Yeah, and not to be mean but I doubt the keyboarding teacher could figure out the linux terminal.. we need bob back over here.. a complaint that none you care about...

One has to remember first how Linux grew. Second for basic operations I find that Linux can be easier to deal with. That aside, I find that strange problems are also very easy to deal with If and only if you can find out how to fix the problem.
So for me here is the real problem scattered, obtuse, obsolete, and unavailable documentation.

Actually not really.

Perhaps more more "ulu-ulu" and rarer (or unco-operative companies) drivers and such, but LQ + google = great option.

It's always been an interesting decision in my view - windows or linux? I've only ever used windows up until now but with the amount of problems (i.e. viruses and the sheer cost of getting the latest windows) I have given much thought to switching permanently to linux. Installation is a doddle - especially with distro's like Mandrake, Red Hat and the like, even Gentoo is reasonable with the right documentation.

The problems I see (especially for us newbies) are as follows:

1. Sometimes getting a simple game to work can take hours or not at all, even with WINE I still have trouble getting some of my games to work and looking for a solution can be difficult, especially if you don't have a clue about programming or anything.
2. Drivers! Ok, in my own experience I never had a problem - most of my hardware is supported or drivers for linux are provided by manufacturers (which is a clear sign that linux is becoming a leading OS on the market these days) but some people have problems and at the end of the day - again, us newbies who can't program might have difficulty.

The only thing that stops me from switching completely? Compatibility. Yes Linux is harder than windows to use, yes it requires a bit of thought but with the right documentation (provided in abudance when it comes to Linux) anyone can work through the problems they face. Good thing about Linux? It's free and you know it's a bit more stable and reliable than Windows at the end of the day, there's more support, and you know that when you get it there's no snotty nosed big wig american rubbing his hands as you get ripped off!

Linux ---------> It's challenging, reliable, and makes you just that bit more of an individual.

Thats one of the reasons I use linux, is for the challenge of getting things going..

Ok, the poll said:I'm a bit different than those mentioned. I'm a somewhat experienced, fairly hardcore user. I started out as a bit of a programmer, working first in BASIC, then Pascal, and finally C. I was not, nor did I intend to ever become, a professional programmer, to me it was fun! (When something becomes work, it is less fun to me.

My first dislike of M$ was when I found out that they were going to eliminate DOS and make a GUI OS!

As time has gone on, M$ has tried to make Windows more difficult for non-techy people to use it without screwing things up. Linux does the same, but in a different way. M$ tries to hide things from users, so they are less likely to damage stuff. Win98 hides DLLs and many other files. I have not used or seen ME or 2000, but a friend of mine has XP. He has only three visible directories, and Windows explorer, while still there, is not on his menu. It is rather difficult to find on his machine.

Linux makes regular users have fewer 'permissions' so that even if they see some files, they cannot change them unless they work at it. In order to do some of the more dangerous stuff, they need to become "root".

Similar concepts, different methods.

Throughout my computer 'career' I have been watching the kind of 'debates' that have been going on in this thread. I saw DOS vs CPM, MSDOS vs DRDOS, DOS vs Windows, PC vs Mac, Windows vs Mac OS, and more! The only thing that I have noticed is that the 'sides' never get 'proved'.

Lately, I have also seen such 'debates' in the Linux community not related to M$. There have been nearly every combination of one distro vs another one - Red Hat vs Debian, Gentoo vs Slackware, etc.

These 'debates' are one of the things that keep computer folks happy, and when something goes away, they pick out something else to 'debate' about.

I personally like Linux because of the variety available, and the fact that I can choose a GUI or go with a command line only, I can choose a different 'command line' interface by selecting a different shell, I can also choose a different GUI if I want to.

I don't like M$ because I don't have those options - there is no 'command line' option anymore, and there is only one GUI. It can be modified quite a bit, but it has no variation in how it works, unless you find a shareware program that changes that sort of stuff.

In Windows, One browser is always there, difficult if not impossible to remove if you don't like it. I can add others, but it is hard to get rid of the one I don't like. Linux allows me to remove any one I don't like.

I like computers because they are fun. What is 'fun' for me is different than what is 'fun' for someone else. M$ has removed most of the things that I consider 'fun' Linux has not. If Linux changes to get more like Windows, I will have to change to something else, if I'm still alive at the time that happens. I want variety, choices, even problems! (I feel good when I solve something, and I often choose to pick out something just for that purpose. At the current time my 'project' is to create a bootable CD for FreeDOS so that it will run like the 'LiveCD' distros. I'm having a blast (and a few headaches) with it...

OOPs! Sorry, didn't mean to post the same thing twice! (There was no delete button, so I editted and cleared it all out!)

If you can't multitask with the bigdogs, get off the OS... Although linux is more complicated, its not fair to complain about its difficulty of use. If anything, its hard to believe that people work so hard and long to program a great os and tons of packages for it, and they don't charge crap, so stop complaining...

You use M$ to represetn Microsoft because they are rich, because they get paid the BIG bucks to make their OS easy. Otherwise, if you want linux, you must work hard...

