QOTD: Have You Replaced Windows with Linux?

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I have made the switch about a two years ago and have never looked back. I have XP running in virtual box when I need it which is rarely. I run Ubuntu 9.04. It is stable, easy to use. I had 0 problems with the install. No problems with drivers, disks, printer/scanner, monitor, usb devices - all run fine. There is plenty of eye candy using compiz. I have a desktop dock that looks like the one in Mac. I can configure the look anyway I want. I couldn't be happier.

On the downside it took me lots of patience to learn a new system. Multimedia software needs to be installed separately and does not immediately work out of the box. But it is not hard to do.

Ubuntu is not Windows. It is like moving into a new house. It takes time to find things. But once you do it becomes second nature. There is also a large community of users that share knowledge openly through forums on the net. Moreover, I haven't had a virus or crapware in my computer in all of the time I have been using Ubuntu. I have not had to "clean out" the hard disk like my Windows buddies have to do every 6 months.

Updates are constant and a new version comes out every six months for free. Ubuntu is rock solid and a great choice for people who are not afraid to spend some time to learn something new. Even the new Windows 7 will take some getting used to. Ubuntu 9.04 is ready for prime time and by this time next year it will be more than the equal of any OS out there including Windows 7.

For those that would like to give it a spin, I recommend installing it on an older computer to learn it. Once you have some experience with it you can then install it on your main computer as a dual boot. This is not hard to do with some brief study. There is lots of information on the net about how to do this. The other option is to install Wubi which allows you to run Ubuntu as a program inside of Windows.

I highly recommend Ubuntu it is mature, stable, attractive, comes with loads of programs and will do almost anything you need to do on a day to day basis.
 
I'm a graduate of a Microsoft IT academy. I am also an MCSE. In my current job I am a network administrator in a full Linux only server enviroment. Prior to this position I had used Turbo Linux and Solaris but not recently. At home I'm 100% Microsoft. I have to say the learning curve on Linux Distros is still steep even though it way miles ahead of where it was 10 years ago. I am managing but still find it very frustrating. Microsoft products are pretty slick and there is so much stuff that they just do for you that is way beyond any linux distro. That being said my linux systems are rock solid and some of the servers have not been rebooted or shutdown in 3 years which is impressive. As a utility they are very reliable.

As a desktop enviroment for staff and home users I wouldn't reccommend them. My experience is mostly with Debian and Red Hat Enterprise with some Ubuntu thrown in. The world runs on Microsoft Office apps people adapt or die. Do not send me your resume in Open Office or anything other lame format. I will make jokes about you at the bar after work. I learned this the hard way myself. We are all over worked. We are all tired. We could use your skills but I'm not about to go that extra mile for as tranger and I'm really sick of all the anti MS propaganda in the Linux Community. Active Directory rocks. I had it at my old job and now I don't. I'm sitting here trying to deal with 250 client systems running Eudora 6 because some open source vigalante convinced them not to use Outlook even though we have a volume liscense for it. Qualcomm ad spam all day vs outlook c'mon...
 
I tried many times to get Linux the way i wanted it and there was too much BS involved i found myself in the command line most of the time trying to use different compilers and install programs to find out they only work with certain distros. after hours wasted i keep windows and use Linux in a virtual machine but rarely use it
 
Plus, My girlfriend has been completely ubuntufied for the past two years and now she gets twitches when she sits in front of "that ugly thing" =) She can spend daaaays customizing her linux =)
 
Dual-boot XP/Ubuntu 9.04. My system can't really run any recent games (P4 1.8GHz w/Intel graphics, bleh), so I only use Windows for a few programs that won't run with Wine.
 
Dual-boot XP/Ubuntu 9.04. My system can't really run any recent games (P4 1.8GHz w/Intel graphics, bleh), so I only use Windows for a few programs that won't run with Wine. I LOVE the easy customization possible in Ubuntu.
 
I guess I am one of the lucky few who has really never had a major Windows problem. Sure, I've encountered my share of the BSOD, but the biggest problems that I have had in Windows usually relate to a hardware problem (power supply failure, my genius roommate knocking over my tower during a defrag, bad chipset care of nVidia).

I know that I (and I'm sure many others) would probably have no trouble using a Linux based OS, but for now I'll just stick with what has worked for me quite well for the past 10 years.
 
