Linux OS

From: Ronald Wayne <AppleTO_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sat Oct 16 20:51:28 2004

If you are having doubts, I suggest trying "Linux" software which is
available for Windows first. (Technically, this is open source
software which works on both platformas.)

For example: you can download Mozilla, which is a popular web browser.
 Mozilla and Netscape are pretty much the same program, so you
probably won't run into any problems there.

Another example: download OpenOffice, and see if it will read your
Easy Office documents. If you can open Easy Office documents in
Microsoft Office, I suspect that OpenOffice will fit the bill.

While you are at it, you may as well try the Windows port of the GIMP
to see if it suits your graphics editing needs. I don't know if it
will open Photoshop files, but it can certainly open standard image
formats (.jpg, .gif, and many others).

All of the software I mentioned is free, and they should coexist with
your existing applications without harming them.

While you are doing this, you may want to obtain Knoppix. Knoppix
will boot from your CD-ROM drive and will not harm your existing
Windows partition. While this does impose a couple of limits because
it will be much slower than booting from your hard drive and you
cannot install additional software, it will allow you to see if Linux
suits your tastes and needs. And yes, Knoppix is free too. :)

Why should you use this approach? You will find that Linux program
will run better than Windows programs running under Linux, so you
should see if you like the Linux programs first. If you do, you are
set! If you don't, maybe you should stick with Windows.
Received on Sat Oct 16 2004 - 20:51:28 BST