I did and have never looked back. Just because something is free, doesn't mean it isn't valuable.

good for you. For the rest of us, we'll use a real operating system. You know, one that actually has useful applications.

Ubuntu has firefox, openoffice, tons of options for media players, and far better coding utilities than Windows or Mac. There are some kinks, but I wouldn't say that it is anything near useless. I can do everything I would need to in an office with Ubuntu. As a matter of fact, as a classroom teacher, I had an Ubuntu box that the sysad helped me build last year and I used it to run a complete set of applications. It even ran our student information system. Too bad I'm no longer working at that school, now I'm stuck with locked down windoze boxes that take forever just to boot up and can't do anything because they are so vulnerable to internet nasties that they sysad out here can't trust mere mortals to operate them.

openoffice == crappier version of MS office from 10 years ago. Media players? Like what exactly? I've always had trouble playing back files on linux, even with major file formats. far better coding utilities (I assume you mean programming?) You're going to have to be more specific, but as a short answer, you are wrong about that one as well. Programming utilities are basically the same on linux and mac, and if you think eclipse ide even remotely compares to MS Visual Studio, well then, I don't know what to say to you. But hey, If you enjoy 5 year behind the times drivers, a painful to use OS, and a way outdated GUI, then have fun with your toy OS.

"far better coding utilities than Windows or Mac"

And no-fuckin'-body to write good apps with that.

Please remind me again of some Linux killer-app, you know, an actual one, such as Final Cut Pro or Photoshop or even fuckin' Office.

Audacity, GIMP, OpenOffice.org and their like do not count. I mean real, professional software that is an industry standard (a real mainstream industry).

I love Linux. For servers. I understand the reaction from Linux advocates- they want to promote the product. And in certain instances it is perfect. My users don't know what is serving them files, or databases, or webpages. Don't know, wouldn't careif they did know.

Microsoft, for all its flaws, gives the people what they want. It's a shame that they want a dumbed down, "are you sure", bright and shiny. But they do. The proof of that is in Ubuntu itself. Compiz fusion, anyone? Ubuntu's attempt to put more visual flash into their system is in direct response to Windows.

Ubuntu just ain't ready.I'd like it to be, but it isn't.

I've tried Ubuntu and liked it okay. But there are a few key features that keep me from using it, or any linux-based system, as my full-time OS. I use an iphone, and last time I checked there was no linux version of iTunes, (and no, I wasn't able to run it in Wine, either). So I can't sync my phone, which is a dealbreaker right there. And even if I could, I'm not aware of any linux-based alternative to Outlook that would allow me to sync up my calendar, contacts, and notes. Not to mention that Office has a couple of features I use that Open Office lacks. So it worked okay on a desktop for my 4 year old, but it's still not ready to replace Windows on my work computer.

My path has been to stay on windows but go to open source applications.

• Audacity is my sound editor.
• Open Office is my word processing program. As of 3.1 this really shines. Even some of my non-techy friends are starting to use it. However, if Word were $50, they would not.
  
• VLN is my video player
• Azureus is my torrent program
• Cdisplay is my comic reader
• Avant and AVG are my virus scanners
• Firefox is my browser (with noscript, adaware, and the video capturing helper) and radio station player.
• GIMP is my graphical editing program.

The main commercial software I own is Dragon Dictate. But... I lost the disk and now can't reinstall it (for months). I went back to buy another copy and they'd raised the price 50% which was irritating. But there isn't a good voice recognition program yet. So for now I make due and rub my wrists or bring up my laptop which still has a good installation (yup. I bought two copies of it-- my wrists & forearms were that bad at one point but massage and curls with 20lb dumbells have helped a lot)

---

When I go to UBUNTU or another version of Linux, it will mostly be an afterthought. For now, I've experimented with the LiveCD's (which some banking people are now recommending to avoid getting your identity rippped off).

Reading some of the other comments on Openoffice prompts me to say more about that.

1) There is a learning curve... about 8 hours now compared to Word2007 which took me several months to recover productivity.

2) It lacks "sharing" capabilities. Which no one at my fortune 500 company can figure out how to use (we have share point, there is no parallel editing-- you get it, put it back, then they get it and put it back-- really no damn difference with keeping a copy on the network drive and MUCH harder to find things because sharepoint search doesn't seem to be connected to content in a meaningful way).

3) Some features (picture handling, command arrangement) are very nice and I miss them when I have to work in word. word responded with the ribbons but they were very confusing, even with a book. It took me several months to find the last feature that was easy to use in word.

4) efficient... my documents are about 1mb under office and the same document is 2.5mb in the latest word and 1.9mb in word 2003.

5) I *still* have used openoffice to fix word documents which get so screwed up that word will no longer edit them (what is so hard about recognizing the section information is screwed up and tossing it? Anyway.. the fix is-- read it into open office and save it. You lose some data but the document is 99% the same and now works). On a related note, I had several documents that would no longer print in Office 2007. They would print between 3 and 12 pages and then hang. When I loaded them into OpenOffice, the *very clean* UI showed me the problem was overlapping graphics and tables. Word was hiding that from me.

Free and only getting better. 3.2 will be out soon.

However, openoffice is NOT WORD. And microsoft does what they can to keep word from being readable. OpenXML was a joke. You can't easily trade complex documents back and forth between word and open office. I had tried to take my own documents (60 to 99 pages with 200-300 graphics and tables) to openoffice in 1.04, 2.0x, and 3.0 and failed.

But as of 3.1, it only took about 2 hours per document to get them over, get them fully native. I was mainly pushed because word2007 couldn't print documents IN WORD format. I can't tell you how irritating that was. They printed fine in word2003 but failed in 2007. Now all of them are in openoffice. They have every feature plus now I can do some things that I never found a way to do in word.

Another driver to openoffice was the fact that microsoft openly intends to go to a subscription approach with full locking. If i don't use them and pay them rent, I can't access my own data.

No thanks.

I understand GIMP is used professionally in many graphics houses. Often in preference to photoshop too.

Other "real professional Linux software": GCC, GDB etc etc. I and many others in many companies I have worked for use those tools professionally to write system control software for embedded applications like avionics systems, car computer software, etc, etc. that people trust their lives to every day. Chances are if you've ever been in a Boeing or Airbus aircraft you've already trusted your life to our (linux-based) software too. Think about that next time you're up in a plane.

By the way, the Linux operating system has already been flight-certified but The FAA and EASA won't ever allow Windows anywhere near any even slightly critical avionics system though. Does that tell you anything about how technically good and robust Linux is compared to Windows?

JustNeil:

Does that tell you anything about how technically good and robust Linux is compared to Windows?

Sure. It confirms what most people already know. Linux is great in those type of applications, but lousy for desktop use. Windows is great for desktop use, but lousy for those type of applications.