Bill and Jan Klemme wrote:
Les wrote:
On Wed, 2008-02-20 at 13:37 -0500, Mark Haney wrote:
Bill and Jan Klemme wrote:
OK, right....here I go at the bottom! Thanks for the courteous
responses and hints. I notice that I am responding to the last poster as
well as the entire group, which means that poster will get double. Any
way of avoiding that? I did not "reply all".
It sounds like I may want to go with that "ubuntu" as someone suggested?
I love the bits and bytes stuff, but I just do not have the time now to
get into that. I want a replacement for Windows, but want to be able to
run my Windows apps (like Quicken and Photoshop, etc). I am tired of
firewalls and virus programs and having to buy new ones every year that
haven't been debugged yet.
Most people do want a Windows replacement, notably to replace the
disaster that is Vista. There are some Quicken like packages that run
natively on linux, but honestly I've never used them so I can't say how
they work. I believe that Quicken runs just fine under WINE, but again,
I have not used it in that manner so I do not know.
I was led to understand that some version of Linux would be much less
vulnerable to hacking and viruses so thought I'd go that route with
Fedora.
By default, I would say most linux distros are more secure than windows
at least on the mailware/viruses side. That topic, however, is a very
big discussion and probably not suited for this thread. Windows is
vulnerable for several reasons, mostly it's need for every user to be
Administrator to do normal things, whereas in linux that's not the case.
Another reason though is popularity. The more popular an OS gets, the
more likely it will see an increase in malware/viruses. Note the latest
crop of viruses and malware to hit the Mac.
I would like an OS that would be able to run Windows
underneath, but would be very user-friendly...maybe even look like
Windows. (My wife uses the computer sometimes too. I don't want to have
a lot of explaining to do.)
Personally, I don't think Fedora is your best solution. Fedora is
really 'bleeding edge' and usually has some issues with packages/softare
being the latest and greatest. That doesn't mean it's not a good
choice, just not necessarily the best one for you. I've moved several
people over to Linux from Windows (my whole family uses linux, windows
is only a game platform for us), including my Mom, and I think the best
one for n00bs is Ubuntu, specifically Kubuntu, the KDE version. The
interface is so much like Windows, the learning curve is a lot less for
things like opening email, etc. It works on a lot of hardware without a
lot of configuration and the liveCDs are good way to test that if you
aren't sure.
Is a Mac a good solution, albeit an
expensive one?
A Mac is a pretty good solution, although, I'm not a huge fan of OSx.
Never have been. To me, it's like windows in that it seems to want to
hide the guts from the user and I like opening the hood. Must be the
Southerner in me.
Again, thanks for the invitation to jump in.
Regards,
Bill K
--
Libenter homines id quod volunt credunt -- Caius Julius Caesar
Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
(828) 350-2415
Call (866) ERC-7110 for after hours support
