With the recent release of Ubuntu 8.10, I am encoraging forum users to try Linux. Linux is a free alternative operating system to Windows, and has many advantages. It's easy to try - all you have to do is download the CD image, burn it to a disc and restart your computer with it in the drive. You can then try it from the CD without installing anything, and if you like it you can then install it.

Linux has many advantages over Windows for users:

1. It doesn't get viruses

Linux is more secure than Windows, and doesn't suffer from any known viruses. Spyware and other malware is much less common than on Windows, and it is normally not neccessary to use additional programs to stop viruses.

2. It's faster than Windows

Linux is more efficient than Windows: it is faster from boot up to your first application and each application runs faster while using less memory and resources than Windows equivalents. Linux can even run 3D desktop effects on very old hardware, and is usable on machines that can't even run XP.

3. It looks better than Windows, and you can customise it more

Linux has much better graphical effects than Windows, such as the cube rotate and wobbly windows effects. To see a demonstration, see http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxfSwzhSn1c&fmt=18. These effects don't impact performance very much, even on older computers, but they do make using the computer faster and easier. You can also customise Linux more: Windows doesn't allow themes without hacking, but Linux has thousands of themes that can be installed with one click and give your desktop a new look instantly.

4. It's free

Every time Microsoft releases a new version of Windows, you are forced to pay $200 just to keep playing your games and using Office. Linux is free and does almost everything Windows does, and new versions don't cost anything either!

5. Its applications are free

Most Linux equivalents of Windows applications are free too, and for the average user provide all the same functionality. Linux comes with a fully-featured office suite (OpenOffice) that handles MS Office documents, a professional graphics editor that is on par with Photoshop (GIMP), an Outlook equivalent (Evolution) and thousands of other professional applications, free.

6. It's easier to use out of the box

Every time you install Windows, you have to go and download Flash, Java, Adobe PDF reader, an instant messenger, an archive manager that reads RAR files, and office suite and other things. With Linux, all of this stuff is already included for free, and is often better (for example, the PDF viewer on Linux is much faster than Adobe's). If you don't like messing with drivers, Linux is also better because all of the drivers are preinstalled. You just put the CD in and it all works.

7. It's easier to install new programs

Windows programs often have a maze of websites and installers to go through before you can get anything installed. With Linux, 20,000+ free programs (everything you ever need) are availible with a single mouse click which downloads and installs in one.

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Linux equivalents for Windows applications

Here are some alternatives:

 *Although there are a lot of Linux games, there are some Windows games which aren't made for Linux. A program called Wine can let Windows applications and games run on Linux at full speed and seamlessly.

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Trying Linux

1. Download the Ubuntu 8.10 ISO from here.

2. Burn it to a CD using Nero or InfraRecorder. Be sure to burn it, not just copy.

3. Restart computer with CD in drive.

4. Select to try out Ubuntu Linux from the CD. Since it is running from the CD, it will be much slower than if you actually installed it and none of your changes will be saved.

5. If you like it, install it. You may need to partition your drive; the installer asks you to shrink your Windows one to make space.

If you have any comments or issues, post here or PM me.

I've seen compiz demonstrations before, and I have to say, they're very impressive. I've used Ubuntu a few times before. I dunno, it just feels ugly and blocky to me, I can't quite put my finger on why I don't like it.

I like Sun Solaris better

Don't want to waste a CD and you have a spare USB flash drive? Download the following utility to create a bootable USB key for a wide variety of free OSes:

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

I tried it years ago, hated it, not going back.

Why can I still think that? I'm sure you still have opinions of Windows based off of absolutely nothing. Thank you, but I like being able to run all the programs I want to run without having to jump through 100 hoops.

And yeah, I'm pretty sick of Linux dorks that keep telling me to try Linux. They annoy me more than Tyra.

Linux desktop oriented distributions are getting better at a very fast pace.

I can understand it was a painful experience years ago, but honestly the progress made in the 4 years I've been using Ubuntu are impressive.

I run both Vista and Ubuntu every day. Vista is the one I'm having to jump through hoops for. Windows Update has destroyed my computer twice. My files keep disappearing. I can't print over the network because the wizard keeps freezing. My wireless driver keeps cutting out. Linux? I have none of these problems now. I've just installed Intrepid, and I have had zero problems. There was nothing there that would confuse anyone who has a clue what a computer is.

If you still don't like Linux after trying it, that's fine and I respect your opinion, but this topic is aimed at helping those people who do want to try it. "Years" is a long time in the Linux world (it's come forward so much in the 1.5 years I've used it) so don't let your opinions colour new users' ones.

You can say that again. Back in 2003 even doing anything Linux on a Laptop was a headache, now it is such a brease. Even my parents use Ubuntu now.

I can't wait for the BSD's to be as user-friendly and functional out of the box. They still don't natively have Flash support yet though, you need to use the Linux versions.

 The problem I have with these anecdotes is that the only people that have these types of problems are the people trying to sell me an alternate OS.

Is KDE 4.1 a bit stable nowadays ?
I've tried it, but I missed my stable Amarok and K3B.
Are they ported yet ?

Besides, I hated what they've done to the start-menu, I couldn'tt find a single thing and have to click through several items before I saw my favorite applications, I hope they changed that too.

In the meantime, I'm quit happy using Gnome ;)

btw: you can't compare pidgin to MSN, pidgin doesn't support webcam-chat.
You'll need Kopete or Skype for that. Skype is proprietary but runs great on linux, couldn't get Kopete in KDE 4.1 to run appropriate.