Hello, and thank you in advance for reading my post.

I am contemplating switching from virus-prone, capitalistic Windows. Although I have read many articles relating to the subject, I would like some active user insight and of course, a little help!!!

I have a few questions:
1. Comparison of the writing/word programs(I write A LOT!!)

2. Will I be able to successfully transfer my documents from Windows format/Will Linux be able to read them?

3. Compatible with file sharing programs??? Which is best suited?

4. My roommates a gamer, will that be affected? Graphics cards that are supported?

5. Security, I know it's much better than what I have now... any insight?

Ha Ha, I must seem incompetent and dull!!! This post is rather dry...

A little about me... I am a brain by choice,proudly pursuing my MBA in finance at Wharton, although I have been a racer girl, Nopi Chic (actively modeling for NOPI.net) for years. I have built my pc from scratch (I know quite a bit pertaining to hardware however I am trying to learn as much about software as possible) Any help, insight or comments would be greatly appreciated. Tank you once again.
Gwendolyn

You can use Microsoft Office with the help of a program called Crossover Office. The Crossover Office software is not free; it costs $40(US). It is available from CodeWeavers.com. If you like to struggle you can use the free version of Crossover Office called Wine. It is available from winehq.org.

Otherwise the free office suite software is excellent. The most popular is Open Office.org. Yes the dot org is part of its name. There are other excellent applications like KDE Office, gnumeric, and Abiword.

Yes. Naturally if you continue to use Microsoft Office then there is no problem at all. There may be some problems with some files if you use the other free office suite programs that I mentioned. Usually problems occur when fonts are used in documents that are not available in both MS Office and the free office software. You can download Microsoft True Type fonts but I haven't figured out how to get the free office software to use them.

Linux can read and write to FAT32 partitions. You could put your Microsoft Office files there and use Microsoft Office whether you are using Windows or Linux.

One word of warning. If you run Microsoft software on Linux then you will inherit the security problems that come with those particular applications.

I'm not into file sharing but I know that the most popular programs on Linux are EDonkey and Bittorent. More information is available at sourceforge.net and at freshmeat.net.

You can run games for Windows on Linux if you use a product called Cedega which is available from TransGaming.com. This product isn't free. I don't know how much it costs because I don't use it. I have heard great things about it. I know that it will run World of Warcraft and lots of other things like Castle Wolfenstein. There are also Linux versions of some popular games, and there are some fun games that only run on Linux or Unix.

Graphics cards: use Nvidia, not ATI. I have a computer with an ATI card and another computer with an Nvidia card. The ATI card is in my Internet access machine. My Nvidia card is in my multimedia computer because it performs much better. The multimedia computer also has an Nvidia chip set on the motherboard with dual channel memory access and two memory boards. I'm sure that this helps to enhance the performance. The drivers for each card can be a little bit of trouble to install. Most people seem to have more trouble with the ATI drivers than with the Nvidia drivers. They're about equally easy/difficult to me. Mostly easy.

Remember that nothing is perfect. Linux has its weaknesses. Use a firewall when you cruise the Internet. Very few people bother with virus protection software; I don't. It is available though. There is a free virus protection program called ClamAV which is updated with new virus definitions from time to time.

Nope. You're talking to geeks here.

Dream girl.

Welcome to LQ, Gwendolyn. I agree with stress_junkie's reply. After an initial "learning curve," you should find yourself at home with Linux. Let me add that many users maintain dual boot machines, and boot into XP for gaming. There are also a few applications like TurboTax for which there is no reasonable Linux alternative (at least not yet). It all depends on what specific applications you use. My son's computer has nothing on it but Linux, as his interest (and his girlfriend's) is only web surfing, email, and listening to music and Linux is fine for that.

And as always, trying out a live CD like Knoppix is not a bad start.