natalie8

Yes. I have an Acer Aspire 3000 laptop and I also have windows. I'm completely a dummy for anything more than that.

I was told that Linux is better for preventing viruses from getting in, but I've had 2 and one of them more than once. I also have trouble with it recognizing devices, such as printers and my phone for pics.

I'm not sure yet if this is the system or my copied Windows software. I'm going to have a friend take a look at it this weekend and hope that he can fix it.

Citan

I love Linux and will more than likely never use anything else. The only thing you legitimatly can not do on Linux, is video and voice over messenger. You -CAN- in theory, but it is a major pain, even for people who extreme competence in Linux and the underworkings. There is no reason you can not use both at the same time (dual-boot). I would say test Linux with a live CD or with a dual boot system, before deciding on something you may regret.

Linux does have a small learning curve, but Ubuntu and others (now Ulteo also) are making this a thing of the past.

As for windows programs, it depends. World of Warcraft works fine on Linux, with Cedega. We have OpenOfficeDotOrg (OOo) instead of MS Office. I prefer the OOo to MS Office, but that is just me. Both are 100 percent backwards compatible with the other.

The best aspect of Linux, to me, is I can do ANYTHING I want to it. The one major issue I have with windows, is that I can not change the window manager or anything (the Graphical User Interface). On Linux, I can change it in literally 5.4 seconds. Not just one thing or a little thing, but change the -Entire- way it looks/works/feels, etc.

The worst aspect? Hmm... to me the worst aspect has to be that there is always something big in development, so I am always waiting for -this new feature-. I'm huge into Linux, so to me it is like a fun game. Another aspect I see as worse is that people no longer want to abide by the GIGO rule "Garbage in, Garbage out". You get into your PC what you put into it. I put in the time to learn more about Linux when I first started, and now I could not be happier with a computer. I really believe it to be a perfectly usable OS, but you will need to have some patience with learning something that isn't windows. You can always get KDE (Kool Desktop Environment) and use the Windows XP or Windows Vista window manager themes so it looks and behaves a bit more like Windows.

Another -bad but not worst- feature is the tendancy of a lot of users in the Linux world who have this issue. They (as many of us had to before Ubuntu) had to learn 'how' to do things. A lot of people might tell you to look something up, rather than hand feed you the answer of your problem. This is because, mainly... If you have a problem, someone has solved it already (Yes, I mean that in a semi-literal sense)

Yours,
Norng Citan

Any Linux questions, I'll be happy to field them to the best of my ability.

__________________
Yours,
Norng Citan

bet

Open office is quite nice, but MS Office is more powerful especially the 2007 version. They are compatible but I wouldn't go so far as to say 100%.

Apart from that I would agree with all that Citan says. Using linux is straightforward and easy, but to get the most out of it you must use the command line, and that was a rather steep learning curve and at times frustrating.

File permissions were also quite frustrating, but obviously useful and simple once you get the hang of it.

I would recommend you get a live-CD, and play around with it before you make any decisions. It doesn't even require an install.

defender

Ubuntu is very straightforward after you get used to it - pretty steep learning curve IME to begin with.

Do you want to learn/put yourself through it is the only question you need ask - to be honest that's my main motivation for using it, learning about something other than Windows!

__________________
Excuse me for not taking this seriously .....

Citan

Yes, Bet is correct. As I did not use the post-beta 2007, I was not aware. There is a known compatibility bug between MSO2007 and OOo. The next OOo update is said to fix this issue, and supposedly set the compatibility back to 99%. The 99% is an estimated guess, not a market number.

Once I learned the command line, I really enjoy it. For instance. I can do.

Now the only way to see my personal files, is to be logged in as me, in real time.

Things like that are easier via command line than through the GUI. Though, you can in theory do anything through the GUI you can do through the command line, command line, in my humble opinion, is much more efficient.

