blackv1rus,

Great post, and I concur with your points.

I'll go for the oft-quoted comparison between Linux and a car: while at first you may use a car for simple transportation, if you care enough about that car you will delve more and more into its performance (and its limitations with regards to performance). Running Linux is that same shift for me. Once I was a M$ user just trying to get a job done. Now as a pure Linux user I am trying to get that job done with increased speed, reliability, and most of all changeability. Oh, and did I mention the change was free? After all, who would pay for a Pinto when you could get a Corvette for free?

Jeebus 128 posts I stopped reading at page 10. Nayways I use Windows XP most of the time never have any crashes ever. Plenty of system restarts though. If I am in linux I use Gentoo as my first choice just because I like the portage system and make believing that by bootsrapping for my PC I am actually going faster. However I just built a sexy new machine and have yet to have time to install gentoo.

Iam not a masochist and this is why I use Linux.If I wanted troubles in my life without a reason I would use Windows, but I am born to be a free personality and not to feel the pressure of the monopoly and what comes with it.Greeks are the ones who fought for liberty more than anybody else through their long history.So I think that Linux is the most appropriate system for them.

Hio there

Why i use Windows? because if i add a new hardware, i pop in a CD, click "ok" three times and it works the way it should.

Why i use Linux? because it's free downloadable, can be legally installed on as many machines as i wish, and gives me a TON of things to customize. I ever wanted a transparent taskbar, for example Got it with KDE.

Why i hate Windows? Because it's too big, too expensive, and each new version basically requires a new computer to run on.

Why i hate Linux? because after installing, 50% of my hardware doesn't work or not the way it should. And i am no friend of compiling stuff because i have bno clue how to do it! So i have to ask more experienced people for simple things like how to get the bloody TV-out to work, and why my USB stick isn't mounted? in Windows those things work, fullstop.

Will i keep using Windows? Yes, definitely. because i didn't have a crash in over three years with daily use. It does pretty much everything i want to do with the computer. And - it's paid already, so why not? But i won't buy a new version (Vista), ever.

Will i keep using Linux? Yes, definitely. Because it too does everything i want a computer to do, and once setup, it's just as stable and reliable. And if i want to try a new version, i just download it legally and try it.

When will i use which one then? Depends on my finger's mind..... hit "enter" (goes to Windows) or "up" and then "enter" (goes to Linux) when booting

Do i WORK with Linux? yes, i do. I work on the computer 8 hours a day at my office, and most of that in Linux. Installation = out of the box, no fancy stuff, work environment. So is Windows on that machine.

Work is work, and fun is fun. With Windows.

Work can be fun, and fun can be work. With Linux.

Regards.....

Thanh

Why i use linux? i like it! ;-) it's as simple as that.

You didn't want money, but making $30,000 a year and having 2 kids. I can not afford to purchase and Windows 2003, SQL server, ISA server, a firewall, etc... I can afford Slackware 10.2 (I am a subscriber) and can do anything that Windows 2003 can do with just a 700 Mhz system.

I have learned so much more about computers and networking using Linux than I have ever learned using Windows.

I do not like someone telling me that after I purchase their software that they have the right to snoop in how I an using it.

I find most open source programmers care about what they are doing and take pride in it. It is more than just a job to them.

I find Linux challenging, though sometimes I find it very fustrating.

Linux has so much documentation. I rather read and figure a problem out than ask someone.

Linux worked with my old DEC NIC, where Windows didn't. Yes it was the Windows driver. I do give MS credit for their tech support on this problem. The person I dealt with was really helpful and seemed to really care about her job. But the Windows driver just would not let the card authenticate with the DC.

I did not find it too hard to get all the hardware working on my laptop using Slackware. I do find Suse or Ubuntu the better desktop system for people that just want things to work.

Last but not least. If I hadn't taken the advice from some here and install Slackware (about 3 or 4 years ago), I probually would still be dual booting. I find Slackare very easy to use and install software. I found RH, Mandrake, Suse and such bloated and sluggish.
It is what I always thought Linux should be, fast and simple.

I originally took a look at Linux over ten years ago because I was already a UNIX user and engineer. That made a look alike operating system potentially appealing, right off the bat.

I have long felt that Windows and MacIntosh systems have had much better desktop usability features than any other systems. I have been frustrated that UNIX systems had the capability to equal or exceed either Windows or Macs in user interface as well as other capabilities, but failed to do so.

Linux was appealing, right off the bat, because it seemed to combine elements of fun from the early PC days added to the power and flexibility of UNIX systems, but with much nicer user interfaces.

Even the early fvwm was quite an improvement over DECWindows, Motif, OpenLook, and CDE. But as time went on and more window managers and desktop environments became available, the flexibility, choices, and features became that much greater.

