What are the pros and cons of Ubuntu?

Question

What are the risks of installing? Can I revert the change of OS? Will it erase my programs? Will I still be able use all Windows applications? Basically give me info and faq about Ubuntu, please.

10 points awarded to the most explainative answer.

Answer 1

pros:

1) Its free, like most other Linux distributions.

2) Comes with a lot of software pre-installed. Most of them are better than Windows counterparts...(for example Amarok vs iTunes)

3) You can use it without installing, in Live mode.

4) Huge community support at http://ubuntuforums.org/

5) A huge collection of software is in the repos http://packages.ubuntu.com/

6) By using GNU/Linux, you learn more about your computer.

7) No viruses.

cons:

1) Sometimes hardware support for Linux sucks. Mostly in the case of Wifi. Things may or may not work out of the boxSo if you have an unsupported router, get ready to configure it with ndiswrapper.

2) Linux is different. You must have some free time on your hands to learn using it by reading documentation and visiting different forums.

3) Idiot windows and mac fanboys will make fun of you. Just ignore them.

4) Most cool games don't have a Linux version :(

The risk of installing is that you might accidentally wipe out your data, including windows. Yes you can revert as long as you have the windows installation disk.

Gnu/Linux is different. In Windows you download applications (.exe) from random websites and double click to install. In Linux you have to use the package  manager.

No it will not erase windows unless you specifically tell it to do so. It will set up a dual boot so you can switch b/w the two operating systems.

Yes you can still use windows programs, but for that you will have to boot into windows because Wine sucks.

You can install Ubuntu without giving it a seperate partition using Wubi

http://wubi-installer.org/

http://whylinuxisbetter.net/

http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm

Answer 2

no risk. you can still boot windows. it won't erase your windows programs. which means you will have two OS in your computer. with Ubuntu you are less likely to get infected by virus because most virus are design to wreak havoc in windows only. it is also very light and fast. if you install Ubuntu from the requested CD,it is loaded with all the necessary programs such as word processor and media player. the drawbacks are:there's not many programs for Ubuntu and most of the time it is still command-based which means there's gonna be a lot of typing involve. unless you just want to do basic stuff,Ubuntu is definitely for you. If you want to do the extra,you must learn how to do it.