Why is linux any good ?

Linux is NOT like the Cubs but more like the SF Giants!

Linux is NOT a hobby -- I am totally Pane-free and still get my work done.

Much like it did with wordPerfect 5.1, MS is now making deliberate incompatabilities. Case in point -- I took a PDF file off a friends computer and placed it on a USB flash drive for transfer to my linux box because her subscription to MS Office (more like a teaser trial for a year) was runing out in a week and MS wnated $ she does not have at the moment (sound familiar, anyone?). Get it -- the trial was still valid for a week yet. After making changes she wanted and placing the revised document back on the same flash drive, MS Office would not recognize the file! Is this planned Capitalism a work or what? Like I said, there is a precedent for what MS is doing.

HP drivers do NOT work on all Linux distros! Case in point -- HPLIP and Deskjets like the D1660 will not work with some desktop environments within the same distro (see Linux Mint Forums)! Why?
There is no money in it, I suppose. Half-hearted attempts like this serve only to frustrate would-be linux users and further the interests of MS and those tied to their purse-strings -- it serves their purpose quite well to further FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), just as some that post here are doing, AFAIK (as far as I know) and IMHO (in my humble/honest opinion).

Zorin may serve to get people familiar with Linux without getting the estrogen up too much (LOL)!
http://zorin-os.webs.com/

Best wishes to all, and Go Ducks! Quack! Quack!

($0 to install it on another PC), what more did you do with Linux that wouldn't have been allowed or possible for Windows or Mac OS?

Let me guess:
- you wrote a version for the iPhone
- you wrote a driver so it supported hardware that wasn't supported out of the Linux-box
- you ...

Kees

Talking about the most simple examples: you can copy Linux installation disk and use it for unlimited number of computers.

you can edit Linux system code for you likes and needs.

Is user friendly too. Just many users know only windows and do not see reason learn something else.

As a long-time Linux user, I can honestly say that Linux by itself is definitely not user-friendly in the same way that Windows or Mac OS X is. That's the job of a Linux distribution, which packages the Linux kernel itself with a wide variety of tools designed to make Linux easy to use, along with applications that vary very greatly in their own user-friendliness.

But not all Linux distributions are equal, nor are they all aimed at the same target audience. Choose the wrong distribution, and even a seasoned Linux user is likely to have trouble getting things done with it. I knew my way around MS-DOS back in the day, but I had no Unix experience before I tried Linux. Because of that, I have always gone for the distributions that seem most Windows-like and counted on them to do the hard work of installing and configuring the system without a lot of work on my part.

For a Linux newbie, I always recommend buying a boxed set of one of the more user-friendly distributions such as Mandriva or Suse. The distributions themselves are easy to install and configure, they come with a very good selection of tools and applications, and best of all the boxed sets include well-written manuals and user guides in printed form. Some other, download-only distros are easy to get started with too, but an absolute newbie may still need the kind of help that comes only from documentation that is itself user-friendly ... and on a printed page instead of a Website. After all, if you run into trouble before you get your new Linux installation to recognize your Internet connection, getting online help is going to be inconvenient to say the least.

Yes, there are lots of third-party books about Linux available, and the best of these are every bit as good as the documentation that comes with a boxed set. Some of these books even include an installation CD or DVD, and they are pretty much the equivalent of a boxed set. But if you're going to pay money for a book and disc, why not go ahead and support the people who make the distribution in the first place?

If you are a newbie, take my advice and buy a boxed set (or a good book-with-disc) of one of the distros that people here recommend as user-friendly; you WANT well-written guidance in dead-tree form! Then dig through your closet or junk room and find that old computer that was still working when you replaced it with a newer machine two or three years ago. Install Linux on the older box, and be prepared to see it run much faster than it ever did running Windows. Or if you don't have an older computer gathering dust somewhere, do a complete backup of your current Windows installation, make sure you can find all your original installation discs for Windows and your apps/games, then install Linux in a dual-boot configuration. Please note that I do not recommend getting rid of Windows completely; it's still a good OS, and no doubt you have a few Windows apps and games that you won't want to give up. But don't be surprised it, as time goes by, you find yourself using Linux more often than Windows.

If you chose lest say Gentoo it will not be user as friendly as windows. If you want to use Gentoo you have to read book and learn things from it.

But I was talking about modern distribution which aims to be user friendly like Ubuntu 10.10. It is as much user friendly as win or mac.

What you say is entirely correct -- except when it isn't.

