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Why I stopped using Microsoft products


markc7
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I changed over to Ubuntu Linux a couple months ago and I'm never going back to MS. I should have done this years ago, but this year I really had no choice; the prospect of getting a laptop with Vista was just not an option. Learning a new operating system isn't always easy, but neither is putting up with all the crap on windows (especially Vista). Here is a link to a story about a rather unlikely person complaining about the Windows user experience.

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I know how to use Windows and all that stuff.. Used it for years.

 

But now I have a Mac and use Safari and even though this computer is older than my mom's.. It totally pwns her computer!

 

No viruses, no files scattered everywhere to be defragged, no trouble finding stuff.

 

I <3 MY MAC IT MAKES ME SO LAZY!!!

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Vista is literally unfinished, a disaster waiting to happen for anyone buying a computer with it on it.

 

I've been using Linux for 8 years. Ubuntu is the most polished distro yet and it is free.

Here is a Windows => Ubuntu migration guide. I know there are other sites and even books on the subject. Just google. Any intelligent person who doesn't get scared at learning a new system can do Ubuntu.

 

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows

 

If not they can go Mac for a little bit less effort and a few more nice things. There are also web sites and books from going to the Mac from Windows

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The coolest thing about Ubuntu (IMHO) is that you can download a free cd of the operating system, throw it into your cd drive, and run the operating system directly from the CD. So if you have any doubts or concerns about switching to Linux, you can try it out without even having to install it! How cool is that? Sure beats buying Vista preloaded then spending hours downgrading it to XP.

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The coolest thing about Ubuntu (IMHO) is that you can download a free cd of the operating system, throw it into your cd drive, and run the operating system directly from the CD. So if you have any doubts or concerns about switching to Linux, you can try it out without even having to install it! How cool is that? Sure beats buying Vista preloaded then spending hours downgrading it to XP.

 

That also makes it easy to shop for a compatible lap top. Just pop the CD into a floor model and see if it works.

 

Ubuntu also has an automatic update. If you have a high speed connection it just downloads and installs new versions of itself. You never have to move your data or redo your preferences again.

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I really like ubuntu. I used to have gentoo, but these days I'm too lazy to fiddle around much. Ubuntu works excellently and everything i easy !

 

Yep, you never have to futz with the same thing you futzed with before, ever again.

 

That is the reason why some uber geeks have gone Mac. So they only have to futz with what they want to futz.

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Microsofts server apps are working well. I adminstrate (with others) a Microsoft enterprise environment (AD, isa, exchange, iis, sharepoint, etc) and it is working more or less flawlessly and is pretty simple to manage.

Vista sucks though.

One of the departments has mostly macs and we are currently working on incorporating them in the AD. It's interesting. One would think that the two biggest makers of OS's would cooperate better....

 

I have two macs at home, one for os x and one (mostly) for WinXP.

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Ubuntu also has an automatic update. If you have a high speed connection it just downloads and installs new versions of itself. You never have to move your data or redo your preferences again.

 

Did you upgrade to Hardy as soon as it came out? I'm still using Gutsy for the time being, though I see the automatic update button and I'm probably going to upgrade very soon.

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Yes.

 

I have an external drive that Ubuntu automatically makes backups of my data too ( I've been burned in the past ).

 

In general, I play it safe by waiting a month after a new release comes out and waiting until the evening when incremental updates come out. That gives people a chance to scream and the developers to fix issues on the RARE occasion that they release something that is not ready.

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Vista:

 

1. Is slower than XP (duh)

2. Has some trouble with network transfers and file copying (MS, really, c'mon)

3. Is shiny (do we really need more Mac clones?)

4. Does everything any other OS can do.

 

Final Score (after using Home 32-bit on my lappy 11 months now): 7/10

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I don't mind Vista as much as I thought I would, but then again I bought it pre-installed on a new notebook, so 1) I had no choice, and 2) the machine's hardware was designed specifically to run it well. Some of the new user interface is a pain when you're used to XP.

 

The first thing I did after getting it home was install Ubuntu Linux and all of my notebook hardware was detected and works just fine on it too (I have a Toshiba Satellite). So now I have a dual-boot system - 2 OS partitions and 1 shared (NTFS) data partition, where all my files are. I run Firefox and Thunderbird on both OSes and they can share the one profile on my data drive. Likewise with OpenOffice - works the same on both OSes and will load most MS Office documents.

