Hi all,
I moved to Linux (Debian Sarge at the time) about four years ago. It's tempting to go on about how much fun I've had with it, and how much pain Windows causes me each time I boot up to play World of Warcraft, however I'll hold back on the zealotry.
Ubuntu is now the only OS installed on my laptop, and my main desktop machine dual-boots Ubuntu and Windows. I only ever use Windows for gaming (and MC when I get the itch), which I don't have a problem with.
Being a Computer Scientist, I'm not worried about getting my hands dirty installing, configuring and using Linux, although I know I'm in a minority of users out there. Having said that, I found that Ubuntu Breezy (Warty and Hoary both had their problems) was extremely simple to set up - much faster to install than Windows even. Another bonus when using a Linux distro like Ubuntu is that as soon as it's installed, you've got a functioning desktop - Productivity tools, a decent web-browser, calendar, etc are already installed and ready to use, whereas installing Windows usually requires several hours worth of downloading and installing various pieces of third-party software to make the system usable. My partner (who is not computer-savvy at all) loves using the GNOME environment, and finds it simple and intuitive to use, and now prefers it to Windows.
I have one problem with Linux though. I am yet to find a decent media organiser and player. After using Media Jukebox/Center, nothing compares. I've found using Amarok the best experience, but it is still so far from using Media Center that I sometimes reboot into Windows just to use MC. It would make my day to see Media Center on Linux, but I know that's probably not going to happen.
Jim, You said that Office is one of your sticking points, and that you're not thrilled about OpenOffice. Fair enough. Have you tried OpenOffice 2? It is much, much better than 1.x. Also, Abiword is a decent word-processor, and Gnumeric makes for a simple, usable spreadsheet application. If that still doesn't tickle your fancy, there are products like the free WINE (
www.winehq.org) project, or the not-so-free CrossOver Office project (
www.codeweavers.com) , that allow you to run MS Office in Linux. They may be worth looking at.
On the subject of WINE, has anyone had any luck getting MC to run using it? I've tried, but without much success.
Hmm, that was a little long-winded, but if you're keen to give Linux a go on the desktop, then I'd sugest pulling down an ISO of Ubuntu Breezy and giving that a whirl. If you can't live without MS Office, then there's always CrossOver to help you with that as well.
Good luck, and have fun,
Scott.