What program did you use under *nix?

I can't think of any program that can open .doc files that doesn't have a version for Windows.

under *nix I used Openoffice.
I know there is a windows version of that.
However, I don't think my school will use that.

So how is it necessary to install Linux to prevent that problem happening again?

sounds like he has no admin rights with the school systems so cant install anything, which would be the same if they where using linux.
However, if they where using linux they could use klik or filesystem images to allow uses to insall software in there home directories.
Cheers,
Stan

What planet are you using Windows on?

My (former) roommate used to hassle me constantly over silly stuff (i.e. shockwave stuff) because "Windows just works"...

Funny how quiet he got when his SATA driver failed on him! Also funny is how he was 100% clueless on *how to solve the problem without calling tech support*...

I googled the BSOD message, told him what to do, and got him back on track. Definitely simple, easy stuff...I mean, c'mon! I googled it and the solution was RIGHT THERE...

That's what gets to me the most. On ANY computer system, you need to have the willingness to extend a bit of effort and figure it out...but everyday I run across Windows "power users" who are absolutely clueless when it comes to anything other than installing XP themes...(yes, I've met some who knew what was up...but they're few and far between). How'd everyone who answers questions on forums like linuxquestions get to where they are? How'd they get to know so much?

They dropped the whining and started learning...

So Windows will run on that RAM that Linux has tagged as faulty? And you wonder why Windows starts "acting funny" and crashing? Put a few ounces of thought into it and consider the possibilities...just because it'll run doesn't mean it "works".

These days it's just popular for kiddies to like everything (they wrongly seem to think that's what being "open minded" is all about).
I'm the first one to admit that the old all MS products suck attitude was rather silly, but doing the exact opposite is even more stupid.

I don't really care about all that crap though.
GNU/Linux works for me and it doesn't even matter whether it will ever become main stream or not.

All I need is GNU, Free Software, and a working kernel.
Who cares what others use.

I hate to be so brutally honest but some people are so technologically impaired that they blame the more technologically say member of society for their computer woes.

Because all the Linux boxen I've tried the document on have opened it fine. Only the windows boxen blew it up.

Would that have been because that particular Linux system had OpenOffice on it and that particular Windows one didn't? That's got absolutely nothing to do with which operating system either box happened to be running!

That just goes to show you how enept some people are when it comes to freedom of choice in which software they use in their day to day computing activities, it also goes to show a suggnificant lack of wide spread appreciation for the hardwork that the open source community puts in to its soft ware.

I use Windwoes on my desktop for only two reason:
1 - I'm often too lazy to get WINE configured correctly for my games.
2 - Fedora does not like dual monitors. As soon as I can get the nVidia drivers, it'll probably be better, but F7t3 doesn't have a Livna repos yet, and I don't actually know how to install them any other way.

On my laptop, I have a Winwoes partition for only one reason: There is some software I need to use for classes that requires IE and/or WMP.

Winwoes has it's place. As does Linux. Yes, Windwoes does in fact "work" right out of the box, but not very efficiently. Linux requires some manual configuration to do what you want it to, but once you get it configured correctly it just hums along on its own, doing what you told it to do, not what some programmer somewhere thought you should want it to do.

Though your observation is basically correct, I do not think it has anything to do with technology.

It is possible to get terminals, shells, windowing systems and other great unix stuff to run with microsoft, but I have little interest in putting that much effort into it when I can much more easily run a real unix style system.

IMHO, one of the larger drawbacks for microsoft and apple systems is the lack of software and management (aptitude and friends).

hand of fate: Well, the windows boen were running Office, and the file was a Word file.

I think it's mainly a backwards incompatibility problem tho'.
The document was written on a slightly older version of Word, ond I tried to read it from Office 2003's version of Word.

Lack of software for Windows? How much research have you done?

I know of far more programs for Windows that don't have Linux versions or have inferior Linux versions than programs for Linux that don't have Windows versions. I don't know of a single program for which the Windows version is inferior to the Linux one.

In fact I don't actually know of a single program needed for every day use that only works on Linux and not Windows!