 

I work in multimedia and real-time 3D development. If I didn't already own Windows versions of 3ds max, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Dreamweaver etc, I would happily swap completely to a Ubuntu Linux work environment as there are now viable alternatives on that platform (Blender, The Gimp, Inkscape etc). I think that anyone starting such a business today would be crazy to outlay tens of thousands of dollars on commercial software when the Linux alternatives are just as feature-packed and professional in their output ... for free! Of course software pirates will always make up some excuse for stealing expensive software like 3ds max instead of paying for it or using the free alternatives, like "3ds max is the defacto industry standard. I need to know it to get a job." but that's just BS. Employers hire creative talent, often regardless of the "brushes" you use.

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I had Windows desktops and laptops for years, and started dual-booting Windows and Linux around 6 years ago (Red Hat was the first of many distros I tried out). What a breath of fresh air! There were still a few things I wanted to do but couldn't in Linux--for example, I play chess and the strongest computer programs only run on Windows unless you want to fool around with WINE--so I usually kept a copy of XP on my machines. But on a day-to-day basis I became a Linux user, mostly Ubuntu the last couple of years. Linux has a bit of a learning curve, but it's well worth it to do away with the viruses, crashes, and generally unfriendly user experience that Windows entails.

 

Currently I have an iBook G4 laptop, and aside from not having enough memory for some applications to run as fast as I'd like, I love it. OSX is a great operating system, with a Unix-ish core like Linux and the best graphical user interface I've seen--and, like Linux, rock-solid stability and essentially zero chance of viruses. I have no desire whatsoever to ever use Windows again, although I have to at one of my workplaces (the other workplace is home! ).

 

I'd probably still be using Ubuntu most of the time, as it's on my Mac along with OSX, but unfortunately I've never been able to get my wireless card to work with Ubuntu. After several days of trying about everything to get it to work a few months ago, I gave up. Not worth it to waste time trying to get Airport to work with Linux when I'm pretty happy with OSX. Unfortunately, the downside of Linux is that there are still some things (e.g., the brand of wireless cards they put in Macs) that don't "just work" right out of the box or just don't at all, but those are fewer as time goes by. I'm sure I'll come back to Linux eventually, as the idea of a fully open-source system and the infinite control the Linux OS gives users is very appealing.

 

Jeff

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I work in multimedia and real-time 3D development. If I didn't already own Windows versions of 3ds max, Photoshop, Illustrator, Fireworks, Dreamweaver etc, I would happily swap completely to a Ubuntu Linux work environment as there are now viable alternatives on that platform (Blender, The Gimp, Inkscape etc)

 

What do you use for a Dreamweaver replacement on Linux? The only WYSIWYG editor I have found is NVU ( the old netscape/mozilla web page editor sawed off into a standalone open source project ) which is nice, but I don't think it would make people used to Dreamweaver happy. What do Blender and Inkscape do?

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What do you use for a Dreamweaver replacement on Linux? The only WYSIWYG editor I have found is NVU ( the old netscape/mozilla web page editor sawed off into a standalone open source project ) which is nice, but I don't think it would make people used to Dreamweaver happy. What do Blender and Inkscape do?

 

To de honest, even owning Dreamweaver I still mainly use the code view rather than the WYSIWYG design view, so in that respect there are plenty of great code editors for Linux. I haven't really looked for WYSIWYG editors. A quick google search turned up Bluefish, Quanta Plus, Aptana Studio and NVU / KompoZer as promising alternatives.

 

Blender is a free, open-source 3D modelling, animation and rendering package for making cinema, TV and games that competes with 3ds max, Maya, Soft Image XSI etc. Some would say it's not as good as the commercial packages, but as a 3ds max owner I personally disagree. The user interface is a little quirky and takes some getting used to. It's available for many platforms (Win, Mac, Linux etc) - www.blender.org

 

Inkscape is a free, open-source vector drawing package like Adobe Illustrator available for Win, Mac and Linux - www.inkscape.org

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Inkscape is a free, open-source vector drawing package like Adobe Illustrator available for Win, Mac and Linux - www.inkscape.org

 

Hey, can I ask you something about Inkscape? I have some files in .plt format, but they won't open in Inkscape. I know that it can handle .hpgl plot files, which these are, but maybe I'm missing a plug-in or something? They open just fine in Corel Draw, but I've only got that running on a craptastic computer in the lab. If I could work on my graphs in Inkscape, I would save tons of time. Any thoughts?

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  • 14 years later...

There are so many problems that are associated with Microsoft products.
If you have problems with their products, you can fix them. If an Office application, such as Word or Excel, is not working properly, sometimes restarting it is enough to fix the problem. If that doesn't work, try restoring the application. You may need to restart your computer when you are finished.
But it's better for me to start using WPS Office.
It's a lightweight, feature-rich, comprehensive office suite with high compatibility. As a convenient and professional office software,
WPS Office allows you to edit files of different types and formats.
Good luck to you!

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  • 8 months later...

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