I use Gentoo Linux and Solaris (x86).
Note: no Windows.


Why I use UNIX-like operating systems is because they work better for me.
With its huge array of software available, I can do what I need to do, plus a whole lot more which I was not able to do on Windows.
On top of that, I can see what's going on, unlike Windows which tries and shields everything.

On Linux, I have the feeling like I am operating my system, whereas with Windows, it tries and operate me.
Example you all are familiar with:

Rebooting to install simple software.

Rebooting when applying patches/updates to Windows itself.

Memory allocation/management (ever try and do something after a few days of uptime, having to wait an hour before Windows flushes unused memory?).

The overal Insicurity of Windows.

It's not that I can't make Windows behave the way I want to, there are loads of good software like Cygwin or the hundreds of tweaks I can do to make Windows (XP, most of all) behave better.
Heck, I even modified internal DLL's to secure Windows XP better.
It may also be noted that in my 7 years I've been using PC's (of which 6 been on Windows), I've never once had any virusses/worms/trojans/spyware/adware (And I never ran any anti-virus program or firewall).

I've been using Windows for 6 years, and changed to Linux (roughly) a year and a half ago.

In general, I just feel better at home in UNIX-like environments.

XP.

I use Windows XP Professionl. Why, because it came with my computer and I'm not comfortable enough with anything else to switch.

XP Professional. Windows is the only OS worth using, to me.

The horrid joke that is Windows XP. Blah. I'm going Linux soon tho. Anybody who is content with their XP machine is wrong.

Yeah...we're wrong in being content with an operating system that works for us...lol.

Let's ditch Windows and get Linux for the sole purpose of being elitist assholes who bitch about Windows, regardless of whether or not we know (or care) how to use it.

Oh wait...no Battlefield 1942 for Linux...fuck it...

Windows Xp, and no one is gonna change my mind, unless you have Shanon Elizabeth, Stacy Kiebler, Vida Guerra, or Jessica Simpson to be my hoes

XP.

I actually had a Mandrake Linux partition for a few days, and it was a mighty fine operating system, too. I just couldn't get used to it quick enough, so I took it out.

ElderGodSmack Wrote: XP. I actually had a Mandrake Linux partition for a few days, and it was a mighty fine operating system, too. I just couldn't get used to it quick enough, so I took it out.

Sorry to hear that, eggy-man.
Well, at least you tried.

ShingoEX Wrote: Yeah...we're wrong in being content with an operating system that works for us...lol. Let's ditch Windows and get Linux for the sole purpose of being elitist assholes who bitch about Windows, regardless of whether or not we know (or care) how to use it. Oh wait...no Battlefield 1942 for Linux...fuck it...

Lol, good point.

NovaStarr Wrote: I use Windows XP Professionl. Why, because it came with my computer and I'm not comfortable enough with anything else to switch.

On a similar note, I guess I should expand on what I mean. I mean that of course, I started out using Windows, happens to most people before they think of it, before they wonder if there's anything else out there.

Then I took a command line where I got to use Rh9. It was okay, but I never got used to it. I could live with it if I knew it inside out, but I didn't thus it wasn't right for me.

While I know the obvious problems with using XP, or any Windows product, there are also problems with Linux that are just not good to have with a person that's not completely computer literate. Chances are, if you are the only one on the computer, you will have administrative privileges, and if you have grown up with Windows, you probably know what places to avoid by now. But trying to avoid trouble in Linux, you'd have to learn it all over again, and if you didn't know it all to begin with, I'd say Linux would cause more trouble than joy.

For those that want a free OS, for those that are willing to learn it, for those that are ready to think out of the box or move onto something, and for those that have time to attempt something else, or have and extra computer or partition to toy with, sure, Linux is great. I hope to move onto it someday myself.

But, when you don't no all the ends and outs of computers. When you've perhaps spent most of your time typing homework, or occupying your computer time with something else. When you have other obligations in your life. When you only have one computer, and very little harddrive space; it's not time to move on.

