Nice little article over at indiaexpress.com, written by a former Microsoft Windows user who now runs Linux happily on the desktop. The main perks: reduced cost, lower hardware requirements, less crashing and instability, and fewer (read: no!) viruses.
I have to agree. I switched to Linux about 6 months ago, and the only crash I ever encounter (it has happened a total of twice now in 6 months - that's a total of TWO reboots of my machine... in 6 months...) is related to SuperKaramba and the weather theme I have running on my desktop. I haven't bothered to investigate the cause, but considering that it only happens about once every quarter of a year, I'm not too worried about fixing it.
The programs I use now for web browsing and email - namely, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird - I find to be superior to their Microsoft equivalents. The Mozilla Calendar, which I use in place of Outlook's calendar, is on par if not superior. I miss the integration of the calendar with the entire email suite, but it's a small sacrifice - particularly considering that the Mozilla calendar is based on open standards (which gives me a warm fuzzy feeling I never get when using Microsoft's proprietary formats). Using OpenOffice.org's office suite is plenty fine for a casual user like me, who just does basic word processing and the occasional spreadsheet. It's compatible with MS Office files, too, so no issues there. I do prefer the interface of MS Word, as OpenOffice.org's word processor looks a bit "dated" to me - like I'm working on an app from 1997 - but looks aren't everything. The functionality and compatibility are there, and that's what's important.
Not having to worry about viruses is fantastic. You wouldn't believe the peace of mind that comes from knowing you're invulnerable to them.
My new laptop (about 4 months old now) runs Windows XP, and I use it when I need to run Dreamweaver. (I haven't yet invested in Crossover Office for Linux to be able to run Dreamweaver on my Linux box). In the 4 months I've had the laptop, it's already starting to hang and crash on me due to software crud. I can't believe, not even a half year into its useful life, and XP already needs a reload. Rebooting after some random crash the other day reminded me how much more stable life is on the Linux side of things.
Check out the "Confessions of a Recent Linux Convert" article here.
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