To Eddie - Have you tried Audacity? Pretty amazing program. They have windows and linux versions. All free.

I can’t say for sure about Macs, but with Linux, at least I know that, when a critical hole is discovered, it will be fixed in hours to, at worst, a day or two, instead of having to wait until the first of the month to get a critical patch. XP is in no way, shape or form a highly secure OS, and even if Windows were as secure as Linux, the fact that MS tends to wait until the first Tuesday (I think it’s Tuesday) of each month to release patches, compared to Linux OS’s fixing in hours or days, makes Windows less secure anyway.

So even if XP were equal to the security of Linux, the fact that you have to wait so long for patches, and depend on third-party patches, makes Windows less secure.

-Matt

I wonder about Zotok’s comments. He seems to think installing XP is a one-time event, which isn’t even close to true. Windows, for whatever reason, becomes increasingly corrupted or sluggish and ultimately needs to be reinstalled. I haven’t yet been able to go a year without having to reinstall Windows from scratch, because of this tendency. I’m told this has something to do with the registry, and that there are tools that can help. Maybe so - but unless you’re willing to find the right tools, you’ll need to reinstall.

Installing Windows is *not* simple. It is awkward, requires you to enter the activation code, requires you to connect, and it stops during the process to ask for responses from you. You can’t just let it run and forget about it - you have to babysit.

Then, before you dare connect to the internet, you need to somehow protect your computer from the various viruses and worms out there.

When I finished installing Windows, I had little more than a text processing program, a browser, and an e-mail client.

In order to make the computer useful, you need to install more software - maybe Open Office, or maybe Word. Either you have to track down the various programs on the Internet, download them, and install them - or else, you have to use Microsoft’s products, pay for them, and repeatedly enter the activation code as you work your way through the suite of programs. That needs to figure in to the installation time, but is often overlooked.

With Ubuntu, I had to enter a few bits of information about my location and my video info (on a laptop - it didn’t understand that this was an LCD screen). Then, after less than an hour, I was up and running. No validation process, no activation codes, no hassles.

When I was done, I already had the Open Office suite (word processor, spreadsheet, database program, presentation manager, and something else I don’t recall right now), several browsers, e-mail programs, all manner of goodies. When I wanted to install other programs, then I just needed to use the installation option. In Ubuntu, “add and remove programs” actually lets you *add*, as well as remove, programs. Try that in Windows.

Many people claim that Linux has fewer viruses and malware because it has a much smaller number of users. This is only a minor consideration, and does not explain the lack of malware. The reason for so little malware is simply that Linux doesn’t permit a rogue program to do much of anything. Unless a person is running as root, the malware is limited to whatever damage it can do to the user’s file system, not the system’s. Losing all your data files is still a huge problem, but nowhere near as bad as getting your system files corrupted and possibly losing control of your computer.

Everything worked just fine with Ubuntu, with the exception of movie DVD’s. Big deal. For a few bucks - far less than what a legal copy of Windows would cost - I can buy a nice DVD player that will allow me to watch movies while keeping my computer free for important things like games and porn (or even actual work, if you’re into that sort of thing).

As for IE7 - I need to use it at work. It is *constantly* crashing. I don’t know why. Our computers are managed by a professional, so it’s not some configuration problem I created. Whatever the problem, it is rapidly working to convince the bosses to consider something else - Opera or Firefox, probably. IE7 is its own worst advertising.

Come to think of it, Microsoft is doing itself far more harm than good, with its fascist approach to controlling your own computer. Forget it. I don’t steal programs, and I don’t steal music. I will not cede control of my computer to some company whose main concern is that someone, somewhere, might make an illegal copy of something. Sure it happens, and it should not. But sine I don’t do this, I shouldn’t be punished or penalized for it, nor should my system run slower because some people misuse computers. That is not acceptable.

simple as that. ;D

even my mom loves it… and she’s 52 and so anti-tech you can ever imagine. she used to come screaming downstairs because her windows told her something she didn’t understand (”your computer in danger”, “you performed an illegal action” e.g.) … ever since i installed ubuntu though… i’d never heard her complain.
she even managed to plug her printer in and get working herself.

