Linux OS

So, as Windows is getting more and more closed source, and tries to be more like Apple. I am getting very interested in switching to a new OS, I have done some research and found that Linux is completely open sourced, and it's FREE? All I want is to know like, some really cool stuff you may have done using linux installed on your computer, or experiences using it. Any flaws? Pro's over Windows? Cons?
Lemme know! Thanks!:nuts:

 

Bump!

 

Most people who use linux have no real reason to use it. It's great for benchmarks, development, servers and such, but a lot of the games and programs you may enjoy will be restricted to wine. Which means some serious performance drops or even limited usability.

Even if you do have some real reason to use Linux, I recommend making a separate partition for it so you can use windows too.

 

^ this. Also: I personally recommend Ubuntu for most people who ask me, since it is a great distribution of linux for the first time user IMHO. Here is the link to the website and specifically to the Windows installer that will install Ubuntu from inside of Windows and create a partition for a dual boot. It does everything for you and makes for a very simple and easy set up. Windows Ubuntu Installer
But be weary, there are many many distributions of Linux and each one of them has it's own specific purpose. I would suggest browsing this and seeing if something catches your eye. List of Linux Distributions from Wikipedia
or this, Five best Linux Distributions
I used Linux for 3 months while being an intern with the Army on a government base. They used Red Hat Enterprise and all I did was program. Now I am in love with Linux and currently use the BackTrack 5 distribution for network security testing, for starters. I have used others and keep a fresh copy of Bodhi, BackTrack, and Ubuntu around.
I hope I at least helped a bit. Feel free to ask any questions you may have. Good luck!

 

This. But I will say that the overall system performance (as in responsiveness) is much better in Linux desktop enviroments.

I'd love to use Linux on a daily basis, but I play so many games and use so many applications that just don't work well in wine or don't have an equivalent Linux software. Steam is on Linux now (beta), so you might want to look into that.

But I would say, try it. Download ubuntu (my favorite) and see if it fits your needs. You can try it with something called "Wubi" which basically installs it seamlessly so you can uninstall it via control panel anytime.

 

Linux is nice but yeah you do miss out on certain Windows features. There are alternatives for most things though. Linux is less graphically based and that makes the performance faster.

I'm running Linux Mint 14 on another PC and it runs very well on it, better than Windows 7.