Maybe try knoppix for a while just to see what a Linux OS is like, but if you're like me, just now figuring out what a kernel is and does, and about compiling, and all of those details that tend to drive non-tech-people insane, it's best to take your time, learn, and move on when you're ready instead of moving too fast, botching something up, losing all of your files, many of which may be hard work (I have my most updated files such as my novel and other works on my hd, and while I do back-up and burn a CD once in a while, I'd prefer to have my hd intact) and not knowing how to fix it.

Linux is not for everyone, it might be nice to pretend it to be so, but it's not. I don't care how similar you can make it to Windows, you may as well just stick to your Windows OS until you're ready. I've already spent the money, I may as well use it. But, it doesn't hurt to learn the stuff so that someday you can make your own choice, and not the constant badgeri...I mean...encouragement of others about how stable Linux is, and how you can use OpenOffice. We know, but we have to make our own choice in the end, even if you believe it is the wrong one, and it doesn't mean we worship Windows or Bill Gates because of it.

NovaStarr Wrote: ShingoEX Wrote: (...) Oh wait...no Battlefield 1942 for Linux...fuck it... Lol, good point.

Not really, since you can play it with Cedega/Wine.

NovaStarr Wrote: (...) Linux is not for everyone, it might be nice to pretend it to be so, but it's not. I don't care how similar you can make it to Windows, you may as well just stick to your Windows OS until you're ready. (...)

Well, I agree on that part, it's not for everyone, but with the increase of good and solid programs, and very user-friendly GUI-environments (for those who care about that), Linux hopefully may(/will) be looked uppon differently in the future.

xp professional

I'll just stick with Windows, as opposed to learning a new OS, then making it pretend to act like Windows.

ive got xp, it came with the new computer.i dont care if people bitch about microsoft and windows, at the end of the day i only use my computer to go one the net, play games and burn cds and it does them all fine.also i really cant stand macs so that too.

XP Pro.


Anyone have XP Home??? Can u tell me the differences between the two, someone told me to ditch PRO and get HOME, but the only difference I noticed was he seemed to be able to make his 'Start' button have a flame effect.

I use Windows XP Pro...I've used Linux before but didn't really like it. Had I started off using Linux with my first computer I might have been more comfy with the management structure. Oh well I have no problem with Windows. It work's great for me.

-- Attention, please. --


I was talking to NovaStarr on IRC, and the conversation I was having with her reminded me of this article:

http://www.techtalknet.com/winblows.html - Why Bill Hates Microsoft


I strongly urge you to check out this article, at the very least just skim thruogh it.
It's a very good article, and, everything in that article is true.
Take it not only from him, but also from myself as I know what he's talking about.

I hope at least a few of you will check it out, even if you don't want/need to switch to anything.
It's definitely worth reading.

Im using mandrake Linux. It's not so bad. The version I have now combines my YIM, AIM, and Msn messenger into one program. But it doesnt have shit for paint. And I can't download anything that requires flash plugins, as I cant dl those either.

Odd...the first segment is a disclaimer that includes:

"THIS ENTIRE DOCUMENT IS MY SEVERELY BIASED OPINION, THE MERE RANTINGS OF A PARANOID DELUSIONALIST. NOTHING AND I MEAN NOTHING ON THIS PAGE IS PRESENTED AS TRUTH OR VERIFIABLE FACTS!"

Agilo Wrote: It's a very good article, and, everything in that article is true.

ShingoEX: Even though that's what is stated, everything in that artical is true.

ErmackDaddy Wrote: Im using mandrake Linux. It's not so bad. The version I have now combines my YIM, AIM, and Msn messenger into one program. But it doesnt have shit for paint. And I can't download anything that requires flash plugins, as I cant dl those either.

For ICQ/AOL/MSN/Yahoo/Jabber/IRC/RSS all into one console messenger, try out CenterICQ, it's really awesome (even DArqueBishop uses it, heh).