…sry. i was lying to you there… she doesn’t ‘love’ ubuntu.
she can ‘live’ with it.
she’s still skeptic about the ‘radioactive emitted waves’ and danger of a ‘meltdown’.
yes… i tried to explain, without luck

right off the bat, i want to mention when i use the term “Linux”, i am referring all most all Linux distros … “Linux”, in the purest sense, is ONLY the kernel itself. GNU/Linux is the kernel and the bundled GNU Utilities. the next level up is a distribution, such as Ubuntu or SUSE or Red Hat, and so on.

these distro vendors take GNU/Linux and add *applications* and other utilities to make the distro a useable and productive digital workplace. personally, SUSE is my distro of choice and has been for many many years. i’ve been using Linux since the first release of the first distro, Slackware.

first off, i’d like to say that most of the “6 reasons …” are what i will refer to as “lightweight” reasons for using Linux over WIndows, most especially when conveying how “Linux” is better than Windows.

i will agree with the “Licensing” and “spy/ad/ware/virus” reasons. much of the virus/etal problems relate to the fact that Windows is so pervasive, i.e. - it is a natural target, since so many machines will be infected.

and as pointed out previously, if Linux was as pervasive on the desktop as Windows, we’d see as many attacks on Linux.

i realize it was previously stated (i think it’s important to state it again) - Linux (or all Unices) is much more secure than Windows. an attack on a Windows system results in [possibly] global destruction of the system. with Linux, the destruction is localized to some user account.

unless of course, the user always runs as the root user. if that is the case, then yes, Linux will not be more secure than Windows.

i disagree with the Firefox reason - i’m not sure why that’s important. you can easily download the Windows version of the Firefox installer and have it installed on your Windows system without issue.

IE wont run on a Linux system (well, you can, but i wont get into that), so FIrefox is usually the default browser and is bundled with all the popular Linux distros.

the “simple installation process” can be argued. let’s see you [easily] install Slackware or Gentoo

i’ll mostly agree with the “everything you need” and “it works” reasons, although i do have a bit of an issue with “everything you need”.

for example, i’m a photographer and require top-notch software for post processing of images. for that, i use Lighroom, HyperUtility V3, and a couple of other products. unfortunately, these arent available for Linux. i use a MacBook Pro 17 for image processing, since all the photo oriented software houses also build versions for OSX.

(BTW, the core of OSx is BSD, a Unix variant, so dont razz me about using a Mac all my desktops and servers are Linux).

concerning my servers and desktops: i have been Windows free for years. i do use VMWare with eXPensive as a client app running under Linux (a slave to Linux :), since i do cross-platform testing for web development.

i have over 15 Linux distros installed on my main desktop box. i have that many installed mostly for testing and review. i will say i have never had any of the issues i’ve experienced with Windows.

at the top of my list is software installation. why do i have to reboot when i install user software on Windows? i can not fathom why M$ hasnt fixed this. with Linux or the Mac, i simply download the package, install it, then run it.

the ONLY TIME I HAVE TO REBOOT a Linux machine or Mac is when a new kernel is installed. and even if i install a hardware driver, i dont have to reboot the Linux system - i can dynamically load and unload hardware drivers.

stability and security hold the same place for me. my main Linux desktop has been running now for 3 months without a restart. i had to reboot 3 months ago since i upgraded the kernel. in the many years i’ve been running Linux, i’ve never had lost productivity because of a virus/spyware/etc.

there are so many other reasons i could list why Windows in inferior to Linux, but i wont bother - this list is easily found via a Google search.

as a consultant, i have hundreds++ of Linux installs, mostly corporate installs. these clients have had ZERO downtime. granted, there is a learning curve, but the productive state is quickly achieved.

and that’s my number one reason: productivity using Linux soars higher than can be achieved using a Windows system. Linux (or Unix in general) is highly pervasive, on the server side, in the corporate world. desktop Linux is also gaining ground in the corporate world.

and in time, we will probably the Linux desktop/Windows desktop use ratio balance out.

regards, michael …. author, “Inside Linux”

I should perhaps point out that Firefox isn’t the most valid of browsers, nor is it the most secure; but I do use it, mainly for the extensions, the community support and the fact that it’s open source. Simple. So for the same reasons as Joe states.

If you want better standards-compatibility, you use Opera or any KHTML-enabled browser (Safari, Konqueror).