I could keep on going, but I just kept realizing how many advantages there were to this Linux thing after I got into it. Especially when I made the switch to Kubuntu. I wasn't fighting with Windows all of the time anymore, and I didn't even have to worry about security. I soon realized that I liked being different with my OS. I then got a copy of Linspire, tried it, and realized I could do everything that I could do with Windows. And then there was the whole SCO fiasco, I won't even get into that. I realized how immoral MS's business practice really is, and that this Linux thing must be a serious threat to Windows if MS went through all of those hoops just to shut them up. It was because of the article on CNN detailing what was going on, that got my interest. Long story short, many millions of dollars later, Lindows had to settle with MS and change their name. MS was simply looking to put Lindows out of business by sucking out all of their funding with lawsuits. They even sent letters to the European Lindows retailers threatening to sue. So then MS went and started suing Lindows in every country that they sold the product, namely most of the European countries. Well, MS lost that court case and Lindows was able to continue here. Microsoft thought that "Lindows" was too close to "Windows" so they sued them here in the US. Basically what happened was a Linux company called Lindows, was making a easy to use desktop Linux. I switched a few years ago because of an article that I saw in the news.
Of course, running completely from the CD and RAM it is much slower than a full install, but it will certainly give you a taste of Ubuntu and you will be able to see how it goes with detecting your hardware.
It locks your existing hard drive, so that you cannot damage your existing Windows install and will give you an idea of what Ubuntu is all about. What I suggest you do is to wait a few days and then download the 7.04 Live CD and have a play with it. If you just want to be a "user" and don't want to tinker, the new version of Ubuntu (7.04) is due to be released on the 19th of this month and it will, in most cases, detect all of your hardware and be as user friendly as any other OS out there.
My own PC runs a Linux kernel that I compiled for myself, which allowed me to tailor it exactly to my hardware and get reid of a lot of the modules that I never use. If you like to roll your sleeves up and tinker "under the hood", Linux is made for you. Many of these packages are easily as productive as commercial packages that you have to pay hundreds of dollars for in Windows.
Updates, new releases and most of the software packages are free.
However, if you have continual battles with viruses, spyware, trojans, rootkits, etc, Linux offers a much more secure solution.Īlso with Linux, it is free. Of course, this will work with other Windows 3-programs as well.If you are perfectly happy with Windows and it does everything that you want, Ubuntu or any other version of Linux probably isn't for you. Now just restart Windows 3, and you can run Simtower.