Just wondered if I'm the only one.

I don't use Windows at all any more. I use Ubuntu Linux, which has matured into a perfectly usable operating system. If you've never heard of it, take a look here:

www.ubuntu.com

I don't need to pay for my system any more, and I don't ever pay for the software that I use on it. It's all free and open-source, written, published and supported by experts who give their time freely.

Are there any other Linux users on here? If so, what flavour?

I love the idea of using Linux but it just confuses me no end. I even installed Ubuntu - can't remember which version now - a while back but just couldn't figure out how to do anything on it; I couldn't even work out how to download and install software! . To that end it was completely unusable for me, so I quickly ran back to Windows

To that end it was completely unusable for me, so I quickly ran back to Windows




Spam removed.
/ Cobra

I believe that it's all about what you're used to. When I was young, I was brought up on MacOS, from System 7.1 all the way through to System 8. I never made it to OS X before my family switched to Windows - a switch which I found very difficult. It was a Windows Me system, which was utterly abysmal. I went through Me and XP (still the best OS Microsoft have made to date) before I got my very own computer, which initially ran XP. I am an early adopter, so when Vista came out I went ahead and updated.

That's where the problems began. I paid £249 for Windows Vista Ultimate. Long story short: it was slow, buggy, frustrating and didn't deliver any "extras" I paid a premium for. Shortly, the Windows 7 release candidate was out and free to download and try out, and it worked quite nicely. It was what Vista should have been in the first place, and then some. When it was eventually released for sale, I decided to drop a further £80 for Windows 7 Home Edition.

Again, this was A Big Mistake. Unlike the release candidate, it refused point-blank to install. Turns out it didn't like certain devices which needed disabled before it would install. Even then, installation took hours and sporadic but highly-irritating attention. A novice wouldn't stand a chance. Once it had installed, it was buggy and crashed frequently: unlike the release candidate. The worst issue was the inability to hold a stable wireless network connection, regardless of the adapter I used. The other annoying thing was the bootloader. 10% of cold boots would result in a grey screen and needed a hard reset to free the system.

Any attempt to contact Microsoft about these issues was met with an advert for "premium" support, which I would have to pay for. At this point, I wondered why I'd paid Microsoft for a "working" product in the first place, where a pirate copy would offer me the same level of protection and support...

At this point, you might wonder if the problem lies with my hardware. I build computers as a hobby for folk willing to pay the premium. I know what works, and my "big rig" is a workstation-class machine, built to the very highest standards. I take pride in my hardware, and I know it inside-out, because I built it.

So, I was left with a large bill, and only broken software to show for it. A few months into Windows 7, I had had enough, so I looked for an alternative. I'd dabbled with Linux since 2003, and Ubuntu seemed promising. I've never looked back. It's stable, it's safe and I don't need to worry about it. It just works. The bonus is that it's free, although I try to give as much as I can back to those who make it possible. It's not perfect, but it's a damn sight better than Windows for me.

Getting back to the point, I do believe that it's what you grow up with. I was forced to change once, so a second change wasn't an issue. It was more fuelled by my annoyance at Microsoft taking my money and leaving me with broken software, and offering no support, so I suppose I did have a good motive for moving to Linux. My mother, on the other hand, won't change from Windows because anything new is unfamiliar, and she isn't willing to put in the effort to learn - not all of us are geeks willing to learn like I am...

...but on that note, I have tried to get back into the MacOS on my housemate's MacBook. It didn't go well, and neither did the virtual MacOS X machine on my own computer. I just don't like the way it works.

So, in conclusion (finally!), if the issue is getting Ubuntu up and running, I'll happily tell you how. It's easy when you know what to do. If you are having trouble taking those first few steps in an unfamiliar system, I can help you with that too. The key with Ubuntu, I think, is letting go of the Windows mentality of not touching things in case you break it. It used to the the case that Linux was very easy to break, but not any more. It's very robust, and it won't let you go wrong.

As for adding software, if you have a smartphone you'll be familiar with the "App Store" or equivelant: a central source for all your software. Ubuntu has exactly the same thing, in the form of the software centre. It's dead easy.

Finally, it's free. Nobody is going to charge you a penny for using Linux. It's all thanks to the hard work and spare time of experts who know a thing or two about how to make such things work, without want of reward or even recognition.

So, if you fancy giving it a shot, I'll tell you how to create a bootable USB drive and get your computer to boot from it (if it's not too old). If nothing else, should your Windows installation get junked, you can boot into Linux, rescue your data and save it to another USB pendrive - a useful ability for any Windows user.