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If you are like me, you probably use Windows on a daily basis. You have it installed at home, probably at work, and have learned to just live with all the bugs and reboots that accompany it. Finally, after years of dealing with Windows as the only viable solution out there, we have options. In this article we will explore a couple of those options.

If you have older hardware that you may be happy with, or if you just purchased a new PC, you can try Linux. There are several distributions out there, and they’re all good. If you are new to it, I’d recommend Ubuntu Linux. It’s not only free, but is really easy to install and has a live demo. Just download the CD image, burn it to CD and reboot. It will let you take it for a test drive so you can see how you like it. Fedora is also free and has a live demo. Follow the same steps to use this one as well. Fedora is based on RedHat and is a little more technical than Ubuntu. If you are new to Linux, stick with Ubuntu. If you are more experienced, use Fedora.

There are apps that can replace most of your current Windows apps that run on Linux as well. Open Office can be used in place of Microsoft Office. It doesn’t have ALL the bells and whistles, but I bet you it has everything you use, unless you are a real power user. The one area Open Office is lagging is in the lack of a mail client, but don’t worry, Evolution (part of the gnome desktop) is usually included and is free. Quicken does have a hand up in the financial software, but gnucash is catching up quickly. It will not print checks, but has all the basic functionality most people use.

Of course, there are areas in which Linux doesn’t do as well also. For example, your iPod will not work with it, at least not out of the box like it will with Windows. In fact, most mp3 players won’t work with Linux yet, or at least that has been my experience. Games on Linux is another area in which Linux is lacking. But, if you are like me, you quit playing games on a PC years ago in favor of the more apt PlayStations and Xboxes.

Now, if you are looking for new hardware, and wondering if you want Windows, go check out the new Macs. They have a user interface that is almost ridiculous because of its ease of use, and they have great support for all the goodies you most likely already have. Things just work out of the box and you have few problems with them.

James has been a professional software developer of approximately 10 years and has been in the IT industry for over 15 years. He maintains blogs on maintaining Windows as well as migrating to Linux

Author: James Cary
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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