Windows is lame.

I discovered Linux a year ago when I started working as an IT Op straight out of school.
It was like somebody had turned on all the lights, everything started to make sense.

I mean, free software. Isn't that enough said?
And I don't mean your Windows style share-ware with your free trials and spy-ware infested crap,
I mean USEFUL and totally FREE software.

I think that the only thing stopping a Linux revolution is the culture behind it - Lets be honest, Linux users are new-age hippies.
People are scared of what they don't know, and nobody is out there showing Linux to the world.

I do agree with the useability issues with Linux (especially when it comes to hardware upgrades).
People see a command-line and drop a brick - but if you just spend an extra 5 minutes looking into a problem, the reward when you fix it is much greater than anything Bill Gates can give you.

My advice to newbies:
Welcome to the revolution. Get stuck in fella.

man !!!!!!

with microsoft installed, you never learn to use a computer.........microsoft takes control over your computer and does everything for you

Linux is for programmers designed by programmers!

Sorry that is completely incorrect. I am not a programmer or even a real computer techie. I was tired of windows crashing all the time. In November 2004 a friend suggested I give Linux a try. I tried dozens of LiveCds and installed several different distros before deciding on Debian. I have had very few problems running Debian Unstable.

If I do not know the answer to something I try a man page if that doesn't give the answer I take a look at the documentation avalable from Debian. If on the rare occasion I still can't find the answer I use Google.


My wife who had never used a computer before has no problems getting around and using Linux. Neither does our 9 yr old son. He uses it to do his school work.
Heck even my 4 yr old can start up her games: childsplay, gcompris,tuxmath,tuxtyping,tuxpaint,lmemory and potato guy.(All by using the mouse and finding the icons/apps in the kde menu)

Using windows the kids would crash it or close the program they were in or open a different program. With Linux I can leave them to play without any problems.

Linux is for Everyone. The problem is people from a windows environment expect it to look and act like windows. It's not windows and for that I am glad. Thank you Linus!

I completely agree it was something someone else said and I think that person is an idiot the only reason I made the post is so that I make enough posts to be able to ask a question how stupid is that!

I truely believe everybody should be using linux it has everything you need from an

operating system and it is free. I think Fedora core 3 is the most powerful operating

system I have seen. In the past 2 weeks I have bought three thick books on it!

FEDORA ROCKS! Two more posts and I might be able to ask my question!

As a completely new arrival I read the posts on this thread and I am filled with dread.

It seems that Linux is only meant for techies.

My reason for installing it was that a friend, who has used Linux for donkey's years convinced me that it was more stable and reliable than Windows.

Since I am totally fed up with Windows' foibles I decided to give it a try.

Your experts do not exude confidence in me.

Can someone (other than my biased friend) convince me that I should stay with it?

Snowy

Personally, I don't think anyone can convince you to stick wil linux. I am a techie type of person and I've looked into linux several times in the past. It's only recently that I've had enough drive to look at it as a viable option.

You have to want to make the switch in order to actually do it. My recommendation would be to hang around the forums a while, google a lot and when you are able to convince yourself to switch, just do it. Get a couple live CDs and try out a couple distros.

As much as many people hate to admit it, linux is not for everyone, at least not yet. It's getting real close, but it's not quite there.

F_M

I have to agree to that statement (sad but true). The strange thing about Linux is that you only discover the advantages by using it. If I would tell you that the log system is a great asset as you can look into what went wrong if a program crashes you would think "yeah - do I ever need it, I only run a browser and some office applications".
But again how often did you need to format a high volume of text, and after you thought you were done good old Word simply f***ked it up? I recently wrote my thesis and after I using word for years and seen how much problems a friend of mine had with writing hers in Word I decided to use LaTeX - which is shipped with almost every Linux distribution.

The main point about Linux vs Windows is - Windows is a closed System and they made big money by convincing you that their system is the only real system that works (in most cases it isnt) while Linux on the other hand is a modular system, you configure your system with those things you need, lets say the system only needs to be a print server on your LAN, then you only install the base system, the print server and a shell and thats it, no need for a GUI and all the other stuff. Might have been a bad example for a home user

Most people (who work with Linux) agree with me on the point that running Linux on a Laptop can be a real b**ch and one needs endless hours in getting it working. till recently I always had some "minor" problems (mostly sound and wireless on mine) - but couple of days ago I installed a "new" distribution on mine and bout 45min later I had a running desktop system, with an office dist and all the tools i need in my work and everything running out of the box.
On a Windows install I would have needed bout double that time, as I would have had to install drivers and software packages on top of Windows 45min install.

It probably wont convince you, but then some people never exit the cave they are sitting in (as in Plato's model of the caves)

I don't have much to say that others haven't already said in some form or other, but I'll chime in any way before my lunch break ends.

