You know, I have come to that way of thinking, too. While I am not entirely anti-Windows, I am against cutting down on choices, particularly in operating systems and core system utilities.

I used mainframe UNIVAC computers in college and mainframe IBM systems in my first few professional jobs. But just about a year before I graduated, I found some very appealing 8 bit and 16 bit mini and micro computer systems, and started to use them with enthusiasm.

As it turns out, the very first computer system I ever actually used was a Hewlett Packard minicomputer system (I think) that was running a version of Dartmouth BASIC. The means I used to connect to it was a very slow and clunky teletype keyboard with attached paper tape for storing programs, but it had an appeal to it.

As hardware and software matured, being able to flexibly and interactively interact with it was something that I greatly appreciated. While the mainframes were exceedingly powerful, their interfaces were clunky and not designed for flexibility or ease of use.

When I first came across UNIX and DOS software (at nearly the same point in my career), I found both to be appealing, having attributes of that interactive behavior I found appealing in those earlier systems. However, I found DOS to be lacking in functionality. Therefore, I directed my attention to UNIX based systems.

I felt at that time, and still do to a certain extent, that DOS and later Windows, were more in touch with the hobbyist and consumer interests, but lacked maturity and capabilities necessary for business. To this day, I feel that Microsoft, because of compatibility issues with their earlier software, has had to retrofit networking and business logic into their software, which has resulted in many insecure practices. Though there have been numerous improvements, short of jettisoning the previous software entirely, there will continue to be issues.

No networked software is impervious to issues, but those mainframe systems, who begin with the premise that no user and no process, other than the ones created by the owner of the current task, is assumed secure, tend to be more difficult to set up and cumbersome, but are inherently more secure.

Most UNIX based software has long learned these things. In the early days, UNIX software had very little security at all, but this was a well known fact. As soon as networks were implemented with the software, security was built in along with it. As a result, though not perfect, UNIX based software has a more solid and secure framework upon which to build. Open BSD, a freely available operating system in the UNIX tradition with a specific emphasis on security, can count on one hand the number of breeches, simply because security is taken very seriously.

Linux software is a compromise between ease of use and security, but has stable foundations in the UNIX traditions, with the feel and nimbleness of the DOS and PC like legacy. I like that mix, and I like the software that is available. It meets my needs, never behaves in an unruly manner, is predictable, freely available, and free of hand tying legal red tape.

I switched to Linux due to the Computer Science major at my undergraduate institution. My first couple of years their they were using Solaris, and later switched to Mandrake. The summer after my first year a course I took required us to take out Windows computers and install RH9 to dual boot with Windows. As I started learning more about how linux worked I slowly stopped using windows. I now have FC5, and use it almost exclusively (except for when my girlfriend wants to use windows). I have chosen to keep using GNU/Linux because of easy access to hundreds of free programs, I currently use Yum to download and install them.
I also like using Linux because I feel like I actually know what my computer is doing, and think it is a great way to learn.

I switched to linux for a number of reasons...
1) i wanted to pursue a career in UNIX and figured this would be good starting ground.
2) I have been using windows since version 3.1 and DOS prior to that... There is very little i dont know about Windows and in short i am totally bored with it - there is no excitement anymore...
3) I am totally sick of windows trying 'decide what is best' for me... I always turn off all the frills in windows and drop back to the most basic mode but i still get bugged by windows applications trying to go out on the internet and do whatever they do... I am also tired of service packs/updates/patches having to be applied all time!

I have my machine currently setup to dual boot whilst i try to migrate fully to linux. I still however have tasks that i prefer to do in Windows so for the time being i am riding both systems..

I switched to linux because I didn't have a choice, I was running win 3.x back then (mind you that was 10 years ago) and my ex decided to just install slack instead, so basically I had to learn if I wanted to be able to use the computer. I stayed with it because I love it, plain and simple.

I will answer again that I switced to Linux because it is a very stable system and very secure too.I repeat myself but I have to say it because Windows is exactly the opposite and it is becoming slower and slower as the time goes by...

