And she'll do it kicking and screaming, but if I can get iTunes, and whatever other apple software dependencies she has working with Ubuntu, I'll be able to sleep safer at night...

And breath easier when I'm working in my office and see her router port's LED blinking away, wondering what trouble she's trying to get us into again. hehehehe

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hop

[geoff07]

Plus, it's free, and still will be when XP is history and everyone else has paid quite a lot for Vista.

[xoron]

i find windows very useful ... i used it as my first OS so am used to it it it run all all the things i need hassle free.

if i could run games hassle free then i would go onto Linux exclusively.

i like Linux...even more so than windows...it is better made...less threats...unfortunately little support

this is why i have windows (by default)

[Hopworks]

i find windows very useful ... i used it as my first OS so am used to it it it run all all the things i need hassle free.

if i could run games hassle free then i would go onto Linux exclusively.

i like Linux...even more so than windows...it is better made...less threats...unfortunately little support

this is why i have windows (by default)
Actually, in my opinion, and I'm still a newbie at Ubuntu, the support is wide-spread, almost to a fault. There is so much information, it's hard to narrow in on your solution.

Thing is the GEEK factor. You actually have to WORK to get something working sometimes, but it will work. And in the process of working your issue, you discover stuff you didn't know before that helps on future issues.

Everyone talks about how Ubuntu is free, and yes, that is alluring, but it's not just that. It's the support community here. To be honest with you, I would have scrapped my initial exposure with Linux had it NOT been for these forums, the Ubuntu community. Every frustrating issue I had was solved by reading, and getting responses from the guru's around here. They are great people by the way. I'm happy to know that the people I watch have a few thousand posts, and I added them to my friends list because they took the time to talk to me in layman's terms.

I guess it is like the challenge of doing woodworking for the first time, building shelves, or maybe installing a garage door opener. Doing something electrical when you are not an electrician. Building a computer for the first time, or programming a microcontroller to light a sequence of LED's for a project. Installing a sprinkler system without the gift of being a greens keeper. Changing your car's oil for the first time, changing a serpentine belt maybe.

The joy of knowing you saved yourself a ton of money because you took the time to learn how to do that thing yourself.

That's what Ubuntu Linux is for me. I've seen that it is capable of doing everything we need that we rely on Windows for.

I'm a huge fan of World of Warcraft, and I know, or heard of people that have it running under Ubuntu. I haven't been able to get it going yet, but I will, or Blizzard will realize there is a large community of people that NEED that Linux support. Either way, the walls between me and Windows independence are falling down everyday. Hopefully soon, I'll be windows-free, and will be very happy to shed myself from the heavy chains of windows (and WALLET) dependent software.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Hop

Afterthought: I had to learn to set up a LAMP server, permissions for file access, Samba so my windows clients can access those linux shares, MythTV! WOW That was a chore!, XFS file system, putty so I can do command line stuff from my Windows laptop, TightVNC so I can SEE my Linux desktop, the difference between GNOME and KDE, what repositories are, and I exposed about 5% of my acquired knowledge list here. It's just so amazing what you can do. Every icon I see on my desktop, or in my shortcuts is something I had to jump through hoops to get working MY WAY, and it's very satisfying that I feel I earned those links. When I connected my 1680x1050 20" dell LCD monitor? I spent two days figuring that out. But I fixed it, and proud of it. I dunno. If you want it all done for ya, with the high price tag, and the enormous waste of local resources to that end, then Windows is the way. I for one like trimming the fat, and making things work my way, for free.

Done with my rant. LOL!

[Hopworks]

I gotta ask, Ubuntu is supported by a billionaire resident of south africa?

I noticed that when researching using the Ubuntu logo. I don't know the man, or the company, but that individual that sponsors a OS that helps millions free-of-charge has my vote for a noble peace prize!

I gotta wonder what Bill Gates is thinking if he would read this thread, or see the movement happening. He could STILL make tons of money if he would have taken this route.

Now I'm REALLY done! I have eggs to peel, stuffing to cook.

EAT WELL MY FRIENDS! Enjoy Thanksgiving!

