A continuation of:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=259552

--jeremy

Have to write a small "update" to what I've said:

I switched among other things because Linux just tends to work better (less interrupts for stupid reasons, etc.) but now it seems I've been switching back at times because of digital SLR software; nothing on Linux matches the manufacturer's software, so...I'm stuck

i switched because i wanted to learn more about unix commands and OSX wasnt 'pure' enough, by that i mean alot of standard things expected by books and the like, think i first really learnt about it was when i got some unix books from the library and accidentally took linux for dummies. My favourite mistake.

I switched couse I was sick and tired of XP, plus I'm a power user and I thought XP was just way too limitting for me. Than I heard of Linux from an uncle and he gave me Knoppix and Xandros CD's. After running Xandros for a while, I went back to XP, Xandros has year old packages than seem to never get updated plus dependency hell (At least at that time). Later i got hooked on Mepis (later trying Gentoo, Debian, Slackware and other) until I tried Ubuntu and here I am, not ever wanting to go back to bad 'ol Windows, although I still have to use it at work, but ton for long, if I have anything to do with it

the proper update for this thread should be ... "How is it possible that people can switch to linux ??"

ok , my turn ...

i think linux is the first system that i use to really play media disks/files using computers ... i never done that in windows and it was from the capabalities of linux media playing that i have a look at things like bsplayer and zoom player in windows ...

as for windows media player ... i still prefer the older version of it ... even if it cant play many of the well known contemporary formats ...

one more thing ... i find the hiding of its menu bar and surroundings , its skins interface and its default "song title" weird and awfull ...


.

when i got my first pc in the 1994s it was a 486 running dos 6.22 that was cool
with windows i didn't feel that it could accomplished what i wanted so when in 1999 i got my hands on a copy of redhat 7.0 thats was fun command is old school but what power you have in your hands. That was the major reason that made me make my move.
and man windows really sucks its not worth the money i even crushed one monitor (and lots of mice) because of the blue screen of death!!!!!!!

I just like to modify it so much that windows can't handle

I began using linux just out of curiousity. Eventually I began using linux more than windows. Now I barely use windows (like once for an hour every few months) and I much prefer linux.

Plus, in my opinion windows 2000 was the last good version of windows. Windows XP was soured by 'activation' and the ugly new look, and windows vista looks to be the worst thing ever, with DRM and similar crap along with an even worse ugly look and ridiculous system requirements and resource use.

I heard Linux was free, and would work on older hardware.

My PC was quite old for 2005, a Celeron clocked at 500MHz, 64MB of RAM, and a 20 or so GB HDD. And 98SE support was being cut. The stuff was crap anyways. Never understood that till I tried linux at a friend's place. I got to get her something really nice for her birthday...

So after about two years of looking around, I became hooked. From visiting Linux.org and being confused, to coming here and meeting cool people, to becoming a mirror of opensource (mirror because I didn't do anything new, just passing it along) and attempting to do my part in the promotion of freedom.

I just love it. There's no going back for me, I'm converted for life. It's brought me pains, though. Having to argue with colleagues, and having to prove to them that Linux is superior to everything else, because it's a group, and free. But they don't beleive. Right now, I'm attempting to convince my school to move, or at least permit LiveCDs in the labs and biblio. Jerks locked down the BIOS, and put CD-ROM as last boot-point.

I refuse to work in an environment that uses XP and only MS/Adobe/etc. products. I'm not kidding, there IS NOT A SINGLE F/OSS APP IN MY SCHOOL. It's a matter of morals. I want freedom, they aren't giving it to me, what gives? I can understand them using WindowsXP with some opensource apps mixed in by the admin(s), but I mean, 0 F/OSS apps? And I looked very hard. I beleive the servers are SUSE powered, but I'm not sure.

Also, I'm going to shoot someone if Dell and HP actually start to ship Vista. It's a pointless failure. Got ME written all over it. I'm buying my PC before January 30th, and I'm encouraging others who favour OEMs versus home-built to do the same. No point having the price of my PC spike by 20%-40%. I might need XP occasionaly for sending songs to my walkman, but I think I could do it with amaroK instead.

If they re-wrote the kernel, because most software and hardware is screwed over anyways, that would have made Vista a decent competitor to OS X, throw off the attacks, and made it an enemy the OS community can consider serious.

