Tastes like Linux

[Sinkhead]

Recently on Digg I saw screenshots for the next Ubuntu upgrade... In the past I would have been excited about that, when I was a Microsoft hater, thought they were a big monolithic evil force that had to be stopped.

And then I realized that actually, Windows is good.

People say it's buggy. I've had my fair share of the blue screen of death, but I've been using Windows for ages now... My old Windows installation became unstable after a few years of use, so now just as a precaution I keep all my Windows installation on a separate hard disk so I can reinstall whenever I like and not lose my data.

People say it's expensive. I use Windows for at least 5 hours a day, every day excluding holidays. Say that I use it for 300 days a year, 5 hours a day. That's 1500 hours. (Which means I waste spend 62.5 full days on my computer each year :S) Say I paid £100 for my copy of XP (which I didn't, but I can't remember how much it was). That means I've paid £1 for every 3 (average) days of computer usage. That is good enough value for me!

People say it is bloated and resource-hogging. I agree slightly, but this isn't as big a problem as some people make it our to be. I have 100GB of storage inside my PC, then another 250 outside it. And I have less than a lot of people. 320GB hard drives and 1 to 2 GB RAM aren't uncommon in average PCs...

Yes, I have tried Linux. (Ubuntu and Fedora)
Yes, I have tried Macs. (Not sure what version, but I suspect it was the one before Leopard)

The truth is that I just don't feel comfortable in either of them compared to Windows. And besides, a lot of my favourite programs don't work in Linux (or run at an unacceptable speed in WINE). These include

• Adobe Photoshop CS3 (don't tell me to use the GIMP)
• Adobe Flash CS3
• Adobe Fireworks CS3
• Windows Media Player (Ok, there are alternatives)
• Media Player Classic (Same as above)
• Notepad++
• Windows Live Messenger (with Plus! expansion pack)
• Microsoft Office 2007 (OpenOffice is great, but not as great as the real deal)
• Jasc Animation Shop
• NewsLeecher
• All my other Usenet programs (QuickPAR etc.)

The list could go on, but I'll stop there... I'm all for open source, freeware etc, but Linux won't be ready for my desktop until it runs all the programs I want it to without any hacks... This means that I am actually interested in ReactOS which isn't complete, but I'm still keeping an eye on it.

So who here uses Linux and wants to try and change my mind?

 

[Urza]

Nobody wants to change your mind.

If you don't understand the benefits of an open-source operating system, then you won't benefit from them.

 

[FAST6191]

First I also do not use linux as it also presently does not do what I want (high end video and some games (which look to be doing better by the day) and I have no inclination to bleat open sauce or take whatever license of the minute as my religious text but a few points.

"without any hacks"
Disregarding nocd hacks and the like what magical land did you come from where you do not have to tweak stuff to get it running nicely and can I come there with all my friends? Also I agree about the resource hogging but that was only after reading several hundred guides, using several hundred tools and a hell of a lot of tweaking by hand (guides are good but my general theory on guides is they are there until you learn enough to help yourself).

Anyhow of the apps you listed I can safely say I only really care for the usenet parts
PAR2 is taken care of:
http://parchive.sourceforge.net/
I am afraid I am unsure about usenet clients and linux but apparently grabit works under wine (I treat wine as a framework like .net VC redistributeable):
http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?...TestingId=16474
A quick search of the grabit forums suggests this is pretty much the same case. i am not sure about the version I yenc power poster I use.

The GIMP, I have played with all the high end graphics stuff and for all but the very most complex stuff The GIMP works great, I am not saying use it but why does it seem to have an increasingly bad rep?

Flash I never cared for even before every admonger got their filthy paws on it but to each their own I suppose.

notepad++, media player classic (there is a reason I uninstall windows media player/bury so it takes about 3 hours to get it back). I will give you those as I use them too.

Office: I have been using it for years (although I have not tried '07 yet) and nothing important has changed since '95 and more importantly open office does decent HTML for when I need it but that is a different matter.

Of course computers are tools and far too many people forget this it seems so use what you need. I prefer tools able to work but when they encounter something they are not impressed with are able to be ripped apart and told what to do which would seem to not be half of the stuff you use.