PC World has a great article suggesting to move small businesses from Windows to Linux as Windows XP, so far the best Windows OS is no more available in store. I am at the same situation and infact i wanted to write on the same subject from the past few days.
I am using Windows XP from long and never thought of upgrading to Vista for a simple reason, for me XP works well and there is no point in upgrading to Vista after reading so many articles on how Vista sucks. So what is next as XP retires, few days back i asked the same question myself and immediately got an idea, why not try Ubuntu.
My laptop is 3 years old Sony VAIO with 80GB Hard disk and i used most of the space, so i cleaned the system by deleting some files and transferring some to external hard disk and made some space for Ubuntu. This is the first time i am using Ubuntu Linux (i used RedHat enterprise linux few years back).
Ubuntu installation is smooth, get a live CD and boot it. If you want to dual boot windows xp and Ubuntu follow this tutorial.
Ubuntu is really good OS and it comes with some great stuff like OpenOffice, GIMP among others. Agreed OpenOffice and GIMP may not be as perfect as MS Office and Photoshop but they are not bloated like their counterparts and the features they have are enough for most of the users. Best of all they are open source software and comes for free.
Now i am using both Windows and Ubuntu. I may shift completely to Ubuntu Linux after some time. If you have never tried Ubuntu try it, it is really a good OS and best of all it is free.
I’m using Ubuntu along with Vista. I still need to come to Vista for lot of softwares. Once Ubuntu starts supporting softwares like Windows, we can definitely see a shift.
It is never going to support software “like Windows” because it isn’t Windows. It either has what you need or it doesn’t. Ubuntu is not an operating system. It is a Linux distrobution. To be honest, people who are looking for a simple desktop operating system should be avoiding Linux in the first place. It is and will always be a server operating system that strange people (like the people behind Ubuntu) are attempting to turn into a desktop operating system. Try as they may, that simply isn’t what it was designed to be. Why try to tame a wild bear when you’ve got a chihuaha sitting next to you? Windows is for desktops, Linux is for servers.
I agree with Nirmal. For me I would switch to Ubuntu once it supports windows XP compatible softwares. Let’s face reality for a bit here. The best softwares (though bloated, but still the best) are XP compatible. I use mostly Adobe softwares to do my work and quite frankly the processors take a heavy beating because of all the background XP processes. GIMP and other freewares may be good but the problem lies in change of workflows between softwares. Not all of us have the luxury to learn a new software at the cost of a new OS since that will cost people like myself quite a bit of money since we have project deadlines to meet. Ubuntu will make itself a more useful OS by allowing us to use XP compatible softwares with it. Also think of the gaming community. I’m certain that if their games ran on Ubuntu it will be distributed around the planet in no time without a flinch.
Thanks Igot a free CD and installed to my PC. Every thing is beautiful in Ubuntu.How can I get free instructions about office in Ubuntu.
Thanks for producing
@jd:hey dhakkan use Wine Windows emulator for running windows apps(winehq.org)