Free at Last!!

I've been using Zorin 6 LTS for around a year now, and like it a lot and like the support forum a lot too. I still needed a Windows box for accurately communicating professional documents in MS Office formats. But now I am a free man. I installed Office 2007 enterprise using Crossover Office, and now I can do most anything from my Zorin box and next to nothing on my Windows box. I used Crossover Office, which I bought on sale for around $40, (it is usually $50) and MS. Office 2007 installed by navigating to the .exe on the installation disk and double clicking, just as one does on Windows.

I probably could have installed it using Wine, but the instructions were a too detailed to make me want to bother. Crossover also had a "bottle" installer for Office 2010 but I didn't have the software. It also has a lot of other Windows programs it can install by browsing to the setup.exe file, double clicking and letting Crossover do the rest. Since MS. Office is a main sticking point limiting desktop Linux being able to have it on my Zorin box eliminates, to my mind, about 80% of the reason not to use Linux desktops. I can update, install plugins etc.

Since more applications are now running in the Cloud people there is less and less reason not to use Linux for a persons' main desktop. Not only can you get most needed applications, but the updates are provided in single packages and one has much less muss and fuss compared to Windows.

The only reason I need a Windows box for work is the specialist software I use and, for other users, some games.
Of the 20% left giving advantages to Windows, probably 15% of that arises from Adobe products and perhaps some mathematics/science/statistical/data mining and Video editing (AVID) software. Even there the gap is closing and there are Linux alternatives, albeit with a long learning curve and some missing capabilities.

Still, I'm surprised that more people aren't making the switch. Yea Linux!! Yea Zorin!!

Jojo

I know the feeling..my first experience was Win98 on a Celeron 500 with 256 Ram. Honestly, it wasn't bad. Given that Win98 runs on Dos 6.22 with 32-bit extensions for the GUI, it was just a little unstable out of the gate, but ran quite smoothly once I learned how to edit the Start-up menu to the bare basics, run a weekly scandisk/defrag combo and add the usual third-part distros. Then of course WinXP came out and rather than spend enormous amounts of money on a new system that would strain my hardware, I purchased a used PIII 800 with 512 Ram (thereby giving my sister funds for her bleeding-edge XP tower) and started experimenting with Linux, keeping my Celeron Win 98 as my main box and using the Pentium to try Linux distros.

Being a somewhat casual user who dips into command-line only as needed, I finally settled on Fedora Core, running FC1 and then 2 , with Apt for RPM and Synaptic front end. About 2007 I purchased a used Mac G3 450, slapped 768 Ram in and lived happily ever after with OS 10.3.9, despite the gradual lack of support as Apple went to the Pentium architecture over my Motorola...

Jump to June 2013, and years of faithful service have caused micro-delaminations in my 2000 motherboard. With no courage in my soldering of circuitry at near microscopic levels and unable to replace the motherboard, I purchased a used PIII 1.4 box with 512 Ram, slapped an 80G HD and a gently used Soundblaster in (total cost- $25.00) opened my Mac to the elements with extra fans blowing, Did a final Data backup and surfed the net for possible OS downloads, made a few low-speed burns and tried a few installs. So far, given my need for low hardware requirements but decent GUI control, Zorin 7 Lite has exceeded all my expectations...

I suppose you could say i've been Windows free since late 2004, really. Don't get me wrong-unlike many Linux users i've corresponded with, I don't hate Windows as an OS-I can't stand the crushing Monopoly that lets Microsoft dominate 3rd-party software designers, which until recently has kept Linux from any hope of being a Gamer platform. Also, I think that releasing a 'finished' product into the market and using your customer base as a Beta Test for patches/improvements is nothing less than criminal...if I download a Beta or even Alpha Linux distro, at least it's marked as such and I know the risk! I have played with Win XP and Win 7 (my family calls me for free Tech Support at the drop of a hat!) enough to see it isn't a bad little setup in and of itself. A little bloated maybe, too prone to load EVERYTHING at start up and a deliberately obtuse GUI setup to prevent casual users from mucking things up (leading me to grab my handful of DOS commands to manipulate the NT kernel) but i've seen worse. Still, imagine what the hacker/designer community could do with an Open Source NT kernel-lean, mean minimalist apps and small, responsive desktop able to run native .exe commands and programs...sigh.

