I've been a Windows "power-user" for a while, and I thought that perhaps I would try out this "Ubuntu" that is all the rage on the internets. The install is very easy, the install such that it doesn't default to wiping out your Windows partition, not so easy, as I found the hard way. Look up a lot of information about partitioning your drive beforehand, or just use different drives for each OS if you want to dual-boot. Which I do, because my Ubuntu is more of a test-situation than my hard OS at the moment.
Trickiest part of Ubuntu: when you want to do something cool, you have to do it through the Terminal, and chances are, you won't have any idea what you're doing in there until you first learn some basic UNIX commands. I've spent upwards of 25 hours just searching the internets for how to set up some more elaborate environment controls, and copy-pasting them into the terminal to limited success.
Ubuntu can mount nearly any hard drive attached to your system, UNLESS that hard drive has an active hibernation file on it, in which case you need to reboot the computer, boot into the hibernated OS, then shut it down again before you can touch it in Ubuntu.
Software installations are done through an organized program interface, which manages software packages. You can find almost ANYTHING in here. Otherwise you resort back to the trick of googling for your every need.
I haven't used OpenOffice much, but reputedly it is a fair replacement for Word at least. I <3 my MS Excel, so I haven't used many other spreadsheet programs. Remember that GoogleDocs is always available to you if you have internet.
Ubuntu has fewer annoying popups than Windows, but its error messages are possibly even more esoteric than Windows' are, so resort back to google to find out whats going on. Learning any OS takes time.
I think if you are looking to avoid frequent crashes and annoying popups, and want a fairly streamlined OS, then Ubuntu is a great choice. It can do almost everything, but you'll run into issues with many games and some other programs. Dual-booting means you get the best of both worlds. Consider setting up your Windows partition primarily for gaming (or whatever miscellaneous tasks you find Ubuntu cannot manage)
For a windows power-user, you'll find yourself depressingly inept in Ubuntu when you try to manipulate it the same way. Easy to learn, difficult to master is how I would put it.
Trickiest part of Ubuntu: when you want to do something cool, you have to do it through the Terminal, and chances are, you won't have any idea what you're doing in there until you first learn some basic UNIX commands. I've spent upwards of 25 hours just searching the internets for how to set up some more elaborate environment controls, and copy-pasting them into the terminal to limited success.
Ubuntu can mount nearly any hard drive attached to your system, UNLESS that hard drive has an active hibernation file on it, in which case you need to reboot the computer, boot into the hibernated OS, then shut it down again before you can touch it in Ubuntu.
Software installations are done through an organized program interface, which manages software packages. You can find almost ANYTHING in here. Otherwise you resort back to the trick of googling for your every need.
I haven't used OpenOffice much, but reputedly it is a fair replacement for Word at least. I <3 my MS Excel, so I haven't used many other spreadsheet programs. Remember that GoogleDocs is always available to you if you have internet.
Ubuntu has fewer annoying popups than Windows, but its error messages are possibly even more esoteric than Windows' are, so resort back to google to find out whats going on. Learning any OS takes time.
I think if you are looking to avoid frequent crashes and annoying popups, and want a fairly streamlined OS, then Ubuntu is a great choice. It can do almost everything, but you'll run into issues with many games and some other programs. Dual-booting means you get the best of both worlds. Consider setting up your Windows partition primarily for gaming (or whatever miscellaneous tasks you find Ubuntu cannot manage)
For a windows power-user, you'll find yourself depressingly inept in Ubuntu when you try to manipulate it the same way. Easy to learn, difficult to master is how I would put it.
