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Windows and linux

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by rfd515ff

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I use linux and I use windows 7. I love ubuntu, mandriva, fedora, suse, just to name a few. I used almost all the linux distros out. I never have a problem with linux until when I need to use an office program. K office and Open office are good and everything. but I need to use MS Office because I can save files in pdf. If I did not need MS Office or like Windows Media Center then I would use Linux. Back in the days of Windows 2000 and XP I used at the time was Mandrake Linux and it was good. Linux is a bit of a pain to setup but as they get newer and newer its getting easier. But I like MS Office and windows media Center. But also I would try one linux distro it would play videos and dvd good, and then I would try another and then it could play video of any kind for crap. windows despite all the viruses and spyware you get is the top operating system of all. If you want to play a dvd you pop it in and it works. you plug in a printer and it works. With linux you plug in a printer and you got to setup the printer using CUPS most stuff on linux is not plug and play. But if you got any HP printer then that is the easiest to install on linux using the HPLIP. The best Linux I have tried is one call Hymera it works really good but Ubuntu is the best still for all Linux distros.

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by mamies

For a good Media Center, their is an addon to Kubuntu (KDE Desktop on Ubuntu) which is supurb. I really enjoy it and i use it with my television at home. Also to converty a word document to a PDF, Ubuntu from memory has a printer setup to do that.

by oz_media

Appreciate your comments and they raise a question I was considering last night.

IF Linux is to become the all stale widely used platform that many Linux users would like it to become, how do businesses decide upon a 'flavour'?

Seriously, and not just to knock Linux here.

When it comes to a company adopting Windows, they either choose the latest release, or they upgrade as needed. However, they are not deciding between four or five recent flavours of Windows. It's just new or old with an upgrade to new.

So for a company considering software, unless they personally test each Linux flavour for a few months against their specific software needs such as custom or legacy software, how do they know what is best? I feel that many would try one system, find another suits their needs and switch, then a year later the first has improved and they need to switch back and so on.

While I am not a big MS advocate, people have to realize there is a lot more to such business decisions, other than what makes life easier for the admin.

I've noted a few drawbacks to Linux domination here: https://www.techrepublic.com.com/5208-6230-0.html?forumID=102&threadID=321699&tag=content;leftCol

by ---tk---

You missed a few things :)... I pretty much agree with the underlying statement (from what I gathered) Every OS has its place. But I wanted to point out a few things that are not entirely true....

Ubuntu:

1.Open office 3.1 - Open a document > File > "Export as PDF"

2.Play DvD's is going to be a task with any distro. In Ubuntu "sudo apt-get install -y vlc", enjoy playing just about any Media format.

3.Printers... I don't really use them anymore, so what ever you stated I'll agree with since you have more experience with them :)

And lastly...
4.Look into http://xbmc.org/. They make media center programs for both Linux and MS... They have some really sweet stuff going on :)

by oz_media

I always seem to learn something from your posts.

In the case of #4) by media centre do you mean just a player? I think VLC (VideoLan) does the same too, VLC is actually my favorite player of all as it is so 'adjustable' and will play anything you throw at it...literally. :)

I wanted to comment on the save as PDF though. I have a full version of Acrobat so Acrobat Distiller automatically installs itself as a printer for ANY program running, just choose Print>Print to PDF and it's done. The best benefit is the ability to compress PDF's though, I get them sent to me all the time that are so huge I'd NEVER think of sending it to a customer. ut Distiller sorts it out to a tiny file without graphic loss.

Anyway, I before I started using the full Adobe Acrobat, I always used third party, free downloads. Though they were quite limited in their functionality, as is the PDF converter in Open Office, they still all installed IN WINDOWS so that you could just save as a PDF.

So that option, while still a useful feature of Open Office, is not unique to Open Office nor Linux.

Took me a while to get that simple point across but I got there all the same. :D

by mamies

I am not sure about the previous releases but from memory i think some where the same, To install My Multifunctional printer all I had to do was plug it in and it automatically picked it up and I was able to print, scan and use the card readers that are on it.

The main driver problems i have had with linux is the wireless driver for my desktop. But in saying this the wireless driver for my laptop is automatically picked up on as well.

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