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201 Comments
- r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -11/+126To be honest, it's not that different from running windows. The only difference is you don't have to go to the trouble of cracking everything. After a while you adjust, and it's really not a big deal.
- tmahmood, on 10/12/2007, -12/+86I'm using Ubuntu 24/7 for 1yr now... and loving it. Had Few frustrating moments, but still better then Windows.
- tmurphy, on 10/12/2007, -9/+67@ rockyrowks: "Hey, he has a wife and kids..........i'm sure he gets more than you"
. . . you've obviously never been married. - ExSlashdotter, on 10/12/2007, -3/+60@roostus
Isn't that the truth?
I work for a company that happens to be about 80% mac, and its so annoying to have new people get hired and go "oh my god, freakin mac... what is this?". For gods sake, you still have your office suite, a web browser, and everything else. From files and folders to even your 'save as' window, it all works the same.
Seriously, fanboys aside, every OS is really similar when you get down to it. Windows, Linux, or Mac. - schestowitz, on 10/12/2007, -11/+63> What it's really like to use Linux 24/7/365
Tiring? :-)
Actually, I found it more difficult when I had 1 of 3 computers still running Windows 98. The computers wouldn't 'talk'. Going 100% Open Source made things much easier. The attempt to /mix/ sometimes seems more detrimental than helpful. - Tyr7BE, on 10/12/2007, -5/+56What kind of girls are you bringing home that see the operating system on your computer and immediately turn around and leave? I dunno about you, but for me they don't really give a crap what's running on my media PC.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -11/+60Hey, he has a wife and kids..........i'm sure he gets more than you
- KennMac, on 10/12/2007, -16/+64"Atleast in linux if an app crashes it doesn't bring down the whole system, and I can still go about my business."
I'm as much as a Linux advocate as the next guy... but people use this argument so often in these topics. I cannot remember the last time any application has caused my XP box to crash or reboot. Maybe once, a loooong time ago. But is this really happening so often that it comes up during every Linux vs. Windows topic? - Eclipse19, on 10/12/2007, -6/+47Been 100% for 1 year and dual boot 3 years before that. Honestly, with Ubuntu and FC5+ installation was so easy on my laptop alot of the problems I had previously were gone. Everything just........ worked.
Most "inconveniences" with linux are actually more like adjustments. Sure installation of some applications by source is rather tedious sometimes, but turning it around......... there is no one place to go for Windows apps. You can't type "wum world-conquer-app world-conquer-app-devel" (maybe you can but it won't work). So for the most part, it is easier to install a linux program than a Windows app.
Ahh the possibilities of the open source community.
[preaching relavance="20%"]
It's funny how the open source community is so nice but the digg community is full of *****. You'd think that they would be very simialar.
[/preaching] - DarkStalker, on 10/12/2007, -6/+34Going on 7 years here. Best decision I've ever made.
- aliendisaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+29I switched to Ubuntu about 6 months ago when windows finally died on me (I caught a virus). The only problem I ever had was setting up mplayer with Firefox. After I figured that out (or I should say, after I decided to read the instructions fully), I haven't had any problems since.
- Yoshi39, on 10/12/2007, -0/+24Down after 28 diggs :)
http://www.duggmirror.com - flazz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+24in a related article poster explains: "What its really like to not bend over and take it for 24/7/365."
Sorry, the site is overdugg, and I cant help myself.
Been switched over for about 5 years. You can pry my Gentoo out of my cold dead hands! - lucid270, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23I haven't had a crash on windows that'd require me to reboot in a *long* time. What Windows XP does do horribly though is take forever to kill an application which has crashed. Getting to the task manager to take out the application/process can take like 5 minutes. Come on windows, you're the OS for a desktop system, *my* input matters most... not throughput.
Also, why does it take another 5 mins to actually kill the app? Remove any system locks it had, unschedule it, wipe its VM space... whats so hard? - shakin, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21Switching to Linux was much easier for me than using Windows is now. For general usage Linux retains most major Windows UI elements such as keyboard shortcuts and using the mouse. However, Linux window managers also tend to add a lot more and when you start using those extra features it makes trying to work without those feature in Windows very frustrating.
For example, when I move a window in Linux I hold the alt key with my left hand and then drag it with the mouse. While holding the alt key I can grab the window anywhere rather than just on the titlebar. In Windows holding alt doesn't let you move the window.
KDE for Linux also had global mouse gestures that work with all KDE apps. I find it very difficult to use the Windows Explorer file manager because I keep trying to use gestures to do things.