And last but not least... i don't know about you guys, but I could spend 3 days in a row trying to fix a linux problem, or trying to install an app, and i think its fun... Plus, when you finally get it working, the feeling of sucess is greater than most...

if you can take linux, give yourself a pat on the back.. if you cant, then stick to windows

harg harg harg....

tuxrad: This is how I personally feel about it exactly. It's a bit like good traveling - getting there is half the fun

I started useing linux sort-of-like accidentally in 1995. I got a CD with a local "PC-magazine" that had slackware (someversion..), and a brief installation instruction in Finnish. So, the sneaky little bast#%d in me took over, and I began with rawrite..
Nowdays I use both Linux (mandrake 9.2) and XP on my computer. Linux for C++ and other things like that,
(Just learning to create/modify LKM:s..) and WinXP for most of the games I have. Oh yes, and - sad to say - in my work 'cause FAF does not use Linux...

...Man, U have no idea how many times our local SQL server goes down per day...


Oh yes, back to the subject: I was more than surprised about MDK's installation: If U can't get it installed, then there's something wrong...
And I don't mean the disto or the PC..

Ok, I’ve listened, read, and waited in the shadows long enough. The debates and outright flaming arguments regarding the better software is simply to say, nonsense.

And what is with this “easy” talk? Surely we all should know the word “easy” is a relative term, at best! Lets talk “practical” shall we? This is where MicroSloths Win-tendo wins every time. Don’t take my word for it, the numbers speak for themselves. Consumer confidence reports are still high. We don’t like it, but it’s fact. To say differently is ignorant, period. Now let me state clearly that this is NOT anti-Linux talk but rather the frustration I feel in regards to the average Linux users mentality. I often think of most linux distros like I would about some of the far out mechanical wonders of so called flying machines designs prior to the Write brothers first flight. I’m sure a few of them thought their ideas were still better. Microsoft is not #1 for being in league with the devil as some may suspect (however possible) or by being lucky. But rather simplistic genius and appealing to the majority (lamer) society. These people who you call Lazy, stupid, ignorant, lemmings, and so forth I find are in fact Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, inventors, designing the vary foundation on which we write out geek code and gloat over how smoothly our X distro plays our favorite media files or Video games. Woopty fricken do. So I ask you, is this practical? Should an automotive engineer learn how to recompile a Kernel to use his preferred Cad program? Lets not forget that however impressive the power of a tool, it’s as only good as its practicality in fundamental use. Sure you can fix anything with a little brain power and a person Can learn to do anything they put there minds to. But I’d like to see some of the greater linux minds come together and meet the public need and for god sake Stop bashing there audience.
Oh, those people who rely on Windows (like myself sadly to say) but want to test out what is promising to me to be one of (if not thee) best free practical approach to the Windows to Linux movement should look into Ark Linux. Windows/MacOS ripoff? No, more like think of it as say, the addiction patch for smokers. I’m very fond of linux as a whole. It’s the arrogance that I find in some of the users that gets me, Like dedicated Mac users… but don’t get me started..
Now then I feel better, Now I'm ready to learn again. Say has anyone here successfully installed an nvidia driver in Ark Linux? Or can explain in lame terms as to how to "Tarball a nvidia driver" Maybe?

i like your view firehazard... There is no reason for use to bash windows users who would rather design the floating car than learn to re-compile their OS!

But I don't really think linux was meant for them. Linux is an adventure, and if your path leads you to other places than hours in front of a comptuer screen learning linux, than stick to windows..

BUT, i think the great linux minds would be better off designing and programming more functional programs, drivers, and support for linux, rather than putting time and effort into easier guis, and so forth.

you can't deny that Suse's "Yast2" is probably THE best "control panel" out.. it surpasses microsofts, and quite frankly, i don't think linux programmers need to do any better.... and they shouldn't

let the doctors, lawyers, engineers, and just plain computer illiterate losers keep their windows, and let the real geeks enjoy their complicated linux. don't try to change linux, let the person who wants it change themselves..

if anything, i love to see tons of people around me using windows, cause it makes me feel more unique, and more powerful. i like to see their confusion in an OS that i have worked for many hours learning. Plus, the complexity of linux has taught me far more about the workings of a compter than any class or windows system....

I think to assume that someone who wants to see parts of linux become easier for everyone doesn't want to learn is wrong. It took me 3 days to get the proper codecs and utilitys to be able to play videos on my desktop. Java still does not function correctly after 6 months of tweaking. I am willing to learn but there are some things that I shouldn't have to get my hands dirty for, I have a job to do 45 hours a week on my linux computer, sometimes I just need it to work right here right now, othertimes I lose days playing around and teaching myself about the operating system. Someone said earlier there needs to be a balance and I could not agree more, jsut because the front end is more powerful doesn't mean you have to make the back end less powerful. Right now the back end is far more powerful and the front is IMHO lacking in many features.
Yeah its easy to say, but not to do, but I don't haev all the time in the world to make more things possible.