Deciding If Linux Is Worth The Switch

[Sleeping Dog]

LINUX is slowly, but surely making its way into the mainstream of today's computing world.  Companies like IBM and Industrial Light and Magic are transitioning.  Many school systems are finding that they can get extended life from their hardware by "upgrading to Linux".  A considerable number of universities have moved their mainframes off of NT and onto LINUX due to the NT scalability limits, (among other reasons)....And the growth of LINUX as a solution, not just an altenative, is slowly but steadily progressing.

Sure, there will always be the "Windows XP Snoozers" of the world who will try to tell you that "The sky is falling", but as with everything, we should always "look at the source" as my mother would say.

That individual has "XP user #5225982375" in their login name despite there only being an estimated 6,234,250,387 people on the planet as of 07/01/02.  Besides, did you ever wonder why such a big Windows fan seems to spend so much time on a LINUX forum?

When I think of Windows XP, I think of the word "STABLE".  I have spent a lot of time mucking out the stalls in our horse barn, and as I am shoveling that stuff out of the "STABLE", it reminds me of Windows XP..........Lest we forget some of those other "wonderful innovations" that Microsoft gave us over the years:

    MS DOS 4.0 - Almost everything malfunctioned

    Disk Doubler - A so called "compression" utility bundled with DOS 6.0 that irreversably scrambled tens of thousands of HD's before they "got the bugs out".
   
    Original Win 98 update installer - Said that it needed about 160 MEG of space on the HD to install.....really needed three times that much and would irrepairably destroy Win 95 and all of your data when it ran out of HD space.

    Windows ME - AAAAAaaaaaaaHHHHHhhhhhhhh!  I have repaired at least four OEM installs of that piece of trash for people that I know, and I do not do this for a profession!  It eats its own drivers for no reason known to God or man.

These are just four historical examples of why the desktop users are looking for alternatives too.  I am sure that others on this forum can provide you with at least 5225982375 more reasons.

Keep the faith and keep at it.  The rewards are there.

Best Regards

Sleeping Dog

[rtgwbmsr]

quote:Originally posted by Red Falcon:
There is, however, a few questions I have for all you Linux people.  I happen to be a PC Gamer and I've heard that if I ever want to play a game that requires Direct X that I will have to stay with Windows and Linux does not support it.  That, is a HUGE problem with me as most games are now with direct x.  Is it true that linux can not play games like these?

If you have a few bucks to shell you can get a G3 Mac dirt cheap ($250-500). Mac OS comes with it, and Linux (Mandrake for PPC would be good in your case) is free to D/L & Dual Boot. Something like 60-75% of newer Winbloze games are availible for Macs.

In the unlikely event that you need Windows both Linux and Mac OS have WXP emulators. The Linux ones are cheap, but Connectix Virtual PC (for Macs) is free for 45 days for every e-mail address you have...
It's like having PC hardware, you just install WXP like you would to a normally formatted PC

Or go with your current PC, and Dual boot. Just get out of Windows! Have Fun!      

[Calum]

there are several factions tackling the directx thing from different angles anyway, also there are tons of games that run natively in linux, remember that if you need directx emulation for linux, it's because you want to run a windows program! how many linux games can you run in windows by converse? i think running windows programs in linux AT ALL is a feat of accomplishment...