It was the WGA spyware and a false positive that finally put me in a fight-and-flight mode. I've been working in Mandriva 64-bit now for less than 6 hrs, and love it. Perhaps it's because of my values: I believe in nonprofit, sustainability, and accessibility for all, and the windows stuff just costs too much in $ AND time to fix soooo many problems. The time I wouldn't mind so much IF I didn't feel like I was being lied to, cheated, spied upon, taken for granted, and abused when they should be kissing my a** as a customer who's been giving them so much over the years.

If only I could get software for my ATI tuner card and Endnote, I might be able to switch completely...

Heck, I'm so grateful for an alternative to MS that I actually want to give Mandriva folks some $, as they're not asking for much, give a lot back, and still give their stuff away free, too, which is definitely important for students, the under-resourced, etc. Heck, it's required for high school students now, to have their papers word-processed, and education is a right -- not a privilege. Not that I can afford to, being a disabled pensioner on social assistance, and the only reason why I had (past tense) the $ to pay for this vista-capable hardware was because I took a crooked past employer to court and won a small settlement. But maybe I can scrape something together...

What I do with the PC is mostly support my hobbies, learning, and volunteer work for another national charity (hence the Endnote). At times I work almost full-time, mostly from home. So I do give back when, how, and where I can.

So it's an ethics thing with me, mostly. MS has none.

I see that you want your ATI card to work. Well, there might be hope for it. Try your luck at the LQ HCL and see if your card is compatible. Welcome to the Linux community.

Because it doesn't have Bill Gates swiss cheese windows os. Well its a nice alternative to the world of Gates.


KMS

1. Tab completion

2. Compile a program out of the box

3. Cut & paste virtually anywhere

3. Shed its GUI if it wants/needs to

4. Protect important system files from being trashed by any user

5. Not become infested with spyware/adware

6. Browse any place on the web and not worry that something like ActiveX can send a "pants down!" command to the OS

7. Be tailored to fit the user, not the user('s hardware) tailored to fit the OS

8. Actually be usable on a i486

9. Update/upgrade programs without having to reboot several times.

10. Run for months with no noticable slow down

11. Make and read filesystems for many OS's

12. Be legally copied, shared, etc (see GPL)

13. Adhere to standards, for the good of everyone, instead of purposely breaking them to force the user to be locked into buying version after version of Windows.

14. Not "phone home" on you. Oh yes, long suspected finally confirmed, WGA was caught phoning home daily to Redmond to tattle-tail on its users. After much uproar, MS finally removed this "feature". http://news.com.com/Microsofts+antip...3-6081286.html

15. Not force anti-piracy rubbish on its users http://news.com.com/Piracy-check+man...html?tag=st.rn

16. Make use of the competition's software: while you can natively mount, use, and read/write to MS Windows file systems, use its shares across a network, compile its programs and run its binaries (thru Wine, and even straight off the command line with binfmt_misc), MS you can bet is not working to make use of other OS's resources. If Windows can use Linux (or others) resources, its almost always thru the purchase of expensive, third-party add-ons (with exception of software such as Samba, but that was not made by MS nor bundled with the OS).

17. A true built-in command line shell scripting language. Compare "shell" and "batch".

18. Patch in a timely manner. Important security homes are usually closed within hours, with a full new source release soon to follow the quick-fix. Windows has "Patch Tuesday"... what if yours breaks on Wendsday? Wait until several weeks or maybe months later?

18. Be trusted

19. (and on and on ... )



Windows is like a bike with training wheels: you secretly thought they were cool when you started to learn how to ride a bike, but soon enough they became annoying and you wanted them off.

Thx for the welcome, Corey. I have now checked, but my T55-PO3 tuner (manufactured by Powercolor, ATI's Theatre 550 Pro software, PCIE x1 interface) isn't listed there or anywhere else in any Linux compatibility list or forum that I've been able to find so far. I'm pretty confident with all the rest of my hardware (mobo and video card are nvidia chipsets and software, same with decoder) so they're supported by most of the 64-bit Linux distros I'm aiming for.

And I say "aiming for" because the Mandriva install started falling apart the next day, and I'm almost ready to give up on it. I'm having my system admin/builder try to download a non-corrupted iso (I've tried for days with that dvd) but we may go the knoppmyth route or possibly even gentoo if we have to. He's coming over on sunday with another big ide drive, and I'm buying a hauppauge 250 2nd tuner (which is a safe bet for win xp/mce and linux) so we're bound and determined to get something going here.

I must say I'm very disappointed with the Mandriva folks' efforts. Imagine a Linux-based company whose website works better with M$ IE than their own packaged browsers (while in Mandriva I could never could get to the club downloads page; I ALWAYS got told "Sorry, this page is for members only" no matter how many times I signed in) and who decided to call a CD "Core Updates" when it's supposed to be installed BEFORE the DVD. Any sane person who's ever installed any other OS or app package usually knows that the body of the software gets installed first, and then to install any updates AFTER the OS itself. And finally, they hid this key item in a newsletter! Who reads marketing-based "give us more $" newsletters? And they're marketing their product to newbies, too!

LOL...