For some, that introduced confusion, but for me, that introduced choice. Once the distribution mechanisms became improved, people installing software could choose one, two, or several different environments.

Today, installations are trivial on the vast majority of hardware, the desktop interface options exceed that which is available on most other platforms (except for UNIX and BSD platforms, which have many of the same choices).

Applications, particularly popular commercial applications, are coming on, but the most progress has been made on the server. Desktop applications still trail the most popular commercial platforms. Nevertheless, there is an awful lot that you can do on a free or very inexpensive system. They are powerful, flexible, fun, and inexpensive, and growing more and more capable.

Did I mention they are fun? ;-)

(Oh, why not?) (But I'll only read the last page.)

The computing-world is moving toward Unix/Linux, and it is consequently de-emphasizing Microsoft Windows, just about as fast as it can go. This does not mean that the MSWin systems will be "decommissioned" or that they will move away from the desktop anytime soon, but to see the bigger picture you have to look beyond the desktop.

If you look beyond the desktop, there's a great big world out there, and in that world, hardware comes in all shapes and sizes. From the biggest mainframes, to massive computing-clusters, to iPods and cell-phones. Big or small, what do they all have in common? Unix/Linux.

And that's powerful.

Given that software development is one of the most labor-intensive and capital-intensive exercises known to man, it is a very big deal if just one software development effort can be applied to any of those platforms. That's the power of the penguin.

Consider, for a moment, what Apple Computer has decided they're going to do. They're going to supply machines based on Intel chips. And they can do that, because their OS/X system is based on BSD Unix and Mach, and all that it really means for them is "a cross-compile." Piece o' cake.

Microsoft can't do that. Of course, they don't sell hardware anyway, but if you sell a box and you decide that another type of CPU would work better .. well, if you're based on Microsoft you simply cannot consider such a change. It's not possible. But if you were running with the penguin it would be possible. It would be easy.

---
People may love to squawk about "the desktop user" and how difficult it would be for "someone's grandmother" to adapt from one system-type to another. But you know what? Nobody really cares about "the desktop user." (And grandmothers happen to be smarter than you think.)

Why do I make a bold statement like that (about desktop-users, not grandmothers )? Because even though Best Buy sells lots of low-end computers en masse to lots of folks to use as expensive internet-connections and typewriters, those sales are worth only a few hundred dollars' profit each (if they don't call for support), and once the sale is made there's probably nothing to follow it up. No more money to be had. But if you're putting in a big network server, or a scientific computing cluster with 256 nodes, or some other really big iron, then it matters and it matters a lot. And for a job like that, what's the best system? The Penguin.

... for all the reasons mentioned. Want to double the size of that cluster and still have single-system-image? No problem. Want to have 16 processors? Fine. Want gazillions of terabytes of storage, all under one roof? Check. Want to bump the application to "bigger iron" and have your choice of system types? Yep.

why? again

heard of the Windows XP Pro to Windows XP X64 trade up program?
surrender your 32bit XP forever for X64.

Well dont bother, for me it quickly became a disaster
no only is Windows X64 not faster any than 32bit,
winxpX64 has even fewer Drivers than Linux (yes linux)
and With a Dual Core Athlon 64 it crawls slower than a single core Athlon64.


Linux = Fully Optimized for x64bit (boots and launches programs 40% than 32bit version)
Dual Core is fully supported and optimised.
Network throughput on Linux is Far superior to Windows XP

Hmmmmmmmmm.......Pretty much exacty what I was going to post.

You should actually try Linux Mandriva 2005 or later 2006

I actually have the opposite problem with Hardware.

Soundblaster Audigy 2 zs , Tv Tuner, onboard sound and Onboard network card were a nightmare to install in windows.

After mandriva finishes copying file and alllmost completed install it asks do you which to configure.

My tv tuner, printer, soundcards, are all listed and work soon as the computer restarts.


Mandriva and probably suse and fedora auto mount USB devices and automatically places a icon/link to it on the Desktop.


HardDrake also generally correctly finds all hardware i throw at my computer.

I actually only volutarily compile my own kernel due to interest.

What an interesting subject. I use my computer to type letters through a software program called " Easy Office " and it is the only thing I now use my Window's XP os to do.

I use my SUSE Linux 10 operating system to be on the Internet because I have foolishly spent a lot money purchasing programs to plug up the holes in XP. I have also spent a lot of money and anguish getting my hard drive reformated over and over again because nothing is ever going to prevent XP from being penetrated.

Most of the people I know have given up the Internet entirely because of companies like AOL and Microsoft.

