Words Of Wisdom said:
Soleron said:
It depends on your needs. What do you mainly use your computer for?
The main advantages of Linux over Windows are:
1) Easier to install any software - over 20,000 completely free programs that are good or better replacements for many Windows applications are availible with one click - no installers and no download websites.
Unless you have to compile or "make" it yourself. If the program is not prepackaged in some format (rpm for example), it can be very time consuming to get things up and running.
2) Much faster than Windows.
This is a 100% bold-faced LIE. Linux is absolutely not faster than an XP setup and in fact it's often slower. The reason for this is that Windows uses a lot of prefetching of the sort that Linux decided to avoid for security concerns. What this means is that programs on Windows are often "snappier" than their linux counterparts in loading.
3) Zero viruses and almost complete protection from spyware
There is no such thing as "complete protection" as most computer-related maladies today are caused not by a hole in the system but rather the actions of a stupid user. That said, a stupid user is much more like to screw up an xorg/x11 setting in a Linux environment than get a malicious program.
4) Free. Completely free. Major new versions of Linux distributions are relaesed every six months or so with more new features than a new version of Windows.
Free is good, but considering many PCs people buy come with Windows pre-installed (at a cost to them of course) and do not follow through the steps and hassle of getting it refunded, free is a hard argument to sell against Window's "free."
5) Looks better than Windows. Search youtube for "Compiz". Wobby windows, transparency, multiple desktops.... much better than Vista, and thousands of free themes and icon sets that don't require hacks like Windows does to use.
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Your last point is a mixed bag. For example, I hate the SuSE font setup and no matter how much tweaking I do it's never just right for me. Compiz/Beryl offer some pretty jawdropping desktop visual effects though. Multiple desktops are something I really like in Linux because they're right there out of the box and they work very well. I have some minor gripes but nothing really bad.
Overall, I recommend Linux if you have something specific you want to do with it. As it stands there are just too many things that I run into on a daily basis which require or simply work better on Windows to make Linux viable for me all the time and that's why I prefer a dual-boot setup.
If you have the time and desire, you may as well try it. Linux (and Open Source) is all about creating options and alternatives... and you can never have too many options.
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QFT/E
I also suggest you give a live CD a try just to see if you like the interface. Most distributions have one, and it at least lets you get a feel for how you'll like it without all of the hassle of actually installing something.
However, if you do that, remember that there will be performance hits and limited driver support, along with the inability to install software, because everything has to fit on 1 CD.
Like I said, I use it for A.I. programming, and that is it, as it just doesn't offer what I need.
