OT: Desk Tops

[parabolize]

President_Elect_Shang said:
Who here is:

1. Using Linux?
2. Have you used Windows? If so why did you switch?
3. How much did it cost?
4. Can your PC talk to a Windows PC on the same network?

I ask because I have been wondering about switching my OS and I have other computers sharing the same network; the kids computers, but I need to stay connected to them. So far I have been with MS since the days of MS-DOS 3.something-er-other. Anyway I figure if I don't change soon I might as well give up. Funny how things work out. In the Army computers were part of my job. Now days I am not sure what is what and which is best. You probably don't even want to know the specs of this computer!

1. Lots of people. This forum is full of computer geeks and linux geeks are no exception.
2. Yes. Lots of reasons, but mostly political in nature (licensing and corporate practices). For the most part if the app is popular in *nix it has been ported to windows in some form or the other. I recently setup a second box with windows on it for se5 so we probably shouldn't say I switched to linux I just use it on my main computer.
3. It costs time. How much time you spend depends on what your doing. Linux can be as easy to install and use as windows if your using it for email, word processing and what not (see Ubuntu). But gaming is a pain in the butt. Some games get ported to linux (like Dominions) others will run in wine/cedega (like se4) and yet other don't run at all (like se5).
4. Yes most distributions install samba by default. It runs in the background and helps with windows networks.