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Reload this Page Seriously thoughtful Should I switch to Ubuntu, or stay with Windows XP?

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View Poll Results: What OS should I use?
Stick with Windows 22 22.45%
Ubuntu 46 46.94%
Go scrounge up lots of money and buy a mac! 18 18.37%
What the hell -- Free BSD! 1 1.02%
Use another Linux distribution. 6 6.12%
Something else entirely. 5 5.10%
Voters: 98. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 05-07-2009, 09:16 PM   #61
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Q: Do you play computer games?

If the answer is no, then switch to Ubuntu. Better security, free as in free beer, less crashes, smoother running system.

I use windows XP, Debian linux and Mac OS X (macbook pro). I think my favourite is OS X.
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Old 05-07-2009, 10:06 PM   #62
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WindowsXP Pro is quite stable to be honest. Vista is crap. And Windows 7 the jury is still out.
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Old 05-07-2009, 10:08 PM   #63
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WindowsXP Pro is quite stable to be honest. Vista is crap. And Windows 7 the jury is still out.
I'd have to say as a Hater of Vista, a tolerator of XP and a lover of Ubuntu and ex-lover of the Mac, that Windows 7 is doing everything right at the moment. Rock solid, fast on even mediocre systems, well-thought out system defaults, good new 'dock-like' bar at the bottom. I haven't found anything yet that irked me like it did with Vista.
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Old 05-08-2009, 01:54 AM   #64
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Wow, thanks to everyone who participated in the poll and gave so many well-thought out responses. I thrive on discussion, and even debate, when it's friendly and based on reasons.

Thanks for the reminder about the live CD trial for Ubuntu. I had actually already tried that before I posted, and knew my hardware was compatible, which was nice.

My main reason for leaning towards Ubuntu over other linux distros is that the University I work for actually offers limited tech support for it through the IT dept--though I have never actually used their tech support and doubt its very good, so I'm not sure why I'm letting that guide me too much. The other consideration is that it seems to have the most active online community, which is where I likely would go for help when faced with a real problem -- aren't online communities great?

I know lots of people swear by macs, but I'm at a complete loss to explain why. They're more expensive, and offer less of what I like. I frequently end up using macs on campus such as in the library. I find that they are consistently slower than the Windows machines of the same age. They seem to appeal to the least common denominator in user. And the only viruses I've ever gotten have been while using the macs on campus. Yes, I realize my experience may be atypical, but I've never actually heard what their alleged advantages are. I have to admit I do think people get swayed by their aesthetics.

But in any case, even if I wanted a mac, right now, budget considerations rule it out.

Budget also is one of my reasons for wanting to move away from Windows.... the constant upgrades are soooo tiresome. And while more software is available for windows than anything else, I believe more free/open source software is available for linux, which suits me philosophically.

I would actually be kinda serious about trying Free BSD. My brother (an award winning programmer) swears by it. Unfortunately, he lives across the country.

Anyway, yesterday I partitioned the harddrive on my work computer and set up to dual boot Ubuntu. It was extremely easy to install... much easier than any experience I've ever had setting up an operating system. Installing software through Synaptic seems pretty easy too. I use LaTeX for word-processor, and I installed LiveTeX and Kile... and wow, I love Kile. I think it might be possible to get that working on a Windows machine, but I bet it would be trickier.