I have switched to linux exclusively, for this reason. My new motherboard doesnt have serial ata drivers (that I can find). Linux has always supported it out of the box. Now that I have found kino, yes I just found it, I cont have to buy expensive software to make home movies. I have always loved using linux, it is still a pain in some things but it is solid on my dual core system. I really need more ram. I run a business off it, I design websites on it. I wish dreamweaver was ported over I would pay for that. NVU works fine so far. I miss games, but I may get an xbox lol or an old ps2. I just cant justify 500 for videogames. But I do all my tasks in linux. I didnt need to spend as much on my pc, but why not when I dont have to pay for the os lol. I think there should be charge for linux, like 1-4 dollars. Just something. I will just call it a day and figure out how to play madden on something else. I love linux. OH and i am learning pearl, I suck but it is still fun.

Here the perfect example of why I'm about 95% on Linux. I'm taking some online courses. The college suggests that the instructors use a piece of software called Exam Guard and surprise, it only works on Windows. I installed it on my XP partition and it worked ok for the mid term. Last night I went to take the final and when I booted into XP, the virus scanner complained about not being up to date. I updated the scanner and it required a reboot. It came up the pop up blocker wasn't up to date, so update that and it required a reboot. Log back in and something else needed updating and required yet another reboot. Finally there was no more software that needed updating. But now the virus scanner started complaining that I haven't done a full scan since the mid term 5 weeks ago. So I let it do the scan. It finished and now that it's 45 minutes after the first boot, I can start working. Rediculous to have to do all these reboots and scans just to do a little school work.

When I boot into Linux, it checks for updates automatically, but unless it's the kernel that's updated, I rarely have to reboot. When I take my test for the other course that doesn't require this special software, I boot up, access the course via web browser and take the test. Simple, no muss, no fuss.

Now that the initial learning curve is over, Linux is much simpler to use than XP.

I use linux because i got bored of Windows. It was just more of same thing over, and over again. Windows is so much easier...BORING!! I think a challenge is a good thing, as long as it is hard enough to make you think but not so hard that you start going bald. I use linux for all my needs now. My common apps are OpenOffice.org, FireFox, Amarok, and maybe a few others. Besides, Micro$oft is way too nosy for their own good. I thought the president ran the country, but by the way M$ behaves they think they own you as soon as you pay that $100 dollars for XP.

i've heard alot about linux and have played with fc5 and now run ubunto 6.06.1. i like the challenge of learning something new plus love the benefits of linux (listed through this thread). i've stopped using windows at home but still use it at work. this helps me learn more and appreciate more as well. besides, with all the flavors of linux to choose from, your not trapped with one taste as is with windows. variety is great, so you can't help but love linux.

I changed because I wanted a challenge - something different, something I could learn to use, rather than something that would use me.

2 months later, its the best move I've made, through trial and error, google, the forums etc, I've got my machine running how I want, with applications I want to use.

I've got 2 old machines I use for testing before I try anything major.

Everything I did on a Windows machine I can do on my laptop with Slackware installed, with one exception Autoroute, maybe it'd run under wine, but I can't be bothered trying, there's enough website route planners available, I've got a satnav, I've left windows on a computer with autoroute if needed.

Its more secure, I don't have to worry about trashing the system.

Best move I made, just need to slowly convert everybody else I know, made a start with getting people using Openoffice on Windows at work, but sadly some of the work software doesn't exist under Linux and I've not heard of any sucesses getting it running under Linux. Maybe something I'll play with to see whether it'll work.

i used linux because i Ralize that Linux is MUCH MORE powerfull before my late OS ( you probably know what's that ).. the main reason is because i could Control my OS, so that i'm not controlled by OS

whatever i want, from settings GUI till break my LInux ( right, i'm a hardcore newb who tried to learn but then wrecked my linux again )

i learned java and it's native on Linux. Gaming,Play music, DVD, work, what else do you need?

and by the way, the only thing i'm wondering now is not why i used Linux, but why other people refused to used Linux?tee.hee.. ;p

I've tip toed into the Linux waters for about 15 months, but haven't the nerve to fully abandon the 'other'OS. I have a couple of programs that I am unable to figure how to make them work with Linux. I have high hopes with one of the Linux OS that I have on a triple-boot system - SuSE 10.1. I think I encountered "Windoze' while looking through the packages, but have not been able to find it of late. Once I got past the issues with triple-booting, I have had a blast with using all three. Now if I can just find that SuSE 'windows' location!

Gramps seems to want to use GNOME and refuses to pull all the notes over into the FC5 package... and a few others I still ahve to use in Win XP - but I'm getting there.

Bob
Still a

1 word: Windows.

I am a glutten for punishment!!! LOL Seriously I am a learning sponge and I now find Windows no longer excites me.
Linux is throwing up all that excitement I had when I first powered up my Sinclair (age showing)and my first DOS based PC.
Of my 3 systems one is now a 100% Linux machine.
I am trying out Freespire first just to get a feel of things and get the Windows' ways out of my head. It's connected to the net via a router now although I am still trying to get it to talk to the XP based home network. Big time Samba lessons coming up.
Being a net user pre WWW days I have some vague memories of unix commands so the command line is not a no go zone for me.
Now for my first of the 1000 future questions.
Which Fedora based distro will happily live with Freespire on a lunix only dual boot system.

I needed a PERSONAL computer OS. Windows is now a corporate workstation OS.

My PERSONAL computer operates under the principal of least privilege for network admins and maximum privilege for the local user. With Linux I don't have to worry about things like GPOs infecting my PERSONAL computer or some rogue/loose-canon admin snooping around my PERSONAL data or even automagically installing unapproved (by me) software on my machine.

A network admin's rights end at my NIC.