Hop

[Sera88]

In my case I changed the OS to Linux because on this computer (500 MHz, ~313 MB RAM, S3 ViRGE Trio3D graphics card) XP was too heavy. It was a true pain in the you-know-where.

The idea became out of curiosity: I wanted to know what Linux looks like and how things work there. Also one reason was the fact that Nokia 770/ N800/ N810 uses Linux as its operating system. As I have now noticed, very much is different from Windows and I like this operating system very much. The virus risk decreased by thousands of percents and one of my passions, programming, became easier when I moved onto this OS. Terminal is a very multi-talented tool.

[gvoima]

Because suspend atm. works better on linux what it does on windows on my laptop :(
And the fact that I've been using debian for over 5 years now. Linux is more comfortable for me.

[bmwerks]

windows just wasnt behaving itself so i upgraded i dont go back unless its for my parents who dont get linux as yet but i'll be breaking them into it ~i've started the revolution~ haha

[NoSmokingBandit]

If you want it all done for ya, with the high price tag, and the enormous waste of local resources to that end, then Windows is the way. I for one like trimming the fat, and making things work my way, for free.


Alot of people dont have the time/resources to constantly troubleshoot their os. For them a commercial option is the only option. If i were running a business i would never use any linux distro due to the fact that something always needs to be fixed. Linux is great for servers, probably the best there is, but from my experience its not time-efficient to have ubuntu or any distro as a work os.

[ImpressMe]

I need to run Windows only software. Windows for work, Linux for surf'n'music. No operating system can be evaluated or chosen without taking software into consideration. That is why some OS X users must install Boot Camp. I like a handful of smaller programs that really only work on Linux.

What I appreciate most about Linux is my custom theme. It looks great, fonts in particular. It is more pleasing to the eye, but for work Linux software is no no, for me at least.

[Smirre]

I do like the concept of Linux and free software, but unfortunately my principles and convictions aren't as strong as with others, I'll use commercial/unfree software if I'm left with no choice, or hard choices.

Now, if I didn't play games, I wouldn't really have need for Windows. If work at home, I remotely control my work computer, but it's because we don't have enough licences to install much of our work software at home. (It was the cheapest option, so the company board decided that is the way it has to be done)

But alas, when I'm off work, I like to spend my time doing leisurely things like gaming on my computer. Recent games do not work, or don't work properly under Wine, and I'm a bit too lazy to try to hack stuff to get it up and running, I just want to install things and get going.

But I still have Ubuntu installed, I like to know I still have a choice. If I ever give up games (or switch to consoles, which unfortunately I'm no big fan of), I'll just use Linux exclusively.

[cp1969]

I have had ubuntu on my system for a whole two days now but so far i like it a lot.

What drove me to install it was a self inflicted wound caused by the W32 Kitro Worm, given to my system for free via using Windows based internet usage. After I went through all the Symantec website steps to remove it, the computer would only give this message:

A disk read error has occurred. Press ctrl-alt-del to restart.

It was the last straw. I would hate to know how many hours of my life have been spent fighting with Windows software/hardware problems. I wanted off the Microsoft merry go round in the worst possible way. .

My fix was to install a brand new hard drive and install both Ubuntu and XP to it. I had to have XP for now to run programs until I can find equivalents that ubuntu can run.

When I do, the computer will cease to boot to XP. There will be no need.

What is the preferred alternative to Microsoft Money?

Thanks.

[KenPaulio]

I have to click start to shut off

[joe.turion64x2]

Alot of people dont have the time/resources to constantly troubleshoot their os. For them a commercial option is the only option. If i were running a business i would never use any linux distro due to the fact that something always needs to be fixed. Linux is great for servers, probably the best there is, but from my experience its not time-efficient to have ubuntu or any distro as a work os.
That's why there are commercial options to provide Linux support.

Joe.

[mellowd]

I still use Windows because I primaraly play games on my main pc. My server uses linux though and I wouldn't use anything else.

[Frak]

Alot of people dont have the time/resources to constantly troubleshoot their os. For them a commercial option is the only option. If i were running a business i would never use any linux distro due to the fact that something always needs to be fixed. Linux is great for servers, probably the best there is, but from my experience its not time-efficient to have ubuntu or any distro as a work os.
There is paid support. i.e. Canonical and RedHat