Although I had used Windows 2000 for two years without issues about any kind of crashes, I found it messy and unflexible... Heck the simplest of things turns out to be a hell of program downloading (yes and that includes alpha and beta software) to simply change the feel and look of the thing! Where as in my Linux box with GNOME 2.2.2 I have the chance to switch the feel and look to virtually dozens of different styles... If it weren't by the little foot in the menus I wouldn't know I'm using GNOME, not to mention Linux... So, although I had no bad experiences with that particualr M$ OS, I really dislike their EULA thing... I won't renounce to any of my rights in order to use a computer system! period.

I use either Mozilla or Netscape Composer for most of my Email and Web browsing needs. On occasion I'll use GNU Emacs to mail something directly from either the built in mail program or from Gnus, the mail and news program in Emacs.
I use these, too, but I use a Mozilla derivative more often; lately I use mostly Mozilla 1.5B, alternatively Netscape 7.1.

For news I use GNU Emacs Gnus.
I like these choices, too. I use GNU Emacs the most, NEdit or XEmacs next most often, and I use Vim or Gvim on occasion, too. I use KWord infrequently and Kate only on occasion when I'm testing out KDE software.

I rarely experience system crashes on any hardware. I had frequent crashes on Windows 95 at a software testing job, but I attributed it to an underconfigured system (a 32 MB memory and 200 MHz processor attempting to handle very large Word document test plans with large, hidden macros, which were used to document how to write and format the test plan itself.

I also ran into a problem of crashing and missing files on a system running Windows 98 SE, only to later find out it was really a disk about ready to fail completely that was actually responsible for the system failures, which were induced by disk read/write errors.

So while I had a few problems on Windows software, most of them were due to hardware, not software, errors. I have never had such problems with Linux software, I did run into some problems on a UNIX workstation once; it turned out to be failing hardware, too, never a software system crash. Worst I've ever seen on UNIX or Linux systems has been an occasional memory leak error that led to degraded system performance. Rebooting and later modifying the program solved the issue. Longest it ever took to locate and fix such a problem was a couple of months, when the next update became available. Mostly, though, such matters cause little problems.

i use linux... because its there really, i have read john naughtons wonderful book "a brief history of the future" several time particularly the section on gnu/linux and decided it was something i thought would interest me.

It does greatly, i would ideally switch to using it 75% of the time but i cannot seem to get my belkin network adapter working in under redhat 9.

For a caual user like me the main attraction really is the the depth. i'm learning constantly and have now been using the os for several months.

sam

if you really know anything about win2k, or winxp, Check out your system registry via RegEdit, I garuntee youll find crap that you 1. dont know what the heck it is, 2.that doesnt belong there and is spyware, 3.or some carppy virus installed on your system without you even knowing it modifying you registry values and allowing hacker open access to your system...Shoot, Then Updating, Microsoft takes a long hard loook at your stuff...Who knows, it is propbably stored in some database somwhere in Washington..lol...i use windows occasionally..Mostly using WinRaR archiving, and developing in Borland Turbo Pascal..But I truly think Linux is my True OS, XP is just a supplement...

A follow-up/update
I had to re-install win XP Pro last week, it just would NOT boot. Now comes the fun part, re-installing and re-registering everything. I am doing that the night before I need to use a program.

I have also installed Gentoo on my ShuttleX test box, and like it. Since I'm building the kernel from scratch I get to find out what works, what doesn't, and what doesn't have an effect one way or another. Using the system monitoring tools/apps, I see I still have 100MB RAM free, it uses the swap partition intelligently, and even if I have a problem in one program window, that is it, it doesn't effect my other windows. On my XP Pro box, if I have trouble getting the I-beam for text entry in one window of a program then I know I know I am due for a reboot.

One thing I love ablout *nix that you wont find as a basic option in M$'s winDOZE boxes, having a number of screens available, at the press of a key. Try pressing the left <Alt> key, and then a nuber key, on a windows box, and then on a linux box. You don't waste time minimizing a program so you can see another open, and running, program.

I use Linux because...