If you want a good program for Graphics, try out The Gimp, or XPaint (SourceForge project page).

And what do you mean by; I can't download anything that requires flash plugins, as I cant dl those either.?
That you don't have a Flash Plugin?
In that case, get Mozilla/Firefox (not required, you can get Flash working with Opera or Konqueror too, if you prefer those), re-install the Flash plugin from macromedia.com, and specify the path to your plugins directory.

blade-tsung Wrote: XP Pro. Anyone have XP Home??? Can u tell me the differences between the two, someone told me to ditch PRO and get HOME, but the only difference I noticed was he seemed to be able to make his 'Start' button have a flame effect.

The major differences in Home & Pro are to do with the networking side of things. You cannot use XP Home to join a domain, it's only for workgroup.

Pro is a business orientated OS for this reason.

I use XP Pro, as it's a notebook used for work purposes (mainly).

And our entire environment is Windows based. There is no need to switch to Unix/Linux in a business environment as ALL of the staff will need to be re-trained in their systems. Why change something that works? The staff are already computer illiterate and only 'just' get by on what they know. Changing the OS to a non-windows interface will only confuse them even more. It's not worth the trouble to myself being the Network/Systems Administrator because there will be too many support issues.

All of our 3rd party applications are designed for Windows. Like I said, it's a business environment, and non of you try-hard Unix wannabee anti-Microsoft lamers are going to change the fact that people go with a name they know and trust AND it works for us! Don't change if is aint broke!

I finally caved and bought Win XP Home, even though I would have preferred to have XP Pro if I had to get a new Windows OS at all.

I still like my Win98 SE though...may switch back if only for the RAM and speed performance it offers in comparison.

I had Mandrake 9.2 on my system for awhile (still have the bootloader on..lol) but took it off as I didn't have the time to learn linux as I wanted to due to work commitments...might try again though.

I thought Win98 had a ram issue when you hit 512mb or more...

AussieNinja Wrote: The major differences in Home & Pro are to do with the networking side of things. You cannot use XP Home to join a domain, it's only for workgroup. Pro is a business orientated OS for this reason. I use XP Pro, as it's a notebook used for work purposes (mainly). And our entire environment is Windows based. There is no need to switch to Unix/Linux in a business environment as ALL of the staff will need to be re-trained in their systems. Why change something that works? The staff are already computer illiterate and only 'just' get by on what they know. Changing the OS to a non-windows interface will only confuse them even more. It's not worth the trouble to myself being the Network/Systems Administrator because there will be too many support issues. All of our 3rd party applications are designed for Windows. Like I said, it's a business environment, and non of you try-hard Unix wannabee anti-Microsoft lamers are going to change the fact that people go with a name they know and trust AND it works for us! Don't change if is aint broke!

In a way, the company I work for was in a similar situation. We used Windows for everything. However, we've been migrating machines to Linux for the past year and a half now. The trick is that we didn't do it on the client side. The machines that have been migrated to Linux were all servers.

So far, we've migrated our proxy servers, our web server, our Oracle database servers, and our site fileservers to Linux. With the possible exception of the Oracle database servers, we've actually saved a lot of money by switching to Linux on those boxes, and we've found that the programs on the Linux boxes tend to be saner than their Windows counterparts. In particular, our first Linux server was a proxy server, and our sysadmin (who had an almost strictly Windows background) actually found the Squid proxy software easier to configure and more flexible than Microsoft's ISA program. As for the Oracle boxes... well, we had to buy Red Hat Enterprise Linux for those boxes so we could get Oracle support, but on the other hand Oracle is concentrating more on Linux development than on Windows development.

Seriously, though, if you're interested in saving some money, try throwing together a test Linux server to research replacing ones you already have. You might be surprised at the results.

(Oh, and one last thing... retraining is not really a Linux-exclusive flaw. We're about to migrate our users to Office 2003 and are dreading the retraining that'll need to take place there to account for all the changes MS made.)

Just my $.02...