Here are some quick examples of my different looks I was talking about before...
(See next post)
-----

__________________
Yours,
Norng Citan

johnrh

I'd like to endorse the comments about linux, especially by citan. The time has now certainly come for anyone with an experimenting turn of mind to give a linux desktop distribution a try. There are hundreds of them now, all with with their different strengths, all of them legally free. If you want to make a hobby out of it, you can try as many as you want.

A good starting point is www.desktoplinux.com. Lots of info, but a bit ridden with techie jargon.

Raycary, you can buy your PC's with windows, but you'll probably get vista whether you want it or not. It's a turkey and you may soon get fed up with it. It's easy to install a linux system later on, in a dual boot configuration. My choice is Ubuntu, which I now use almost all of the time. You could download it as an iso file (but very large!), and make a live cd from that. Boot up from the live cd and give it a try! (Of course, it'll be slow like that.) If you like it you can install it in it's own partition (30 gig would be more than enough to start with), then boot as you want from the 'grub' menu.

Strengths of Ubuntu: Nice clean desktop, easy to use. In windows you're forever scanning for plants etc, you never stop. None of that with Ubuntu, just use it, it works. Large no of applications with the live cd, incl openoffice; you don't need to shop around for all that stuff separately. Large repositories of downloadable packages. Massive amount of online help, especially the community docs.

Downsides: Not guaranteed to work well with all peripherals, although it's improving. (Try out your printer, etc, with the live cd.) A bit fiddly to set up for multimedia, lots of codecs to be downloaded, but there are applications (eg Automatix) that make it easy for you. Not yet up to speed for high-end windows gamers.

The scary talk about the command line is rather exaggerated, in my view. You can easily learn the few command strings that you do need.

So there you are, start with windows, then you can experiment with linux distro's at you leisure. Enjoy!

The age of windows is over. The age of linux has come.

SageAndOnion

Scanning for plants? What does that mean?
-----
That's not a real biggie for me. I don't get that excited by graphics.

To the OP. From what I have read of your posts I wouldn't bother with Linux right now. If you go with Windows, you don't need to use Vista either if you don't want. You are talking about having the desktop built for you so just tell them what you want installed on there.

__________________
Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

tafy68

I got Ubuntu installed and altho it does most things theres still problems detecting peripherals. My bluetooth wont work with it

And the laptop wont sleep without crashing!
Oh and if your into MSN the one in Ubuntu just sucks ass.

Unwell

windows is fine for me...
-----
not very hip i know but there ya go.

__________________

"...ever wonder why they kill the weak ones, baby?"

johnrh

By 'plants' I meant things planted on your hard disk that shouldn't be there. With windows you spend more time scanning with ad-aware, spybot s&d, hijack this, ccleaner, virus programs, fiddling around with firewalls, defragmenting and all the rest of it than you spend on productive work. If you don't, you'll regret it. With Ubuntu I don't do any of that stuff.

It's a significant factor when comparing windows with linux desktops.

SageAndOnion

Well I haven't defragged for 5 months I believe and according to the disk analyser, I don't yet need to. I only use Nod 32 and Windows Defender and they scan automatically. I think Nod 32 picked up one low risk trojan once.

Natalie still seems to have virus problems with her Linux installation.

Still, as I have said before, I have to use Windows for work purposes so it is all pretty academic for me.

__________________
Out of my mind. Back in five minutes.

Jasper

It depends what type of person you are. If you want to 'do something' quickly, surf the net, use messenger, write a webpage, windows will do. If you like computers and you are a little geeky then linux might be right for you.

I can't see the advantage of using the command line. It's so archaic, what am I missing?

anon

as i've posted more than once (and as i'm sure is obvious from my posts in this part of the forum) i'm less than computer savvy, and i when i buy these new computers, i'm going to want to start using them immediately, not spend time figuring out a new language. for better or worse, windows it is.

thanks for your replies everyone.

MarvinTheMartian

Stick with Microsoft windows XP. No learning curve involved and easy to use.

__________________
__________________________________________________ _________
Anyone who takes himself too seriously always runs the risk of looking ridiculous; anyone who can consistently laugh at himself does not.