Beyond that I didn't have much time to "play", since well, I was at work and had work to do. But I'll keep experimenting. At the moment I'm not hurting for disc space so I'll probably keep dual-booting until I have a good reason not to.
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Old 05-08-2009, 03:38 AM   #65
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Originally Posted by frabjous View Post
Anyway, yesterday I partitioned the harddrive on my work computer and set up to dual boot Ubuntu. It was extremely easy to install... much easier than any experience I've ever had setting up an operating system. Installing software through Synaptic seems pretty easy too. I use LaTeX for word-processor, and I installed LiveTeX and Kile... and wow, I love Kile. I think it might be possible to get that working on a Windows machine, but I bet it would be trickier.
Congratulations
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Old 05-08-2009, 07:01 AM   #66
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If you want to talk about security, I work for the most paranoid organization in the world; the US Department of Defense. And we won't even allow Linux on the network! The most gaping hole I can imagine is open source!
!
http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/2007/0...y-example.html
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Originally Posted by Book Review: SELinux by Example
SELinux is a project started and actively being maintained by the U.S Department of Defense to provide a Mandatory Access Controls mechanism in Linux. It had been a long standing grouse of Linux power users and system administrators over its lack of fine grained access control over various running processes as well as files in Linux.
End of discussion!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selinux

http://www.nsa.gov/research/selinux/index.shtml

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End of discussion!
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Old 05-08-2009, 07:13 AM   #67
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Kacir
I Think that just about sums it up nicely
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Old 05-08-2009, 07:16 AM   #68
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I would actually be kinda serious about trying Free BSD.
Try PC-BSD

If you are interested I can explain how to setup a system that would enable you to boot several various system on one PC. From time to tile I have as many as 10 separate operating systems installed on my PC. And I am not talking about Virtual machines, I am talking about multiboot.
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Old 05-08-2009, 10:39 AM   #69
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you'd better stick with Windows. Linux is very capable but is very unfriendly.
I second it.
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Old 05-08-2009, 12:26 PM   #70
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I second it.
Thanks for your participation, but do you have reasons to offer? I'm mainly interested in reasons.

Ubuntu is not unfriendly as far as I can tell.
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Old 05-08-2009, 01:16 PM   #71
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hiya

try linux mint. i have dual booted this on my xp netbook and it comes ready to play media files and what not.and i can still use xp when i need it for file conversion or what have you.

best of both worlds
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Old 05-08-2009, 02:29 PM   #72
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Thanks for your participation, but do you have reasons to offer? I'm mainly interested in reasons.

Ubuntu is not unfriendly as far as I can tell.
Linux is very capable but is very unfriendly.

I don't know what to say beyond it.
If you are a computer geek, if you don't mind buying new hardware then go hunting for drivers, tweaking settings here and there. Things you never think about when using Windows XP, some settings that are only text files and you must understand how to change them, etc., then go ahead.
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Old 05-08-2009, 02:40 PM   #73
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Linux is very capable but is very unfriendly.

If you are a computer geek, if you don't mind buying new hardware then go hunting for drivers, tweaking settings here and there.
I didn't need any new hardware. Ubuntu installed all my drivers for me. XP would not have done the same.

Quote:
Things you never think about when using Windows XP, some settings that are only text files and you must understand how to change them, etc., then go ahead.
Text files.... how mysterious, and difficult to change... as opposed to the Windows registry, which is really easy to understand and change.

Do you actually have experience with this, or are you going by rumor?
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Old 05-08-2009, 02:42 PM   #74
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I didn't need any new hardware. Ubuntu installed all my drivers for me. XP would not have done the same.



Text files.... how mysterious, and difficult to change... as opposed to the Windows registry, which is really easy to understand and change.

Do you actually have experience with this, or are you going by rumor?
Text files in Linux - yes, registry in Windows - no. Never needed to do it. Most likely whatever I had to change was done via GUI.
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Old 05-08-2009, 02:45 PM   #75
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Look, if editing text files is no mystery - go ahead. I am not saying Linux is bad. All I am saying, it is not user friendly. Average Joe would find his way in Windows, but not in Linux. If you are above average Joe level and like to tweak things and understand codding etc. I see no reason why not. I am not good at it at all. I know that using windows GUI I very often can solve a problem by intuition because it is intuitive. You don't have to know it. You need to use common sense. With Linux it doesn't work this way.
So if you are smart guy, use Linux. I don't know you, so I answered what I know/believe is the situation.
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