Anyway, i'm rambling... I do think that more and more casual users are at least trying a few Linux dual-boots, and on the day those users can use all the apps and games they want natively, Windows will just become another OS option, albeit a popular one, and then Microsoft will need to rethink some pricepoints...

Great story order99. I think that day is now. Wine can probably have some prepackaged scripts for installing Office so it is a bit more user friendlly and off you go. By this point in time functinality of most Linux apps approach those of Windows with the exception of enterprise support, which most Linux users don't use anyway.

Most cloud users at corporations don't notice the underlying Linux server software of most cloud applications. One reason I like Zorin as much as I do is that the developers focus on end user experience and making the distro easier to get things done. Ubuntu used to do that but now, like Microsoft, Apple and Google, are focused on unified Gui's accross a number of disparate devices, sort of like making washer/dryer/wringer appliances. For the next few years the "clothes' will come out a bit grey, damp and wrinkled.

At least that is my hope. I now plan to install photoshop CS2 and Quicken along with a collection called "PortableApps.com" so I will have limited need for Windows. Also, there are Linux versions of Mathematica, Matlab and other higher end software that are no more expensive than there Windows counterparts. The areas where I need Windows are shrinking. I too have used windows for decades, and have nothing intrinsically against it aside from feeling played by some of there high handed rent seeking behavior.

Oddly enough jojothehobo, I think ChromeOS could be the nail in Microsoft's corporate coffin if it catches on. Google has the wealth and the popularity to take on Windows, and the system is pretty much geared to casual users, with everything being taken care of at the server level. Just in case you've never tried it-the system installs Google Chrome Desktop, which is nothing more than a file browser and the Chrome Browser. All applications run natively in the browser, online as add-ons, with all hardware resources dedicated to supporting said browser/extension combo. Any glitches or crashes therefore are corrected and updated by Google on a server level, and updates are automatic and almost invisible for the casual user.

Having said that-just because I could see ChromeOS catching on doesn't mean that I WANT it to. An OS that won't work without internet access? All apps running in the Cloud? Users encouraged to store data in the Cloud with minimal security? Google with full access to all of your data at all times? The public would LOVE it-until the moment all their privacy is gone, bank accounts emptied and the NSA comes knocking on your door because the local Cracker/embezzler operating from Honduras happens to have personal preferences or a browsing history resembling yours...

(shudder)

Of course, on the corporate level having a system like this could be a Godsend, with the ability to read and share data instantly,and monitor employees without adding ridiculous amounts of spyware and slowing the system down ( not that I like the idea of of employee monitoring, but since Massa gon' do it anyway, why not make it efficient? ). Also, corporate systems are ALWAYS connected to the corporate server and the Internet daily, and 'locked down' PCs are the exception rather than the rule. Sadly, an OS this useful to a company would also be wide open from a security standpoint(Hello Sailor, all my corporate secrets are in the Cloud! ), so the obvious solution would be to create a system SIMILAR to ChromeOS but limited to the corporate servers only, with lots of encryption and a separate, relative secure internet browser for access beyond the server...

And of course this leads us back to a Linux distro of some sort. Funny, 'ennit?

Well, order99, it is funny in a hysterical sort of way. Most software is moving to the cloud, but, at least now, with local off line installation as well with the options of both cloud and local storage. That will lead to monthly rents instead of software you can buy and use for a decade, like Windows XP or Acrobat etc. I hate the concept of monthly rents, especially when they will shut you off if you miss a month and possibly lose your files too. That says nothing about privacy. I recall that Amazon "erased" a copy of a new translation of a classic book from a users computer because it wasn't on sale in the States yet. Who know what they can do if you don't have DRM on media files.

It is a brave new world heading our way. That is why Linux standalone suites would seem to be ever more valuable, along with secure storage someplace (the cloud host on the far side of the moon? ). Actually I've heard that some corporations are setting up some snoop proof data centers in Central America. Perhaps strong encryption available on underground sites would help. Finally , it isn't just the US and NSA. I heard a radio show where the speaker said that the NSA and Government would save a lot of money buying the data from the Chinese. They are doing this longer and with more people and less restraint than anyone else. The problem for individuals is still the same.

HI all,

I personally would never use a cloud based system as has been pointed out, you may lose all your data and you don't really know how safe it is and anyone can hack the server and steal/read/use your data!. I backup all my data on an external drive and other partitions for the just-in-case scenario. Clouds have been known to rain on you!.

Regards Wolfman