It's funny that non-Linux users often criticize Linux's UI and yet I think it's one of Linux's best advantages over any other OS. - amoore260, on 10/12/2007, -5/+24Why use Windows when Linux gives you the whole house.
- VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -4/+23@DWhitaker
The reason for all the bile directed at MS? Because for many of us they've caused a great deal of personal loss and stress. The reason that someone like Google doesn't get the same treatment is that they haven't yet destroyed something that belongs to the "little guy". Since I've interacted with MS, they've caused a lot of data loss both on my own machines as well as hosted services like Hotmail (when they took over). They've also inconvenienced me in favor of business interests and profit instead of making things right for me personally. The Linux world allows me to take over things more than MS Windows allows. So if something fall apart it's my own fault. Either for not knowing the ramifications of what I was doing, or for just plain mistakes. I've never once had a stable Linux based project cause data loss without some kind of warning from the developers. In the MS world you don't have that. You don't interact with the developers when you're doing something experimental. In many cases you can't even try to experiment since there's no source code available.
Now that Google is offering various hosting services. There is potential for data loss. However, I think that unlike MS, they will actually recover data for you instead of saying, "tough luck". I can't guarantee that. But if they take MS's approach of treating their customers like *****, they'll get just as much negative press and commentary. In general, that's the major difference. MS treats its customers and their data like complete *****. Google respects their users even if they aren't paying customers. If MS really wants people to get warm and fuzzy about them, they could drop their exhorbitant prices, open themselves up to their customers more, and treat EVERY customer no matter how small like a king or queen. That would go a long way to improving their standing with smart people. - VinceNoir, on 10/12/2007, -2/+21@exslashdotter
You're exactly right. The main hindrance most Windows users have in moving to another platform is that they only learn "the Microsoft way" of doing things. They only learn the application menus and options without actually knowing what they really mean. And that's in a best case scenario. The worst case scenario is that they didn't even bother to learn much other than how to "click the X to close the window" or "press the floppy icon thingy in Word to save a file". If people were taught the concepts behind the application and actually knew what they meant, then they'd easily be able to shift from one application to another. - Linkin4, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20I dunno man, girls really warm up to that penguin...
- Elias1, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18The entire article:
Just over a year ago, I made the decision to dual boot my laptop (which is also my primary computer) with Ubuntu and Windows XP. I’ve spent the majority of that time in my Linux partition and I haven’t actually booted into Windows in over a month now.
I spend, on average, about eight or nine hours of the day on my computer between work (I’m an IT professional), play and running this website.
So what’s it really like to use Linux every day all day? Here are some thoughts, in no particular order.
0. You get to have a mascot that’s a penguin. Maybe this isn’t a selling point for you, but it sure makes my daughter happy.
1. Say goodbye to the crash. Computer crashes are a thing of the past for me. This is a laptop so it gets booted up and shut down at least once a day. Having said that, I’ve yet to have a serious crash on my system. Once in a while some weird behavior may cause a program to freeze or crash but I’ve always been able to close it down and restart it without resorting to restarting my entire machine.
2. I love being on a machine with a built in terminal. My job requires me to ssh into various servers and workstations many times a day. I simply click on the terminal shortcut, type the alias for the computer I want to be in and blammo - I’m there. It may seem a little nit-picky to blast windows for no native terminal, but when you have to start up a program, load a connection profile, click another button and then log in to another machine 30 times a day it gets frustrating.
3. I have to say goodbye to Exchange. There are some folks around me who use Exchange servers for email, calendaring, and whatnot. Not me. It’s not a big deal for me, and I chose to say goodbye to that world. Yes there are native Linux solutions that jive (or somewhat jive) with Exchange but none of them work as well as Outlook does, plain and simple. If you’re going to move to Linux, be prepared to lose Exchange functionality.
3. Gaming just isn’t the same. I used to be a pretty hard core gamer. Then my gaming started falling of as I acquired a decent job, a wonderful wife and an amazing kid. I do still like the occasional game but I don’t spend hours and hours in front my CRT anymore. If you’re going to switch to Linux, you can say goodbye to high end gaming with ease. Sure there are games that run, some without a ton of futzing about but you’re not going to get the ease of use and massive selection you will with Windows. There are a few FPS titles available, and some really interesting native games, but if you’re going for a new game every week, you can forget it.
4. My productivity went way up. I don’t know if this is tied in with #3 or not but I’m much more productive in Linux than I ever was in Windows. There’s a huge range of tools I can use to get stuff done, from building a web page to writing a document. The indexed search functionality that’s touted in Vista has been available to me for the entire time I’ve been using Linux. I find myself more able to buckle down and get things done without annoying distractions. If I do find an annoying distraction I have the power to easily remove it.