Linux can do everything my ME OS can do except play games (can't get WineX to work). Write stuff: OpenOffice.org. Watch stuff: MPlayer. Post here and watch H*R: Konqueror. Steal stuff: mlDonkey. Listen to stuff: Noatun. I got Linux working the first time I built my Linux From Scratch system last July, and now I'm creating my own LFS based distro. Oh, yeah, and using Linux I can sell off all the Winblows backup CDs that came with my compy for cold hard $$$.

I have been a software engineer before Bill Gates knew how to spell computer. It is my considered opinion that Microsoft Operating Systems as they were and as they are can not achive stability due to poor design to the so called architecture. They have memory leaks that require constant rebooting, but don't get me started.

AT&T System V, and it variants AIX, HP/UX plus Sun Solaris are a masterpiece and rock solid, but obviously not designed for PCs. Linux is the new frontier and offers you the golden opportunity to learn, explore and grow. A proprietary solution such as Microsoft Operating Systems offer you nothing but the opportunity to get frustrated and finally live with its imperfections.

Linux is the land of opportunity; make of it what you want. It has its problems such as dealing with a lack of drivers for products that you may want to use (this is my main area of difficulty), but on the whole, I will take it over any other PC solution to control a computer.

I am starting to use Linux cause I can get a lot of good and free software. It will save me thousands and I could make my customers happy by saving them money.

Also, I hate the Windows registry and the dumb GUIDs for everything. I prefer good old conf files.

"They have memory leaks that require constant rebooting, but don't get me started."

This is simply not true, at least not for XP Home. See my previous comment about 2 years with zero downtime.
For Win9x, sure, unstable as heck. Unsecure, sure, but so is Linux if you don't set up firewalls(which is an app, not the OS) and turn off ports that are often on in a default install.
For a home user, especially using XP Home, stability is not near as big an issue as free, or even not "evil"(/sigh).
For a business, sure, Windows has its issues, but there's an awful lot of business running critical apps on windows servers with very little downtime, because the systems are maintained as though they are critical, as opposed to the Install-and-Ignore status quo of your average home user.

Again, if you are running certain APPLICATIONS, particularly certain MS Apps(like IIS and SQLServer) or lots of alpha/beta product(especially games), then yes, you have heinous memory leaks that require rebooting, but Applications != Operating System. Don't confuse applications with the OS.

That said, I recently switched to Linux, and I gotta tell ya, for your average Joe Homeuser, I'd have to recommend Windows(either XP Home or 98) for sheer convenience. And then I'd bug the hell out of them until they installed ZoneAlarm and MailWasher and locked down Outlook/OE/IE security. At that point, they're just as secure as your average default Linix install.


Flame away, but if you can't back it up, you'll look a bit silly.

(spelling edit)

I started to use Linux many years ago when Win95 was popular. This is very useful
when I went to study mathematics in China. Redhat 6 is just great to run on a 486.
I have finished my master thesis on a 486! Yes, people will say that you can finish
your master thesis on Windows too. Yes! But only with the help of Pirated Software.
You know there are a lot of pirates in China, right? Why? They want to have pretty
GUIs and they are poor. And because they are lazy to learn really good software
which are available on Linux, their production is slow. For mathematics students,
LaTeX is a must learn language, using M$Word reduces your production. Later on
I upgraded my 486 to Pentium 400. Well, I install Win98 and Linux, nearly every year
I have to reinstall Win98 again because I became unstable as it got 1 year old. But
for Linux (I was using the excellect Mandrake 7 at that time), I never need to
re-installed it and I have been using it without any problem for 3 years. I can write
documents using teTeX and compile programs for watching movie etc. So is
Windows more useful? Yes, if you want to play games and watch movies. But if
I intended to do so serious stuff, NO Windows! I am quite happy with GNU/Linux
it is a life! Although it might take you a day to install it! Yes, if you want to install
everything available on the distribution (whether it is Redhat, which is what I am
using and running now, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo, etc), it takes a day and since
that day on, you will be running on a rocket! YES! YOU NEED TO LEARN A LOT
TO DRIVE A ROCKET, but that pays! You will learn to build a FRAMEWORK and
it makes you very efficient. In the end, you will be gaining, not losing, a day or a
few days' work pays!

You've never built a kernel, that is obvious... Because the FireWall capabilities in Linux are built into the kernel... that is what IPV4 Packet Filtering is. Ohh and there is also support for the new IPV6 protocol.