For people who think Windows is "easy to use," consider that most Linux forums are littered with people asking questions like, "How do you control-alt-delete in Linux?" Who ever thought control-alt-delete was intuitive as a command for restarting the computer or task managing? Seriously, take a look. The bulk of newbie questions are usually "I know how to do X in Windows. How do I do X in Linux?"

People have made analogies to languages and cars, and I think those are super-appropriate. My wife, too, for years was hesitant to learn stick-shift, but now she zooms around going up and down crazy hills with it, and it offers her control and a sense of accomplishment that automatic transmission never could. And, growing up in the US, I can't tell you how many times I've heard English speakers criticize another language for being difficult to learn, even though English is the most inconsistent language out there--the rules of grammar are often "broken," and it's a mix of Latin, French, Greek, and German in its roots. Same thing for Windows.

The truth is that Linux is just as easy to use as Windows (if not easier), but it's very difficult to install, just as Windows is. Last year, I had to wipe my hard drive clean because it was infested with spyware that Spybot S&D and AdAware just couldn't handle. At the time, I wasn't able to locate two of my Dell installer CDs (I did find them later, though). One Dell CD was Windows XP. That was fine; though, it took hours for me to install the OS and tweak it to be usable and nice-looking. The second and third misplaced CDs were the drivers and utilities CD and the InterVideo DVD player CD. Without those, my Windows installation was seriously hurting. I was missing codecs and drivers. I had to find the driver for my sound card. It was a nightmare. When I did eventually find those two extra CDs, I realized how much Dell and other companies do for you. They do all the configuration. They are the ones who make Windows "just work."

Using Linux, I almost never have problems. It's installing Linux that's a pain. Any operating system is a pain to install. To use, if you want to surf the internet, you press the internet (Firefox) icon. Same as Windows. Same as Linux. People just confused installation with use because most of the time if you want to use Linux, you have to install it.

Thanks good people. Your comments are most welcome.

Just hearing from you that Linux is difficult to install is enough for me to persevere with it a bit longer. I thought it was me!

Although I can write scripts in Perl and Javascript, and have done a fair bit of programming for an OS called QDOS (a rather obscure but wonderful system which was once quite popular in UK), I am confounded when I see what is needed to get Linux working. Another language to learn. Isn't my mind full up enough?

OK. I will keep at it, but don't be surprised to have a load of stupid questions thrown at you.

Regards

Snowy

Can I ask what distribution you're trying to install that's so difficult to install? I've found Mepis, Ubuntu, and Blag the easiest installs (in that order). And by "install" I mean not just the base installation but all the tweaking that happens afterwards.

Well goosehunter I agree when you first start with Linux it is a "Brave New World"
and thank goodness for that. I was quite peeved off with Microstuffed and it undieing committment to bad software. I moved to Linux and have never looked back. I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on antivirus and internet protection software, which only consumes precious processor cycles and still fails to stop that newly created virus.
On a positive note Linux is designed for anyone who wishes to use. Just install and then learn how to use it. The results are probably no different to that of Microstuffed Windoze. But at least you don't spend 10 rebooting it every time you install something new.
Does you DSL modem have an ethernet connection. If it does use this to connect it to your modem and it should work. If it is a USB only connection then do a search on google or whatever you prefer and look for "linux <modem name> drivers". and see how you go.

It's for me. Not for my wife and son who play games that require windows on their PCs.

The 'nix heritage makes the options frighteningly complex, but the package distributions (Distros) make installation range from running straight from a CD to try a flavor (Knoppix for one) without installing anything, to a scrpted GUI based install like Fedora for RPM based to Libranet for Debian based packages.

RPM and Debian are choices (fear factor increase), and you can choose to get down in the weeds and build up a machine one piece at a time, and try and recreate the efforts of early linux pioneers.

The main attraction to me is that Linux has many people contributing innovative software for free distribution, and the community is supportive for the most part of learning about the computer and what makes it work.

The only down side to running Linux to me is that I like some games that have not been ported to Linux, but more and more most titles on the PC are also available on dedicated gaming platforms, yes MS is in there too with the X-Box.

The commercial incentive for hardware vendors to release driver specs to the linux or any open source community are not there, so we have to be a little more patient and depend upon the kind folks who take the time to buld and release the drivers to the public at large.

To me, freedom of choice is important, and Linux has given me that freedom. It is a community effort unlike the commercial driven products of Microsoft, and we all benefit from that.

Hello aysiu

Trying not to deviate too much from the subject of this thread, I am installing Red Hat 9, which I now seem to have working. I am on to my next problem which is Wine. I downloaded it but cannot get it to install. Since I have spend hundreds of quid in the past, on programs that only run in Windoze, I cannot happily carry on with Linux unless I can use at least some of them.

Trouble is, the error messages I get seem to make sense, but the remedies I have tried don't want to oblige.

Perhaps this is worthy of a new thread.

Regards

Snowy