5. My computer is exactly the way I want it to be but it’s taken me time to get there. You can’t expect to switch operating systems and have a nice place to be in a day or two. It took a bit of work and a lot of looking around for me to have my computer set up exactly the way I want it. That being the case, my computer is *exactly* the way I want it! No frivolous sounds, no extraneous graphics unless I want extraneous graphics, no resource consuming background processes, no viruses, lots of desktop backgrounds that switch when I want them to, plenty of flexibility and everything right where I want it. Music, movies, and websites behave as they should. If you want your system to be like this, be prepared to do a bunch of reading and learning, as you would have to with any new OS. I guarantee you this however, you will never have felt more in control of your computer than you do now.
6. Once you know more about Linux, expect to break your machine if you’re foolin’ around. I like to poke about and see what’s what. Occasionally I’ll do something silly or just plain stupid and cause my computer to hate me. Fortunately I’m able enough after a year of use to get around quite well and I’ve not yet met a mistake I couldn’t fix with a little head scratching and forum reading. If you’re going to go in for real customization, expect some failures as you poke and prod.
7. Don’t expect Linux to behave like Windows or OSX. That’s the biggest mistake I see people make. It’s not the same OS and it won’t work exactly like the others. As soon as you can get your mind around that and start viewing this as something different, you’ll be on much better footing. - Homunculiheaded, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21I agree that stability is not the best reason to choose linux over windows, although I do feel for me there is definitely an improvement, Windows certainly isn't as horrible as it was years back.
My favorite frustration when ever I have to get on a new Windows machine is that I forget Windows default setting is "treat user like an ignorant child". "Are you really sure you want so see the system files, you're probably too dumb to not completey screw everything up even if you just look at them." Windows is always trying to make things 'easier' but by 'easier' them mean "treat you like an idiot".
that probably isn't the top reason to swith either, but it's the one that always reminds me of what I hate about Windows - Tyr7BE, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Same here. I started in 2000 and never looked back. I have an iBook, linux box, and windows at work. I definitely enjoy my Linux box the most. Looks the nicest, does what I need it to do, and is by far the easiest to maintain.
- inkyblue2, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17sheesh, you guys aren't trying very hard. i was wearing a flat spot in my reset button back when i was debugging mixed managed/unmanaged code in visual studio. :)
to be fair, XP and 2000 are pretty stable during "normal" use. the biggest problem with windows is that windows app developers have a lot more liberal attitude about taking over your desktop space, using up your ram, randomly pegging your cpu, leaving processes hanging around, and making changes to the filesystem in a hundred weird places. - DigitalJester, on 10/12/2007, -7/+23I got in one word. Great.
- 350Zed, on 10/12/2007, -6/+22@XVampireX: You're not smart.
- zoroko, on 10/12/2007, -19/+35"What it's really like to use Linux 24/7/365"
A really good f***king idea... I made the full time switch a little over a year ago. Now I cringe whenever I am forced to use windows, because something always goes wrong. Atleast in linux if an app crashes it doesn't bring down the whole system, and I can still go about my business. - sirhomer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16Dual boot Ubuntu and Windows as well. But Windows is ugly (I like Gnome look and feel) so I only use it to play Oblivion.
- hockey, on 10/12/2007, -8/+24@tmurphy
Statistically speaking married people have sex more often than single people. The perception which says otherwise is false. - Homunculiheaded, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17I think the main sentiment behind promoting linux is that the more attention linux gets the better all operating systems will become. Imagine if even 20% of the population used linux, another 20% OSX, Microsoft would have to make a serious effort to keep their OS viable. Look at how much linux OSes and OSX have evolved in the past 5 years, they're really making imporvements fast, because they have to in order to succeed and complete with something that has around 90% market share.
You can't blame MS for making so-so products because they have no real incentive to do better, if Vista was the best operating system ever maybe they grab an extra 2% of the market and if it was the worst ever maybe they'd start to loss market share. But as it stands their best bet is simply to make a medicore product and continue with the status quo. - KDX200rider, on 10/12/2007, -8/+23@marvin69
Just to be clear, here on Digg, getting laid can mean masturbating to porn on your computer in your parents basement. - deadlikeoscar, on 10/12/2007, -5/+20Yeah, you guys are right that Windows doesn't just lock up when an app crashes anymore.(or very rarely) But when an app crashes that you NEED to use and it was the only reason you had the box on in the first place what then? Like everyone else, you terminate the program and that usually works. Sometimes, however, you realize that Task Manager apparently didn't get the memo that when you want to shutdown a non-responsive program it should...I don't know...shutdown? In these situations you end up rebooting anyway and Windows might as well of crashed. At least Linux will kill the program for you 100% of the time.
