I have no real excuse, except for nostalgic reasons related to a few games I like, which I'm sure will be made compatible with WINE/Cedega someday.
I'd like to see a Linux-native DVD ripper with support for all those protection schemes such as SONY ARccOS, and a clone of TMPGEnc's DVD Author. Of course, it would be nice to see companies like Adobe and Steinberg port their flagship apps to Linux. Hey, one can dream, right?

i just read a post here, where someone said that they use windows because 'linux doesn't support my printer' (i forget which printer it was).

isn't that looking at it wrongly? once could just as well say 'because my printer doesn't support linux'.

if you have a printer which has a non-standard interface and the manufacturer only supplies drivers for windows xp and os-x, then it seems more logical to say that the printer doesn't support linux rather than the other way round.

Semantics!

My advice: Get a better printer (if it supports/is supported by Linux then it's better)

I have a dual-boot box that's been that way for two years but I never boot into Windows. I've just never gotten around to performing the much needed exorcism.

Well i have to run spread sheets, word processing, and email, Oh and if i want to print anything I have to email it to my self and print it out under windows. Linux, i use to burn cd's. Tried to use it for more, but the lack of being able to print, or save to new files made it some what useless.

Wow. I have yet to encounter a printer that will not work with Linux. (I am not saying I have used them all, but I have used both mainstream and oddball printers without issue.) In my opinion, Windows needs more support from external drivers than Linux.

The same is true of saving files. In my opinion, people who have problems with these basic items need to buy a book and use a distribution aimed specifically at people who are brand new to Linux.

There are programs for all the things mentioned....OpenOffice has all the features of any wordprocessing program, several major brands of printers support Linux (HP and Epson to name a couple), Evolution is an email program. Do some research and you will find you can do almost anything you need to do in Linux. The only thing I am having a problem with is printing photos. I have to say the Kodak software for photo printing is the only thing I use in Windows.

Dell printers, no work. Which is not good at an open source company that sucks dells privates like it's going out of style.

Aren't Dell printers nothing more than rebranded Lexmarks which don't work with Linux?

I boot into Windows for games. Currently I'm playing Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends. I'm thinking of buying Heroes of Might and Magic V in a month or two.

I also use Windows for WMV files. I'm running Debian sid 64 bit for Linux, and I haven't been able to get my chroot 32 bit setup working to use the win32 codecs.

Yes, but every time I save an OpenOffice Writer document in Microsoft Word format and open it inside Microsoft Word, the formatting is off. The tabs get messed up, there are extra line spaces, and sometimes even the fonts change at random points in the document.

If the recipient of your document only has Microsoft Office, it looks like you're too lazy or too stupid to make a good document.

I had a couple potential employers ignore me before someone was kind enough to tell me that my resume looked terrible. My first impulse was to respond "What are you talking about?" But then I opened the file in Word on a friend's computer and saw that it looked terrible.

This is potentally true any time you move from one application to the other--even when sticking with Windows. Newer and older versions of Microsoft Office application documents (Word, Excel) are not always compatible. Some applications (Access) are much worse, and may have zero functionality with files created in a different release.

The bottom line is that for any professional work, you really should be using not only the same application, but the same version as well. I do a lot of online work and exchange files electronically. For this, I have to constantly update a number of Windows applications (and keep old versions as well) so everyone who is corresponding avoids compatibility problems.

Bringing this back to the main topic, this is a valid reason for continuing to dual boot. Wine and CrossOver Office seem to be one or more releases behind with regard to compatibility with various office and business applications.

Still, for internal work, I greatly prefer the Linux versions. I have all the functionality I need and none of the headaches (nag screens, talking paperclips, a help system that connects me with "Microsoft Office Online," constant reauthentication, security vulnerabilities, etc.).

windows is better

only run games and certain business software that are not available for linux. since i use an amd64 processor, i use windows to view flash and shockwave sites.
jed

Oops! It's been a while since I last checked Lexmark's compatibility with Linux. You'll have to excuse me.
AFAIK, early Dell printers were rebranded Lexmarks... right?