[PCWorld]

Post your comments for Microsoft Gripes, Linux Enthusiasm here

[rkinne01]

Sorry but until Ubuntu can natively support all my apps I'll be happily staying with Vista.

[chipbennett]

Out of curiosity, what apps are those, rkinne01?

While it is certainly plausible that you have native Windows applications that are "mission critical" for you, I believe that, for the vast majority of computer users, Linux offers a viable solution:

1) Cross-platform applications (OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Thunderbird, Pidgin, GIMP, etc.) that can work alongside with or replace native Windows apps, almost seamlessly.
2) Native Linux applications that can replace native Windows apps.
3) WINE, which can run many, many native Windows apps.

Of course, if you stay with Windows because you just absolutely love/can't live without, say, MS Office, even though OpenOffice.org is available, then you are exercising one of the greatest advantages that many of these Linux/OSS alternatives present: choice. Other Linux advocates may fault you for that choice, but I believe that stance to be conuter-productive at best and hypocritical at worst.

[rkinne01]

Linux is horrible for gaming, little of the software like Office worked, when going to the store I seldom found software that said it worked with Linux, and I was less than impressed with most of the open source software I did find.

[Evildave]

You went to the STORE to find Linux software? Do you get your internet from a box? It must have been a very long time ago that you tried Linux. The nice, recent distros like Ubuntu have that 'Add/Remove' thing that automagically downloads and installs goodies.

As for games, it's pretty darned good with running Windows games if it has to.
http://appdb.winehq.org/votestats.php

For instance, MAME started on Linux and got ported to Windows. Thousands of arcade games right there.

If the most important thing to you is playing games, then by all means buy a video game console. They cost less than a 'pretty good' PC video card, and you don't need to buy them as frequently in order to keep playing new games.

From my experience, Windows PCs suck at games. People grab a box off the shelf at Walmart, and it's anybody's guess whether their computer will actually run it if the video card is more than a year or two old. If it doesn't run because their computer isn't 'brand new' enough, the store won't take it back, either.

You never have that problem with a game console.

You can run Linux on a PS3. No special 'hacks' required. Perhaps the PS3 'sucks' at playing games?

[MarioJP]

wow with that kind of attitude torwards pc gaming. looks like i won't be running into these "baised" articles again. Say what you want about windows but all i have to say is it is the best for pc gaming period, and furthermore i do not own any consoles just a good gaming rig that serves me well :). Just because your experience about gaming on the pc was bad does not make it so for me or for most. I was looking forward into what Linux has to offer, but with attitudes like that you can just forget it and stick with pc gamer and steam and of course windows =)

and also i can run windows and linux on my "gaming rig" and have full access to my hardware with no hacks. Unlike Sony locking their GPU from direct access. And it runs flawless no problems

One thing i do like however are the free apps that i won't comment on . But for gaming i am afraid it has to do lot better than just using wine. And no more saying "if gaming is that important to you then buy a console" because that aint gonna cut it for me. It either has to be native or its a no go.


peace.

[chipbennett]

Given that your original response regarded Linux being able to run all your "apps", I question whether gaming was part of your original concern. (I'm not familiar with any gamers who use such phrasing in reference to PC games.) That said, if gaming is your desire, then yes, you would likely be better off sticking with WindowsXP (or consoles).

However, MS Office can and does work in Linux, using WINE (or one of its commercial derivatives, Crossover Office or Cedega).

What open-source software did you encounter, with which you were less than impressed?

As for your concern with the dearth of available "boxed" commercial software with native Linux support: here a paradigm shift is necessary. Most Linux distributions do not require software to be purchased (or downloaded manually) and installed on the system; rather, most Linux distributions use what is called a "package manager" - rather like Windows' Add/Remove programs apps, on steroids. Linux package managers look at software repositories (maintained by the distribution programmers/community) that have hundreds or thousands of available software packages and applications. Not only will the package manager handle the downloading and installation, but they also will handle the various dependencies of installed software (think DLLs and other related files, as well as registry entries, in the Windows environment).

Thus, if you want to find and install a software application in a Linux distribution, your first source is the package manager. Most of the time, the application you want is found there - no need to go to a store to buy a boxed installation disc, or even to find a download file somewhere on the internet.

Oh, and the selection of software available for Linux is greater, not less, than what is available natively for Windows (so much greater, in fact, that the overwhelming selection can actually become detrimental, especially for those new to Linux).

[rkinne01]

Yeah I did imagine that, I use some Windows based programs like Photoshop that Gimp and the other open source programs just can't match. I'm not cheap I like to pay for software that i like, sorry I'm not going to champion something because it is free.

Sorry but i preffer pc gaming to the console system, there is more freedom in choice. I can choose my components and controler. I also like the idea that all my older PC games will work in whatever PC I may have, no need to spend $400 everytime a new system comes out. New Video cards tend to be cheaper than whole new console systems.

[Yert]

Love my comment being cut off at the comma and not before. Its quirky. /glee

In any case I have to say I love this segment. It shows that PCWorld reads and cares about what we say, to the point that they promote comments they see as interesting in some way (although if they were pimping "good" comments my trite wouldn't be up there. :P).

[yawaramin]

rkinne,

Probably the best thing to do is try out the new Ubuntu when it comes out. In a couple of days you'll be able to download it (www.ubuntu.com), burn it, and try out the Live CD environment on your high-end computer. If you're not impressed after using it for a couple of minutes, then I'm not sure you'll ever want to use Linux. Then again, if you face enough virus/spyware problems like most people do, you might just decide enough is enough and just go for it. At the end of the day Linux is for people who care equally, or more, about ordinary uses rather than simply gaming.

If you ever do decide to put Ubuntu on your machine and enjoy the speed and security of Linux, Windows needn't go anywhere--Ubuntu skillfully puts itself in a separate partition and leaves your Windows installation untouched.

Hope this helps,

Yawar