- raynar, on 10/12/2007, -6/+20Well yea, thats what you get for running Windows 98. Apples and oranges.
- r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Yup, alt + cntrl + f1 and kill -9 is far superior to taskmgr.
- turbod33, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13How about www.ubuntuforums.org ?
Wine has come a long way:
WoW:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WorldofWarcraft
Steam:
http://www.linux-gamers.net/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=HOWTO+Steam&back=HOWTO+INDEX+Wine+Games
*Note, I got wow running, I haven't tried steam. Ive only been on Ubuntu for a week now. I love it. Its a challenge learning something new, but not an impossible challenge. - Yorn, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1811-25-2006
9:04am: Installed Linux, decided on Ubuntu Edgy Eft.
9:45am: Install didn't take too long and all my devices showed up! Looking good. Configuring user interface.
10:07am: Done, ok, now let's install and play BF 2142.
12-2-2006
4:40pm: Screw it, still can't get it. Install Windows. - dmsean, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12my bed runs linux. only kernel 2.4 was compatible so it's just a single, not a twin size.
- archiesteel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12To counterbalance the massive amount of FUD coming out of Microsoft, which has multi-million marketing campaigns (and an army of online shills) to convince people not to even try Linux. If MS played nice, people wouldn't feel like countering their lies.
- xnacoder, on 10/12/2007, -7/+18Nothing against linux, but I've got no problems with windows. There really is very little wrong with it - it's stable (I haven't had to reboot because of a crash in.. forever?), very easy to install stuff on, and if you know how to edit the registry, easy to maintain. Of course maintenance is still its weak point, but my xp install still boots up as fast as almost any linux os after having windows on it for a good year.
That said, I still triple boot vista/xp/linux since im a... i don't know what you would call it. Once you get past their respective learning curves, they are all pretty much the same damn thing. - adz999, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12wait -24/7/365 - you use Linux while you sleep? skills!
- thirtysixbelow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+10Dugg for using the word blammo
- morguth, on 10/12/2007, -11/+21"Atleast in linux if an app crashes it doesn't bring down the whole system, and I can still go about my business"
Last I checked (since Win2k, at least), Windows does the same thing...
*edit* Of course, beaten to the punch. - CurtHowland, on 10/12/2007, -6/+16@ iceperson,
"When will linux allow you to copy tables and such between different applications?"
Which has absolutely _nothing_ to do with the operating system.
That is an application issue.
Try to copy a table from Excel into Notepad. Woops, both are running on Windows, and it doesn't work. - GabrielS, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Did this office not use any kind of proprietary application at all?
That's always the stumbling block when I propose switching to Linux workstations. Every office has some database they use for tracking vitals. It has some 5 year old interface designed from scratch. In order to bring the database over to a Linux client I have to do major surgery on the database and it's something the client doesn't want to change. - Homunculiheaded, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Why not have a house with windows? I love linux and use it as my main OS, but there are a few instances where Windows does better (games). I don't use linux out of principal, or simply because I like OSS, I use it because it is a superior OS. I dual boot and give Windows just enough space on my drive to let it act like a video game console.
People get overly caught up in the philosophical differences between Windows and Linux, but Windows isn't actually evil, it's just not that great of an OS. Linux will never gain market share if it's only claim is to being philosophically superior. I use ubuntu and, except for games, there's nothing it doesn't do better than Windows. So, except when gaming, I have no reason to use Windows. - archiesteel, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12"And yes, butt-wipes, I use Linux at home."
Are you saying this just to give yourself credibility? Because, you know, it's not working. Personally, I don't believe you do run Linux. I believe you only claim this as a weak "shut up" tactic.
I use both Linux and Windows, and I don't mind these articles. - jon3k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Where's the part where he gives advice?
- knoit911, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12i did due to digg and their posts...
- Tweakedenigma, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Man I can tell you a lot. Almost everyday I have to remove a bunch of Viri from peoples computers everday at work.
- disposition0010, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Duggmirror isn't even bringing it up. dugg just for the simple fact that I use linux only.
- macewan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7What's it like?
It just works. You may want to reboot your computer once a year just to see the boot screen picture ;-) -
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