"Y"...hmmm
maybe because windoze was invented and minix was having problems...
but what made me addicted....
was watching "Mr Billy" on tv with win 95 and it couldnt even stay running long enough for him...
that was the famous release of windows 95...
now anything that flops on tv, before anyone gets to see it work, has got to be junk and not worth the effort to even try it...
now if billy decided to help linux and run it with one of his advertising campaigns,
there would be no other os in the world....
and if windows was ice, he would be selling it to eskimos...

have alook at this

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/05/03/shelley_linux/

Most of what the typical desktop computer user needs can be met with Open Office for word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and simple database functions. Web browsing can be accomplished using Firefox or Konqueror, and Email client reading can be accomplished using Thunderbird, Evolution, or KMail. All of these applications are easily used by the knowledge worker, and only the complete novice will have any trouble adapting to them.

At home, my wife browses the Web with whatever Web browser I have active at the time. I am almost certain she has used Netscape, Mozilla, and probably Firefox and maybe even Konqueror at one time or another, depending on which browser I happened to be using when she asked to use my computer. No problem, she could navigate on them just fine. She is used to Windows XP now and says that she prefers it, yet she seems to hate the way that Internet Explorer erratically behaves on her computer, which she generally uses. IF she were thinking about it, she has never once experienced an outage, a response problem, a crash or failure when using any one of my Web browsers to look at stuff on line.

She especially likes to follow the New England Patriots (as I do, though she is an even bigger follower than I am). We can BOTH access http://www.patriots.com/homepage/ using our systems, but I think MINE works better! ;-)

Oh, by the way, several of these Open Source tools can also be deployed on Windows. I often use Firefox and Thunderbird on Windows when I must use it, and I often use Open Office as well (though I will admit that Microsoft Office, since most of it is preloaded in advance, starts up quicker). I do not have any problems interacting between Linux and Windows apps or sharing information between them. The only time I am STUCK using Windows is when proprietary formats are used that prevent me from choosing the application and the OS platform that I want.

i've used epiphany and opera with linux...found there are ok for web browsing...
there are a few advantages for opera, and that is why i use it from time to time...
if you wish to access the mobile web i have found that opera does a good job there...
i have had 4x browsers open all at once for different reasons and they have done there jobs well, only problem was my limitations of keeping up with what i was doing...
also found a friend who uses all of them for checking his web designs and he says that once they all are able to use the web pages he designs he rarely gets complaints...
they have made some good improvements over the years...
? what was the app that we used back yrs ago...it had no graphics and for the life of me, i cant think of its name...
used it in slackware...i use to use it for the web, ...
damm i feel old...

Are you referring to lynx? Non-graphic based web browser?

No worries... I remember those days. It was the only browser for any OS for a time!

a new one,
just took a ride, with 'w3m'. no graphics, run under an xterm or konsole.

no pop ups
good for reading

it rings a bell....just me suffering alzheimers...damm not in a nursing home yet...any body got any vacancies...at this rate i'll be lucky to make christmas...lol....

The fact that Linux is free is understated. If it wasn't for 'free', a lot of people could not get in the ball game.

Bill Gates talks a good game on national TV about educating America's youth. The reality is that the majority of the people who need his help can not afford $300.00 for his operating system, and then shell out many more hundreds of dollars for his application software.

Money can not buy talent and ability. With Linux, imagination and creativity in the computer industry is limited and controlled by big business.

This issue comes even bigger in the World Community.

1. Linux is open-source!,
2. Linux is much powerful than windows!
3. Linux will destroy Bill Gates soon!

totally disagree...
one thing i will give Bill Gates and that is that he is one shrewd businessman...
linux is just a thorn in his side...
he has and will use linux to make his empire bigger...
he cant and wont try remove linux but will join the band wagon...
how??/ well thats what we will find out as time goes on...
you wont get rid of this juggernaut called microsoft...
but microsoft will change with the times...
at the end of the day he wants to sell his product to make money and he will find a way to stay at the top...
probably utilise a lot of the development put into linux and apply it to windows...
think about it, linux has some fantastic features and if he incorperates that into windows and gains good stability in the process, he gains more sales...
so dont dismiss him as falling by the wayside..
and dont think i am into windows...
i have disliked this thief since the days of the BBS....