I hardly know a thing about computers but I enjoy the Internet to no end. In order to keep enjoying it I turned to Linux. I am old and simple and do not need to be concerned with being abused by corrupt companies on the Internet.

I recently had a friend ask if I could set it up with linux. So I said "Sure". My friend mostly uses his computer to play WoW and listen to music (Which I use mine for as well =).

After looking over what would have to be done to help him, I found he would probably have more problems then not.

He had an NTFS formatted drive with tons of music, videos, documents, pictures. Over 120 GB in fact. He would probably want to add more but that wouldn't be easy in linux. I found his video card wouldn't fully support the features he wanted in linux also. As well as a few other issues.

I have a DVD burner that I bought cheap and used. I was really mad at first because I tested it in windows and it didn't work. It didn't come with a driver so I didn't think it needed one. I almost took it back when I tried it in linux... and it worked fine.

I switched to linux because I could never get all the software I wanted to work. My computer came with Windows ME (god forbid). Programs worked really crappy with ME, but it wouldn't install 98. Windows XP came out a little later, but I found several compatibility issues with it.

I still use linux for the control. I don't want my OS to be doing things in the background without me knowing about. You might want it to do everything without you knowing about it, that's up to you. Windows isn't a bad operating system. It could do with some improvements though.

SuSe........

Hello once again I have read the comment that SuSE will auto-mount USB sticks and stuff.... well, that seems to be true for some of us.... yet not for others. a thing that bothers nme very much with Linux is it's unpredictability. Come on. windows does the same on each machine you put it on, yoyu may need different drivers because it's different hardware, but simple things like USB sticks will always work, without any driver, right? Not so in Linux.

On my office machine everything, EVERYthing, worked after Linux was finished with that fifth CD. USB sticks, auto mount, sound, video.... you name it. After installing KDE 3.5, i got a new "auto mount" program even that offers choices as "what to do" with the newly detected CD...... like in Windows.

Not so at home.

First - the TV out i use at home. Took long time and forum posts, countless hours of googling etc, to find a half-way solution. It works now, but figure this: I have to connect (!) the TV exactly at the point when the boot splash screen goes to the second stage... otherwise either no image on TV or the image on the monitor is messed. Then video. In Windows, when i start a video (on HDD, or any DVD/VCD), it automatically goes fullscreen on the TV while i can put it in the background on the monitor and keep working. Not so in Linux. I have either fullscreen on both displays (with the monitor not even showing the video, instead a blank, dark blue space) or have it in the background on both. So i keep Windows for that.

Also since enabling the tricky TV out, my 3D has gone. Now, when trying to configure it, YAST complains about "no display found". And of course, no game, not even the simplest, will work without 3D. So where has my display gone then? No matter what monitor i try to setup, it always returns to "none found". Well..... at least i get picture still, and apart from games, everything else works. i'm no gamer, so screw it. I don't want to spend another three days straight with googling for this one.

And auto-mount. I beg to differ - no such thing on that computer. Manually editing that "fstab" file made it work - yet the new "auto-mount" popups i get at the office won't come at home. At least i can use the USB stick and the external HDD now. Again that has cost hours of googling and forum posting.

I am just a guy who wants to use a computer. I am not a server admin nor some geek who dreams in c+ and java. But exactly this behaviour of Linux - doing entire different things on different machines, (which, mind me, are BASIC things which should be the same on every hardware...)is what drives new users away from Linux after a short time. Not me, because i have enough idle time at work to sit here and google for stuff, but how about Joe Normal who can't even get online because his internal modem won't go with Linux? As does mine. Lucky i got DSL too, but not everybody has.

And what's that anyway with "mount" and "unmount"..? Why can't every Linux just simply read a CD as soon as it's popped in??? Windows 95 could do that....... i think even DOS could.... but i never used that And type the admin password (after a login prompt!) just to save a file that YOU wrote onto YOUR floppy????

Linux MUST become easier to get more users.........

But it's got me already and i'll stay with it

regards.....

Thanh

Hello Thanh-BKK,

I do not have DSL I have just plain dial up. I tried to change to a Gnome desktop and my Linux program is really making me pay for it. I can not get into Yast as administrator or root anymore. This is a very broad and complicated operating system. I feel like a small child trapped in very complicated piece of machinery.

I will never use Microsoft on the Internet again, so I will remain with my SUSE Linux 10.

This operating system may do an awful lot of things; but I will not be attempting to learn how to do them. I am going to have my hard drive reformatted again this Wednesday maybe/hopefully for the last time.

I will not be needing Microsoft's Service pack 2 or any of the other myraid of programs that I will never use. I will reinstall SUSE Linux 10 aware now that I its KDE desktop is not for me. Maybe Gnome will give me pain too, but it will be a new pain.