Avoid Windows Use Linux

The title is a link to the Washington Post article!

No you are not crazy, I posted this yesterday and it disappeared.  Anyway.  My point still stands.  When Windows 3.1 came out, I was excited and loved it.  I learned a lot from using it.  Over the years, I got to know windows very well.  Over the years I came to dread turning on a windows machine.  Why?  After being exposed to MAC and eventually Linux (with Minix and Unix, along the way), I came to realize that the alternatives to windows were better, and more enjoyable to work with.  The tended to be more stable and have less problems.  Sure at the time they were not completely ready for primetime, but, that has changed.  Over the last few years, both OS's have come into their own and offer a great deal more stability and security than windows.

Linux and MAC are both now very user friendly and (especially if you use the KDE interface for Linux), look and work not that radically differently from windows, the major exception - no viruses, no malware (or very little, like .001%) and true security.  Both are much more secure out of the box than windows.  Many talk about the cost factor of the MAC (since Linux is free, cost factors are nil), but let's look at it this way, sure you pay less for the Windows machine, but by the time you get the software you want and need to make the thing work the way you want, your costs are not that radically different form a MAC.  The ease of use for the MAC, right out of the box with no extra work is a true bonus.  Can't really be said for windows.

Linux is a bit different in that the average linux distribution comes with a number of programs to meet all your needs (OpenOffice.org - a fantastic MS Office replacement, also available as a free download for windows and MAC, GIMP a great photoshop replacement, InkScape - a scaled vector graphics program, and many others, including games, all come with the Linux distribution of your choice (I prefer KUBUNTU/UBUNTU)).  As well, you can try a live version of linux that boots and runs form a CD/DVD to try on your system before you buy (figuratively, not literally).  Linux can also be installed as a dual boot to run alongside windows, and you can access your existing windows files right from the linux partition, just like you were still running windows.  The main difference no BSOD!

So, read the article, try it, see if you like it.