OK I'm gonna bite
My problem is truly enjoying using my computer again? Dude you gotta move into the light, lol. Ironically I installed Ubuntu as a stop gap when my XP crashed and wouldn't recover. After 2 weeks waiting for new XP disks from HP I thought screw it I don't need XP I'm doing fine. I even have Office 2007 and Photoshop CS2 running from within Linux, not even using a virtual machine. I do still use XP but now only to watch Netflix.
It's amazing how much crap you get using a Windows computer and you take it for granted. End now..... end now....seriously end now.... WTF. Then there's updating the operating system and every piece of software with a single click. How many updates for the software on your Windows system are still waiting for you to install. I'll wager you've never audited all your software to find out and if you have you are a rare Windows user and geek enough to love Linux. I've not even got to not needing anti virus yet. It's like a protection racket. Exactly why hasn't Windows ever shipped with anti virus included? Why don't they at least ship with AVG free or Avast? Microsoft for all it's might isn't able to produce an anti virus software that come with the weak operating system they ship? Nah that's total money grabbing BS. They get kickbacks from Symantec and you foot the bill. Imagine buying a car, then being told the locks are extra. You would never stand for it (and that it's going to crash more than it's competitors and you'll need to go buy a new stereo and steering wheel because the old one don't fit). People have become Microsoft zombies who think they way Microsoft do it it the way it has to be done. Most people don't even know they have an option (and I'm not taking Mac). Why do they still insist on a OS model that is open to attack from the get go. Because, regardless of what the ads say, it's not about providing you with a great computing experience, It's about making oodles of money.
An often still propagated myth is people think using Linux is for geeks. Back in 2000 it definitely was. In 2005 it was still kind of tricky but Ubuntu 8.10 was the easiest install of an operating system I've ever performed. No hassle at all. I didn't need another CD or have to hunt the net for drivers or any of the usual post Windows install crap. It installed and asked me if I wanted to install the extra drivers it needed (it didn't install them for me due to license requirements) I clicked OK and every thing worked. The system them updated itself. I had to install reinstall XP and Vista last week and it's still a PITA!! Don't confuse Windows familiarity with superiority. You might forget the years of solving windows problems and after 1 or 2 hours/days of trying Linux declare it useless. But the bottom line is when you rant at a Windows computer it's because you're sick of the same problems. You're ranting at the familiar, With Linux you're ranting because it's unfamiliar. After a couple of weeks the rants go away and you realize how nice it is to use a computer again.
After a year or so of using Ubuntu I cannot recommend it highly enough. I only wish more software vendors supported it out of the box. Currently there is Wine and Crossover to run non Linux programs. The installs for each were as easy as on Windows could click the .exe and the native installer fires up.
I've used Windows forever and am fully aware what it does well and poorly. What is does well is no better than Ubuntu and what it does poorly is not acceptable for something I spent a lot of money on. I honestly expect more from a corporation that expects me to part with my money. Linux is free and in many way far far superior. I'm not anti windows because I hate big companies or any thing like that but Microsoft uses it's might to stifle innovation, well, any innovation that isn't theirs. Windows was in large part to thank for the rapid development of the desktop. They had Bill Gates to thanks for that. Now he's gone they're just another behemoth company without great leadership. They are already noticeably dropping the ball. The Vista launch was a disaster, just like XP. What do we expect of Window 7? And they actually want us to pay for this hassle? If no one had heard of Windows or Linux today and the two systems were compared side by side, Windows would be laughed out of the room.
I liked Windows well enough, and Vista now works OK, but I love using Ubuntu! Burn a live CD and go play, In two weeks you'll thanks me