[citation][nom]average joe[/nom]I'm a graduate of a Microsoft IT academy. I am also an MCSE. In my current job I am a network administrator in a full Linux only server enviroment. Prior to this position I had used Turbo Linux and Solaris but not recently. At home I'm 100% Microsoft. I have to say the learning curve on Linux Distros is still steep even though it way miles ahead of where it was 10 years ago. I am managing but still find it very frustrating. Microsoft products are pretty slick and there is so much stuff that they just do for you that is way beyond any linux distro. That being said my linux systems are rock solid and some of the servers have not been rebooted or shutdown in 3 years which is impressive. As a utility they are very reliable. As a desktop enviroment for staff and home users I wouldn't reccommend them. My experience is mostly with Debian and Red Hat Enterprise with some Ubuntu thrown in. The world runs on Microsoft Office apps people adapt or die. Do not send me your resume in Open Office or anything other lame format. I will make jokes about you at the bar after work. I learned this the hard way myself. We are all over worked. We are all tired. We could use your skills but I'm not about to go that extra mile for as tranger and I'm really sick of all the anti MS propaganda in the Linux Community. Active Directory rocks. I had it at my old job and now I don't. I'm sitting here trying to deal with 250 client systems running Eudora 6 because some open source vigalante convinced them not to use Outlook even though we have a volume liscense for it. Qualcomm ad spam all day vs outlook c'mon...[/citation]

Man, I won't even start on how arrogant and uninspired you sound. If you dim witted employees would look past your fence and take a look at the outside world, that maybe you would write a filter for open office in that 1TB monster of a program you call Office. But that's a snazzy way to keep your ground in the software world, so spare me your Microsoft graduation propaganda before someone with more knowledge than me puts your face in the dirt.
 
"Are you one of those who are running on pure Linux?"
Yes, I'm running Ubuntu.

"Do you miss your Windows days? What made you switch?"
In the Windows days I played a lot of games, so I needed Windows. Nowadays Windows games aren't any fun to play. Most of them are console ports, full of DRM. Because of these bad ports and the DRM I stopped playing games (does DRM stop pirates? no, it stopped me, who bought all of his games!), I don't need Windows any longer, so I'm now running Ubuntu for about two years.

I don't miss Windows at all. Those gaming days were nice, but I'm now learning how to program. I'm learning how to write my own applications for Linux. This is also fun. Besides that, there are also some games for Linux, so I can still play a game once in a while.

With Windows 7 on the horizon, would you consider switching back?
Never. I'm completely done with Windows.
 
I have a lot of experience with Windows now, I started with DOS 2.0. I have 4 computers of my own- 3 with XP and 1 with Vista. I put in my time as a Unix system administrator so I don't want any more of that. However we have a Linux fileserver at work. It is extremely difficult to deal with. I got a new workstation at work 4.5 months ago, our IT's still have not gotten linux to allow it to connect to the linux server.

I would go Apple before I would go linux, and I'm not going Apple.
 
Use Ubuntu for productivity. Fedora and OpenSolaris for fun. I've got a Vista installation but it keeps corrupting GRUB, so I rarely use it.

The one reason I can't kick Windows is iTunes. I know what you're gonna say: songbird, amarok, rhythmbox, etc. But the real thing holding me back is Apple Lossless. I started burning all my CDs on apple lossless when it came out, and I'm unwilling to switch horses and start doing stuff in FLAC. I want total compatibility with my iPod, and I don't want to have multiple file formats to keep track of.

When iTunes works perfectly in Wine, or if Apple ever ports it to linux (never gonna happen), I will gladly delete my windows installation.
 
At work I use XP and Solaris. At home I have a Vista Box, an Ubuntu box, and a dual boot, Vista/Ubuntu laptop. My wife is on a Vista box and I'm building her a second one for her machine knitting app.

Someone mentioned that wireless is not ready yet on Linux. I beg to differ. My laptop doesn't even know what a network cable looks like. It's been wireless from the get-go, and it's working fine with wireless N. Even found my wireless all-in-one HP printer, without breaking a sweat.

My primary use of Linux is development work, but I often find myself booting into Linux by preference because it's faster. When I press the switch to bring it up from sleep mode, it's ready before I can get the KVM switched over. Vista takes about 30-45 seconds to come up from sleep. That pretty much is consistent across the breadth of what I do with the machine.

