I have been toying with the idea of a Linux desktop for years, but now that I have been trying it for 2 weeks, I am uncertain as to what precisely is the draw, for me at least. I always thought I would be thrilled with it once I did it, but I am just not sure. I am trying to determine what precisely it is that I am gaining by switching to Ubuntu. I am unfortunately drawing the conclusion that I have not actually gained anything much and I about ready to switch back to Windows.
Realize that I was indeed expecting and HOPING that I would be very happy with it, but I'm not really thus far.
I have two PCs on my desktop presently:
1. A 3G single core machine with 512M RAM running Windows 2K
2. A 2G dual core with 2G RAM running Ubuntu Gutsy
Windows Pros:
1. UltraEdit is an excellent editor and I know it well
2. SQLyog is a fantastic MySQL GUI and I have not found an equal to it for Linux
3. IrfanView is an excellent image view/simple editor
4. Version 2.3 of FileZilla is actually better IMO than version 3. Only version 3 is available for Linux however
Ubuntu Pros:
1. It's Linux
2. It's not MS
3. I can customize my desktop and entire environment
Other issues:
As far as viruses, I have only gotten one in 9 years of using Windows. I don't use a MS mail client and I don't browse with IE (except for sites I myself built) and so for me personally, I don't think this is much of an issue. Some years I run anti-virus, some years not. I recall very few instances that an anti-virus actually caught a real virus anyhow.
A few other issues I am having:
1. I tried to open a large SQL dump in gedit and my PC choked on it--Quanta performed even worse. I opened it in UltraEdit in Windows with no problem whatsoever. Note that my Windows machine has a quarter the RAM as well. And the Ubuntu machine was using (according to the System Monitor) under 1G RAM at the time.
2. Seems to me that switching windows via clicking on the taskbar is faster in Windows
3. Overall it seems that Win 2K is faster than Ubuntu. Perhaps some empirical studies are necessary, but that's how it feels. Strikes me as odd, as well, because my Ubuntu machine's hardware is a lot better.
I tried Hardy, but I found it buggy. Perhaps because I used the 64 bit version. Anyway it didn't work well for me so I have Gutsy now. I have read now that Hardy may be faster.
I am not sure what to do now. My other tools I have found suitable replacements for in Linux, but I can't really think of any that I think are truly better.
Any feedback, thoughts or experiences are appreciated.
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