Anyone made the switch?
 

Just wondering, anyone here actually rid their desktop pc of windows and replaced it completely with linux? If so did you find it hard to get used to? Did you need to get a load of open-source drivers? Did you ever consider going back? I'm switching tomorrow, but the idea of using the terminal more than I'd use command prompt in wondows turns me off a bit. Shore i'll get used to it though.

I think it should be obvious that lots of people on a forum like this have done that. But in your case, I would recommend a dual boot system for a while. Reinstall Windows, giving it half the diskspace, then install Linux on the other half. Make sure your Grub default goes to Linux.

Make a concerted effort to do all the things you would normally use Windows for in Linux. Only after you are confident that it is going to be successful should you dump Windows completely.

I made the switch, but only after many months of having a Windows partition also. I was pleasantly surprised to discover I rarely booted to Windows for anything--but it was nice to know Windows was just a reboot away if I ever needed it.

So I agree--don't throw away Windows just yet. Keep it around, while you get the hang of using Linux.

It took dropping college, dumping a girlfriend and abandoning videogames to make the switch. No regrets here.
I will have Windows running in some sort of VM though sometime soon.

I've still got windows XP gathering dust in a corner of one of my HDs. Because of fundamental hardware issues - and obviously my lack of experience - it was quite helpful when I started out with Linux. Now I've just outgrown it. Just give it some time.

I made the switch to Linux at work 2 years ago and never looked back. I recently made the switch from a dual-boot at home. The only reason I had the dual-boot was because of games.

I love Battlefield2 and was looking forward to the next one then I found out that they've bundled spyware with it and I was like F that!

I've found that there are some great games that work on Linux. Quake4, Enemy Territory: True Combat Elite, Enemy Territory, Doom just to name a few in my favorite genre FPSs. A couple of weeks ago I got a little bored of FPSs though and rebought the classic StarCraft in the battle chest version and got it running under Wine without any major problems.

I'm really looking forward to Enemy Territory Quake Wars. I think gaming on Linux is starting to pick up, though.

That's my 2 cents anyway.

I'm still making the switch, but I built a whole new computer just for Linux, and am not running dual boot.

I actively use my Linux box 95% of the time at this point, and am liking it just fine. I connect to my Windows box from Linux when I need files that live on it.

I run a website on my Windows box with ASP, so I can't currently totally switch over. I'll also be keeping Windows for my gaming for a while, until Linux gets up to snuff with its Windows emulation (e.g. Wine, DOSemu) packages.

When I originally switched to Linux, it was about a week, 2 at most before I stopped booting Windows much at all. Then took a stab at removing Windows completely, and ran that way for a few months. Eventually however, I had a hankering to play San Andreas and installed windows again. So I've still got that Windows partition sitting there if I feel like playing a game I can't in Debian, but I never use it otherwise, and I rarely use it of late to game. It doesn't get it the way or cause any problems. I so despise the PC game industry for basically standardizing on directx. Oh well, not a huge gamer anymore really. And there's always id games and Urban Terror!

Assuming that is one's goal?
I was experimenting with Linux within a year of purchasing my own home PC. Shortly after I was running Linux as my main system of choice. But I am too much of an experimenter to limit myself.
I will try anything I can get ahold of.
I do believe that more people should give Linux a serious try. I think a dual boot is the way to start. There is not a real reason to ever cut your own nose off in spite of your face. Why either restrict yourself to only what Windows offers or dash headlong into the unknown of Linux?
My real recommendation is to run both enough to know them and make your own personal choices from there.
I'm a 90% Linux guy and do whatever I want otherwise.

I never run Windows any longer. I made the switch 3 years ago and did it once and for all. Sure I got to reinstall lots of times, but learnt lots in the process.
Now I'm happy in a windows-free environment. I like OSX, too. Which now is a unix flavor, like linux

About once a week I pop in windows which I have on an ide drive to play games. But I still use windows very regularly in the studio for audio editing. I'm trying to switch that to linux too, but it will take some more time. Everything else is on linux for 2 years now.

Got rid of Windows 2 years ago. I was curious to learn more about UNIX and internet in general. At first I intended to make a dual boot system, but accidentally formated the windows partition. Not a big deal, the PC was bought not long before this and I had few data besides Windows itself. Well, it wasn't my absolutely first touch of Linux, also I had enough conceptual knowledge about what and how the PC does, so I didn't have problems with the migration. The modern distros have GUI control panels like Windows's. The KDE's interface resembles enough the things I like in Windows's and differs enough from the things I don't like. As for the command line, It's actually what I miss when I sit behind Windows box. The games is the only things I miss from Windows, yet I have few Linux titles (eg. Descent 3) and few Windows's under Cedega. Long ago, there were several times I was considering switching back to Windows, but every time that I worked on a friend's Windows PC, I recalled why I got rid of it.

I decided to check out Linux in Dec. 2006, after my WinXP installation frayed my last nerve for the last time. I ran dual boot for about a week or two, but that's all the time it took me to decide that I was done with Windows. Besides the XP installation being 'not what it used to be' after crashing, destroying the hard-drive, failing to reinstall right, and generally being very uncooperative, I found that I preferred the Linux way of doing things, the community, the open-source nature, the lack of mysteries & spyware & viruses & wizard-tools, etc etc.. I soon found I had absolutely no need nor desire to boot Windows. I tried about 5 or 6 linuxes during that two week period, and fell in love with Slackware :) which is now my main installation, and is accompanied by easYs and soon-to-be-added Slax-5 (both Slackware-based).
SO! I'm going into my 4th month of using Linux, and being a huge fan :) . Windows hasn't been in my machine at all for a few months now, and I can do 99.8% of everything I want to do, using Linux. I'm learning quickly and will get the other 0.2% nailed soon, thanks in part to the fantastic community that is LinuxQuestions.org.

when I first encountered windblows 95 I thoufht about giving up computers as a hobbie .
It was like driving a car with boxing gloves on .
there was little drect controll over the computer .
I was use to dos I liked the drect controll over the computer that dos gave me .
I have never been able to upgrade my computer with each new version M$ comes out with .
even the oldest most out of date computer can be useful with linux even a 25MHZ486SX 16 meg ram 200meg hdd laptop can be useful checking email and reading documentation .

I've been using only Linux for about two and a half years and I never found the need to go back. Especially with all the available software now, even multimedia software like Gimp for editing pictures and Mplayer for playing music. For the kids I got an Xbox 360 and for me I only play on freechess.org which only requires a Java enabled browser. I have a Windows/Linux dual boot on the laptop for my wife who occassionally needs to type a letter in Word and she refuses to use OpenOffice. Maybe I'll set it up with Wine one day.