I guess am somewhat of a power user in Windows (95/98SE/Vista and now XP), but I have tried most all the Linux major distros, and think it has much potential. I sometimes spent much time trying to get it to do some of the things I quickly could do in windows (including getting printers to work or finding scripts for obtaining full R/W to all drives) or with supported freeware, but the time and energy to do so was overall too much when other things needed attention, or the software was not available (or would not run right under WINE).
And i would have to pay for certain codecs i need for video processing.
But i do have Puppy on a couple old rigs, which is good for, and for just doing surfing and word processing Linux need not requires much learning. I think Ubuntu and Linux Mint among others have helped in that. Yet the forums reveal the proportion of users who need to learn to do more complex things.
As for Win/8, most of the reviews have been negative, and i think for Windows desktops and laptops Win/7 will be the main OS.
And I am a big advocate of proven freeware, from Firefox to OpenOffice to and Bible programs to things like to AutoHotKey and PhoneTrayFree (works thru modem to give pop up called id and a record of calls, plus ability to zap telemarketers),
But may all be “online” with Jesus, and operate according to the Holy Spirit “OS!”
Daniel, I think you are summarizing my point (and proving it too.) There are some things Linux does equally well, and the average usage scenarios covers those. I also agree that maybe printing is one of the areas that still requires significant polish! Yet - if you are running Wine - there was something you wanted to do that Linux didn’t cover? Also - as stated previously, video editing isn’t it’s strong suit - there are better platforms/applications for that.
As for Win 8 - I would stay far away from it because of Metro, and because it is still wet behind the ears. MS has proved time and time again that they need a year of beta testing as a product before these things really stabilize. (Win 7 MAY be the exception there...) It was true with Win98, WinNT, Win2000, XP & Vista.
The other guy sees me as a Linux zealot. I proposed going to Ubuntu to see if his problems went away - he would learn a lot about his Windows problem by doing that! Is it Hardware or Software? I haven’t said that Windows didn’t serve a function, I have Win 7 on my laptop (though it can boot Ubuntu too ;-) I also advise staying away from Win8 for a time. Didn’t say “FOREVER” did I?
I’d say our Win8 friend is the real zealot ;-)