I personally at the moment would go for anything that makes my machine work properly and consistently.

In my case I think that is a new motherboard and RAM!

On this computer I don't recognise the unbreakable Linux, but then again, Windows is even worse!

My system? Athlon XP2200, Asus A7M266VM mobo, 256 PC2100 RAM (formerly 512 but one was faulty) - 32Mb used for onboard GForce MX graphics, IEEE1394 card, CDRW, DVDROM, 2 HDDs 60Gb+40Gb, 17" TFT Monitor (Samsung OEM) etc etc.

As soon as I load the nForce drivers to get the Ether working (and with Cable via Ether I have no choice) and the machine communicates with the net, I get staccato movements of the mouse, and audio files keep breaking up. Oh and 3 of my 6 USB ports crash the computer!

Mind you in Windows the computer often freezes/crashes on boot or later, thought the USB ports work properly.

I have to say that Linux is better because at least it stays up most of the time and as long as I disable the internet connection when I don't need it, it is fairly smooth and reliable. Before I took the faulty RAM chip out, Linux didn't seem to mind it either, whereas Windows did, and how!

DAVE

If there is a problem with Linux, it is the low rate at which drivers are developed for it. Sadly this is true for most home users, like you or me. The nForce problem has been around for sometime now, and it is even worse with the additon of SATA-RAID on some motherboards... Fortunately there is a solution for most of these problems, the first is to keep your kernel as up to date as possible, since it there where the core chipset (mainly USB, IDE-ATA, FireWire, etc) support for your motherboard resides, meaning that most advanced Kernels have better chances to support your hardware better.

The fact that many (almost every) distribution makers delay somewhat the adoptance of newer kernel is a double blade sword problem. In one hand you have the certainty that when your distribution maker addopts the kernel, it will suit flawlessly in your current system configuration (software configuration), on the other hand it will leave you with a bleeding system if it is too new, and many parts of the hardware are still not supported by your distribution's official kernel. Which leaves you with the almost only alternative to build a kenrel by yourself. Which may be good (if you are a versed Linux user) or quite bad if you are Linux , in which case you'll only feel frustration, and the simple word compilation will shake your bones (I know it did to me in my early Linux days). Then again, this is why places like this board exist. To share your experiences, problems and try to help others as much as you can and get aided by those who may know the answer to your current problem.

So if you have any kind of problem with your system, just ask. Someone will eventually answer.

You're right, I've never built a kernel, but how many people asking "Why should I switch" are going to start out building a kernel?

Pretty close to none - not quite none, but close.

And just because the _capabilities_ are built in, doesn't mean that they are turned on in a _default_ install, which is what a "Why should I switch" type user is probably going to start with.


This is a big problem I've found when asking/discussing the benefits of *nix on *nix-centric sites - so many *nix gurus pipe in with esoteric bits and bobs that a new user is not going to see for some time, and it's often with the tone you just exhibitted - "you've never built a kernel, that is obvious" - well excuuuuuuuse me for giving some linux-newbie viewpoint to a linux-newbie question.

What was I thinking? Linux is obviously more secure than NORAD, even out of the box, because people that have been using it for years know how to compile it so that it is installed from the get go to be that way. Silly me. What a dumb newb. I should just go back to playing RasterBlaster on my old Apple ][+, because I obviously don't know anything about computers.

Trowt,

I think Newbies are too touchy sometimes.

So what if it is obvious that you ain't built a kernel?

Would you expect to strip down a gearbox or engine just because you like driving a bloody car? This is a nonsense.

First you need a need, to do a build of a kernel, then if you don't know how to do it, there are gurus all over the world who will inform you through the Internet or books or other mediums how to built a kernel.

Is that such a big deal, when most of the time you don't need to? I have been using Linux for several months, most of the year in fact and I ain't and will not built a kernel any time soon..........that's not saying I never will, but I have had no need so far to do such a thing.

Windows is just as complicated if you go back to the dark days of CPM or DOS and the imminent arrival of Windows 3.1 is when I started with windows, that was horrendous in comparison to Linux to install and start doing useful things.

Give Linux a break. Linux is more secure.

Why did you give up on Apple. G4, G5 brilliant machines! The only thing that stopped me buying Apple was my stupid investment in windows software, ouch! All that dosh.