Open Office isn't quite Microsoft Office, but that's not all bad. You can't beat free, and it loads all my MS Office files. The reverse is not always true. The only drawback it it's not quite as feature rich.

Eclipse is pretty much identical as a development environment on both Vista and Linux, which is great, though I'm not a big fan of how IDEs hide a lot of the nuts an bolts of building the apps. I use Imake at work, so I feel a lack of control when building in an IDE. Probably just a lack of experience using them. OTOH, the code editor is awesome.
 
Never get me back! To me the question was: "With VISTA in the horizon, what is coming next?!". Windows 7 is not appealing to me, anyway, my gaming needs are fulfilled with wine.org, and _all_ my software is kept up to date with a single click.
 
I've been using Windows since V3.0. I skipped millenium, but have tried every other version. I'm not a hardcore gamer, but i play quite a lot, so I have not moved on to Linux. I tried to install Ubuntu 8.1 on my laptop, but it wouldn't boot...
 
I tried Kubuntu when a power surge fried my system and I put together a replacement from parts donated by friends (1.4Ghz P-4, 1Gb ram). I chose Kubuntu 8.04 over XP due to the cost and I'm glad I did. It found all my hardware automatically and runs quicker than my original system did. I don't care if it's obscurity or security, I haven't had one problem with a virus or other malware in the year since I've had this system running. And the software available is fine for my needs (I'm not a gamer).
 
I use Kubuntu, I stopped playing games around the time Final Fantasy III was out for SNES, so gaming is not a consideration. With that out of the way, Linux does everything I could possibly want it to do, free and open-source.
 
I'm in the process of moving from Windows to Ubuntu. I converted my netbook to Ubuntu, and when my daughter goes off to college this fall with my current XP desktop, it will be replaced with a new Ubuntu desktop system.

When I started using Windows, it was a 'personal computer' OS. Now Windows has become a 'big company rights enforcement' OS, but that's not why I lay down my $$$ for a computer.

For the record, I quit buying music when the RIAA went ape, and I have no intention of storing my videos on a server. It's not like I'm trying to evade copyright law, it's just that I don't like what Windows has become over the years, and I'm voting with my pocketbook.
 
It's more like I've "supplemented" Windows with Linux. Sure I boot into Linux, but i gotta play my games in Windows 😀. Even for development I like Linux, but Adobe products keep me on Windows for work. Copying and pasting between other applications and Adobe Applications running under wine leads to some, interesting, results. As such I'm kinda tied to windows for the moment.
 
From my experience, Linux is not user friendly at all. So it is hard to switch completely from Windows to Linux. Last time a friend of mine told me what distribution to install, I had a hell of a time getting the thing configured and trying to add more to it was a nightmare. No thanks. I could learn it, but what would I even do with the knowledge. Most businesses are going toward windows based servers these days.
 
For day to day work (office work, ie. word,etc) I use OpenOffice on Fedora or openSUSE. I use Windows XP x64/Vista x64 for CAD, gaming, and other tasks for which Linux don't have a (easy to use) program for. Usually I have 2 PCs running at the same time and work on both at the same time. All my servers (printer, file sharing) run Linux.
 
My laptop is running Ubuntu 9.04....and im pretty happy...no problems...very responsive...and quick....alll i need....but for my desktop I am runnning Windows 7 RC...so....i still got a lil windows in my life.
 
I'm a gamer too, so no linux. I've built a Linux server at work, but I would never put one in my house. Security?? Everything can get hacked into, yes, even Linux. It would take more time for Linux but that time is still under an hour, under a clean install no AV.
 
My bro was FED UP with his laptop locking up with Vista. He uses it for mostly web programming. He finally wiped it clean with a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10 and he loves it. There are some programs he cannot use with it, but he said it has yet to give him stability problems.

I'd like to try it for stability, but I use some programs like Paint Shop Pro and Quickbooks which are not compatible with Linux. Thus I stick with XP. I'd like to toy with Ubuntu, but I'm not sure if it's worth the hassle of a smallish learning curve knowing that I lose some of my favorite programs.

If I had STRICTLY a web-surfer laptop, sure I'd give Linux a try.
 
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