Let's say your printer dies. Being a reasonably intelligent person, you do your research and decide which new printers fit your needs, and then make sure they're all supported by drivers that are available from your distro's software repositories. But when you get to the store, you discover an incredible one-hour-only deal on a much more advanced printer; only problem is, it's a brand-new model you haven't researched, and your smartphone can't get a signal inside the store.

Do you pass up the deal because it may not work with your Linux distro, or do you take a chance because the price is so good? This wouldn't be a problem with Windows or Macintosh because drivers for those OSes are on a disc in the box with the printer.

Now, let's make things just a little more confusing. You finally find a spot just outside the store where your smartphone can connect to the Internet, and you learn that someone has written a Linux driver for this new printer that lets you use all its functions ... but it's source-only, hasn't been packaged for Ubuntu (or any other distro). Maybe you enjoy working with gzipped tarballs. I don't, and most Linux newbies won't have a clue what to do with one.

Granted, learning how to install from a tarball isn't that big a deal, but it's certainly harder than just letting a Windows wizard or Linux package manager do all the work. How many newbies will forge ahead with the task, and how many will give up in frustration -- and then bad-mouth Linux because it's too hard to work with?

I use Linux, and I love it, but even the best distros are only 90 perecent as user-friendly as we need them to be for mass acceptance. (I'm not even including Linux apps, some of which have documentation that might as well be written in Vorlon.) Windows is so huge that hardware vendors design their products to work with Win7 first, and even offer separate versions Vista and XP if necessary. Most of them also write Mac OS X drivers, and include them on the same installation disc with the Windows versions. When it comes to Linux driver support, we consider ourselves very lucky if the vendor's Website offers packages for more than two or three distributions ... and then, perhaps not the latest releases of those distros. Use a driver that wasn't written for the exact distro and version you're actually using, and it may or may not work. To be honest, I have changed distros more than once for just that reason. Things are getting much better when it comes to driver support for the major distros, but we still have a way to go.

Do you pass up the deal because it may not work with your Linux distro, or do you take a chance because the price is so good?
Price of printer is so good even 10$ cheaper than equal printer which works on Linux, so I buy win7 ultimate to use it.
Or not?

I'm an optimist when it comes to both hardware and software. More and more, hardware makers are paying attention to Linux, or at least not tying their products to features available only in Windows and OS X. And the Linux community is growing rapidly, including those wonderful people who consider "no Linux driver" a personal challenge.

Since my family has several computers and I personally use both Windows and Linux, I would buy the hypothetical printer immediately. If it worked with drivers packaged for my Linux distro (which is sometimes flavor-of-the-week), all is golden. If it didn't, I might check to see which distros, if any, have packaged drivers for it. If I had to compile aq driver from source, I'd compile it.

Worst case, I'd give my wife the new printer and take hers. (As it happens, her current printer just happens to be a brand-new AIO inkjet that I already know is supported by several Linux distros.) Then I'd wait until a Linux driver is available for the new one -- remember, I'm an optimist -- and decide whether or not to try to talk my wife into swapping back.

After using Kubuntu 10.10 almost exclusively on two computers for nearly a month now, I'll second jordeygurl19's recommendation. For those who don't know, Kubuntu is a version of Ubuntu that substitutes the KDE interface for standard Ubuntu's Gnome interface; other than that, the two are pretty much the same. I prefer KDE, but different strokes for different folks.

There are other, somewhat specialized, versions of Ubuntu for specific purposes. Home schoolers might like Edubuntu, which is Ubuntu packaged with education-oriented applications; I haven't looked at it yet, but may after I finished my latest computer build. I'm thinking about setting up my new-build machine as a DVR and running Mythbuntu, which is Ubuntu with the MythTV packages.

None of this means Ubuntu (with its many derivatives) will be a perfect Linux experience for everyone, although it well may be. I'll continue to watch Fedora, Mandriva, OpenSuse and a few other distros, and may continue to switch back and forth occasionally. The point is, Linux is finally a viable alternative to Windows, especially for those who are still using Vista, XP or an even earlier version.

Note that I also didn't say Linux is necessarily superior to Windows. I happen to think Windows 7 is pretty good, and have the Home Premium edition on this notebook's dual-boot menu. Wife wife and kids are running Windows too. And married daughter Melanie's family is almost exclusively Apple, from Macs to iPhones to iPads. It's all about using computers, not promoting one particular OS over all others. If it works for you, use it; if it doesn't try something else.