I don't know the exact circumstances nor what you're ultimately trying to accomplish, but most of the people I've helped migrate recently had a lot of success running Linux as the primary OS.......
Fred said:
I understand my needs may be different from yours and the squatters, but I lack for nothing even while running only *nix
Ok... so I can see that this list has some interest...
I want to make one or two things clear. Although my use of Linux was not all plain sailing, I do not use Windows out of choice and actually refuse to use it for my own personal use. I do not need Office, multimedia is much, much easier and there are enough games out there to satisfy me. Was it down to me, I would not have any instance of windows in the house. It is enough for me to experience the inequities of MS 8 hours of five days of the week... Stating all this, I am no stranger to VirtualBox as there are no alternatives to, lets say, TomTom Home. This is probably the only application I need which you cannot work under Linux. When I do wish to use it I use it with VB.
Next - I have a hardware issue in my desktop. I am convinced the issue is with the mobo but without having a spare one to try, I am only guessing. Linux does not produce BSOD. Yes it will crash in some cases but from my experience, my desktop never, ever, ever crashed or stopped or locked while running Linux (Debian or *ubuntu). When the BSOD's became more often, I had two options - spend more money or install Linux. Naturally I chose the latter. I actually managed to persuade the other users to at least give it a go. There was not much to lose. The problem, as I mentioned earlier, started when other users wanted their Windows applications - Office, Messenger, Shockwave player, call of Duty 4, Spore, Prince of Persia, Sibelius and maybe one or two which I might have left out:
1. Office - Office installs beautifully. However, as you use it more and more, you come across some funnies which are not terrible but just niggling like weird display behaviours. Not terrible but certainly not as smooth as using it under Windows. OpenOffice is fine but when you move documents across to Office, they tend to go slightly askew.... again, possible but nagging.
2. Messenger - non existence. KDE has a nice alternative - Kopete. No problems there. (Should not really list it then....).
3. Shockwave player - WTF is Adobe's issue? Oh well, the users actually got used to not playing Shokwave games. They forgot about this issue very quickly... Yes, I know you can install IE and Shockwave under Crossover but it never worked for me. Again no great loss for me.
4. COD4 - this was the "piece de resistance" of Windows applications. It took me probably over two weeks to get it to work, finally under Wine. Graphics were atrocious and game was not enjoyable, end of! I do not play COD since I only have five fingers on each hand. Problem? Not for me....
5. Spore - never tried. Got sick and tired of the squatters moaning long before the game was bought....
6. Prince of Persia - as with Spore
7. Sibelius - as before.
8. VirtualBoy - With some tinkering, works great even on my Laptop.
I managed to run Kubuntu on my PC for nearly a month. Not one BSOD or any other mishaps. Unfortunately that was not enough to satisfy my disgruntled squatters. Their nose was out of joint nearly as soon as the HDD was NTFS formatted *shudders*.
To conclude, I do not need or want to use Windows. For me, I get what I need from Linux and I am helping to keep IT that little bit safer. I could not care less whether certain programs work with Wine or Crossover or VB. I am an out of the box kind of guy. I do not like tinkering, messing, playing around etc. These days, most Linux apps do just that. So why do I want to bother my little brain with such weighty problems? What I cannot stand is PC users who moan and Moan but are never willing to try something different or do something about what's bothering them. How did Pink Floyd put it - "Hot ashes for trees? Hot air for a cool breeze? Cold comfort for change?"
So there, I am already enjoying using *nix. I feel no need or wish to make my experience "better" by running windows applications.... :x:
