Richard S. Corbin asked:




Is it worth changing to a Linux operating system for your computer? Computers have advanced tremendously over the last 10 years. Advancements in video and audio have settled into a great area of good pricing and amazing capabilities. Graphics has jumped into the future with HD/TV adapters and monitors are starting to replace televisions!

However, all this is a waste if your operating system can’t keep up or is plagued with problems and controversy. Up until recent years Windows has been the dominant player in this field. Always in the background though, has been Linux. Growing and advancing and becoming user friendly. Some major companies and governments have taken notice of the stability and the cost effectiveness of Linux and so should we. Lets look at some Pros and Cons.

Pros:

Its free. Download it from the internet. Its powerful. Performs and out performs Windows in many ways. Its stable. Doesn’t freeze or crash. Tons of free software. There are over 20,000 free downloads of software available and increasing everyday. Upgrades and new releases are also free, and come out every 6 months. No security or virus software needed. By the time a hacker had figured out how to attack one version, a new version is released. So it’s just not worth it. Incredible free support. There are so many people involved with Linux worldwide that you can virtually get questions answered anytime!

Cons:
A little more work to run. Linux is more ” hands on” in nature. Meaning your more involved in how it runs when setting it up. Not what your use to. There is a learning curve with Linux that takes some getting use to for those who were brought up on a different system Requires out of the box thinking. Not everything is done for you and as a result you may be called on to make some decisions. This is minor but can be intimidating to people use to the total automation of other systems. It’s not Windows. In most ways, it is nothing like Windows. Different look and feel. Have to use an extra installed program to run Windows programs. A program called WINE is used to run windows based software if you can’t find a Linux alternative to a favorite program.

I personally feel that there are many more good reasons to try Linux and see if it fits into your computing lifestyle than there are bad reasons. You can even load it onto your Windows system and have both running side by side so you can compare. Above all for me, its fun and cutting edge.

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