I am now extremely happy I stumbled upon Linux. It has saved my life from hell. I can't express my gratitude enough, for everyone who has pushed GNU/Linux. There's just too much love.

And that's Joro's story.

EDIT: Yeah, after wanting to replace this old PC, I considered a mac, but the exhorbitant price put me off, and only pushed me further here. As of now, I'm considering a mac mini eventually, just to get a miniature PC, which I'm loading Ubuntu and openSUSE on to bring to school/work with me.

I have had linux up and running for about two months and wish I had at least a couple of years experience with linux. I know I'll never be a guru so I dual boot with xp for a couple of reasons. Over half of my time is spent with using linux. I could do about 100% switch if it were not for my printer, camera, and a couple of software programs that I can't find a comparison in linux.

Peer pressure from the "family linux bore" and IT professional (my older brother).

5 years or so down the line, and I wouldn't use anything else. I don't even have a windows install, so I don't really have a choice.

regards

John

I switched gradually.
I had it as secondary system most of the time since suse-7.1, started to use it more regularly (and finally with less fixing and more working) since suse 9.3, That was the first distribution that got I got my mousewheel working on (I had a logitech mouse that for some funky reason was barely supported, used some different protocol... I can't really remember).
Suse 10 was great. I do alot of recording on pc, I have a semi-professional studio, and I got Ardour, Jack and Jamin Working without problems, flash worked more-or-less, and I could set up an Apache Server with a couple of mouseclicks, it automatically connected to the windows network, and that was the turning point.
I've since switched to ubuntu, and I'm not looking back. I still use Windows for recording, mixing and gaming.
I use ubuntu for web design (quanta+, gimp), playing with blender, as file server, apache test server, and programming playground (python).

I can do almost everything I do on linux as well on windows, and I have no problem with microsoft. The only real annoyance is when a single program freezes up everything, but that barely happened in xp. I just think the command line in linux is more powerful and very convenient. I absolutely hate it if something is wrong and I have no idea what it is, and all I can do is reinstall and pray it will start working. The package management is just great. (Damn everyone who wants to change that to make it easier for switchers!). I got so used to beagle, it's a pain to search without it... multible desktops... (I'm so looking foreward to xgl/beryl finally working trouble-free)... the community... the possibilities... the price...
I don't know it kind of feels like home... The same reason I was stuck with DOS and Norton Commander till win 98 I guess. No real reason, just that I'm more comfortable with linux.

I didn't "switch." I've got a Linux box and a Mac OS/X box and a Windows box .. actually several of each .. and all of them are in use.

Especially as "Apple, Inc." comes along like gangbusters, it's vitally important to know more-than-a-little about Linux and Unix. These days you can literally have a multi-vendor network up and running in your dorm room.

My computing career started with writing Fortran Programs on an IBM key punch. I can still hear the rythym of the line number followed by spaces to get to column 7. Since then, I saw many examples of user-hostile operating systems. While I never really learned the command-line until the Apple II, I always knew it exisited. Exploring the early internet, I got a dial-up account on a VAX, which I then used to access the net. Thus I had the "opportunity" to learn dabs of both Unix AND VMS.

The point is that I had enough background to realize the merits of something like Linux, and enough experience to not be afraid of a CLI.

Initially, my Linux adventures were just curiousity. I always did the "real work" in Windows. Finally, a series of events and epiphanies got me to realize the evil of Microsoft and the destructive effect on society of such a powerful monopoly. For well over two years, I have been 98% Linux at home and in the office. The office desktop is Linux-only, with a dual-boot laptop as a crutch. Home is dual-boot but almost never goes to the dark side. (My wife never uses Windows anymore--highlighting the hard truth that--for many casual users--Linus is now a 100% solution.)

So, why did I switch? First, because I could ---later, because I realized it was the right thing to do.

I've only 1/2 switched yet, since I still have XP. But I'm spending less and less time on it. What attracted me to GNU/Linux is that it offers more interaction with and control of the computer. Then there's the shady ethics of Microsoft that's putting me off Windows, and the fact that you only buy a license to use their stuff. Let's hope that the overpriced eye-candy of Vista pushes more people to adopt GNU/Linux. Amen.