Quote:
Originally Posted by lindsay ormerod
So if I follow your Ubuntu link and download the thing it will be a better option than my Windows xp that I have now? ( and it won't cost me owt?)
In basic English please.....  |
Its a 'different' option. It runs your computer just as windows does. Windows programs don't work(hence viruses etc being useless on it) in it but there is usually a free alternative or in the case of some programs a linux version. It was also designed to be secure from the ground up whereas Windows is insecure out teh box and then you have to start installing all these AV/firewalls/Spyware/adware/etcprograms
e.g.
Firefox/OPen Office, Opera, all have linux versions as well as Windows ones,
instead of Outlook there is Evolution which is a clone of it, GIMP is effectively Photoshop, Amarok is a superb MP3/iTunes replacement, Pidgeon is MSN/Yahoo etc al rolled into one.
Another thing is there is usually a choice in "Everything" to do with Linux. Even down the what we call the Window Manager. The two main fully featured ones are KDE and Gnome, KDE is more 'windows' like, Gnome is more MAC like in appearence. You choose which one you like best and can even switch between them as you see fit. There are others that have fewer bells and whistles that are made to work on low powered machines (IceWM, think anything from a pentium 166 with 128M RAM upwards yes, that 166mhz as opposed to your 2000Mhz machine!).
Linux is free to use as is pretty much all the software. You don't even have to mess about with CD's etc as all software is available online. you just say "install that that and that " and it goes and gets the latest version and installs it all for you, no more clicks or installers to mess with, choose this that or otherwise.
whats its downsides? untill the last couple of years you had to have a clue to install it and if all your hardware isn't supported it could be a pain to set up. That has changed dramatically this last 2-3 years. Unless you have absolutely bleeding edge hardware you should be fine. The beauty is of course you can "Try before you buy". in that you can actually run the whole OS from a CD without touching your Windows install(extremely useful in cases like Cherokee's where Windos is screwed, You can use it to rescue all that data because your not even trying to run Windows). If all your hardware is fine and you fancy giving it a go you can install it to the hard disk( takes about half a dozen clicks and ~ 30 mins all in IIRC). even now it doesn't remove or touch your Windows install. at startup you just get a menu saying do you want windows or linux today?
Better???? I certainly think so, Different - yes, Full of choice - yes, secure - yes, The Future? - who knows, its certainly not going to go away, Most web servers in the world run Apache(the web server software) on Linux.
hope that answers it, feel free to ask more if you like