Shoud I get Ubuntu?

[Muel]

I've been a user of various flavours of Linux for the last 5 years, and I run Ubuntu on my Netbook and I'm building a server running Ubuntu Server.

It's still not a replacement for Windows IMO. If this is your main desktop, stick to W7. It saves so much faffing around with Wine to get it going, and you never have to find out things like Office 2010 still doesn't work in Wine.

Even the largest distros with the best support aren't quality replacements for Windows yet IMO.

You do have Libre Office available instead of Office 2010, but it's rubbish.

You also have Gimp instead of Photoshop, but it's rubbish.

For server stuff and web development stuff (back end) though, I wouldn't use anything else.

Gaming just doesn't work I'm afraid.

 

[PermaBanned]

Notice: The above post is purely opinion. You won't know your own until you try it.

Personally i would never even consider using MS Office over Libre if i got the choice. Gimp is brilliant - you can do everything you would want to do in Photoshop... but for free. Great documentation too. What more do you want?

 

[masterluke]

You are quite right there is a native acrobat reader in the repo's.

I certainly wouldnt call libreoffice or gimp "rubbish". They have always done everything I have needed. There may be some advanced features missing but nothing that the average user would miss.

 

[Muel]

Notice: The above post is purely opinion. You won't know your own until you try it.

Personally i would never even consider using MS Office over Libre if i got the choice. Gimp is brilliant - you can do everything you would want to do in Photoshop... but for free. Great documentation too. What more do you want?

I have to use Libre Office at work on a daily basis, and I use Office 2010 at home. The difference is huge in what Libre Office is lacking, before you even get onto stuff like how ugly it is. (But then, there's a reason Office 2010 costs a fortune).

I certainly wouldnt call libreoffice or gimp "rubbish". They have always done everything I have needed. There may be some advanced features missing but nothing that the average user would miss.

Now I think about it, I take that part of the post back. There's a reason they're free, and considering that they are, they're pretty good actually.



All of my posts/opinions in this thread are coming from professional usage on a daily basis, not a home user. If you want to crop and save your photos for uploading to photobucket/facebook, then Gimp will do fine. Same for writing letters and doing basic spreadsheet stuff, Libre Office will do fine.

I stand by my opinion on gaming though, it's not worth faffing around with if you're a serious gamer. Game support is patchy at best, and that's leaving out stuff like fraps, drivers (terrible support in crossfire etc).


For web development work, servers and small (underpowered) systems, I prefer Linux. For web design work, gaming, overclocking, desktop publishing, photo editing/manipulation, I prefer windows. It ll depends on what you want it to do.