Can anyone give me their personal experience and opinions on using Linux?

Question

Anyone have any good/bad or pro and con examples??

Answer 1

Linux is a good operating system from learning point of view. You will learn a lot when you use it. Obviously its not easy to understand as most of the concepts are entirely different from Windows but once you learn it you will love it.

Linux is superior then windows in terms of speed, security, stability and overall performance. The best thing is its open source, the source code is given to you in case you want to perform some modifications but that is for an experienced user. For a novice/beginner, Linux is a bit difficult to digest specially if you are planning to migrate from windows entirely.

However there are many flavors of Linux available free to download. As you are a beginner I advice you to go for a more user friendly version of Linux so you will find it easier to understand.

User friendly versions:

1. Ubuntu

2. PC Linux OS

3. Fedora Core

4. Linspire

5. Knoppix

6. Mandrake (Also know as Mandriva)

Difficult more powerful versions:

1. SuSe

2. RedHat

3. Xandros

4. Slackware

Linux OS can do everything a Windows OS can do. You can play some windows games on it but not all  but they are working really fast to get it done. All normal user tasks can be done on linux without any problem (e.g. word processing, image editing, internet browsing, chatting, listening songs, watching videos etc). You will face some difficulties at first but if you are determined than you will sort them out.

Linux is mostly used in environments where high security and reliability is needed (Professional environments). for example a  windows server cannot compete with a Linux server. Nobody likes to use Windows on professional levels. Some desktop users don't like Linux just because it is difficult to learn/understand but that doesn't mean Linux is a useless operating system in fact Windows has limited scope (desktop users only).

If you go on professional level nobody will ask you about windows, they simply ask "Do you know Linux/Unix ?".

I suggest you should explore a whole new world of Linux. Good luck !

Answer 2

I've been running Ubuntu Linux on my home computer for the past two years and haven't second guessed myself about the decision yet.  This is the machine that both my kids and my wife use as well.

For the majority of home or work computer users, they could make the change from Windows to Linux without much problem.  They would still have availability to web browsers (probably the same one they use on their Windows machine), e-mail & scheduling software, and office productivity packages.  It's only when you get to more specialized applications that some users would be impacted by changing to Linux.  But, Linux does have the capability to run Windows program through an emulator called Wine and then there is always the capability to set up a Windows virtual machine, if required.

My only issue for home is that my income tax software only comes available to run on Windows and doesn't behave well in Wine (from what I've read).

Answer 3

I had Linspire and absolutely hated it! Nothing works with it.

Answer 4

Once you mastered it you will not use Windows again

It is difficult to use mainly because most powerful commands are enter in text from a console

However it support more powerful functions like piping

Piping is like a assembly line you script the output of one program into the input of another so the whole process is automated you can never do that with the limited command prompt on Windows

Software for Linux is free unlike Windows

when you meet any problem google it

Only when you can't find solution then it becomes some form of night mare

Answer 5

Nobody NEEDS Linux. If you have no reason to use Linux, then don't. It's a great OS, but mostly exists as an alternative to Windows. If enough things about Windows annoy you, maybe you could consider a dual-boot solution, but switching OSes is a massive undertaking, and not a decision to be made lightly. I would definitely burn a live CD to test the waters before making any decisions.

You can't say that Linux is totally better than Windows, if only it could run Windows stuff. Clearly you still have a need and dependency on Windows if you need to run its executables. I have to wonder what percentage of average Windows users could seriously quit Windows cold turkey for Linux. I'm not trying to say that Linux is inferior to Windows. But compatibility issues are the reason that Linux will probably never catch on as a consumer-level desktop operating system replacement for Windows. Well, that and the snail's pace of open source software development. And crappy GUIs.