Re: [libreoffice-users] Migrating from Windows; take it slow

I went into using Ubuntu 9.10 for my default system when I bought my 
current desktop.  I still use 10.04 on it.  I had run other version of 
Linux before going to Ubuntu, but Ubuntu was the only Live CD/DVD that 
allow the sound system to work properly on my HP AMD64 CPU laptop that I 
used for testing.  I did not have this desktop then, but an old IBM 
server and a Dell laptop, along with the HP laptop.

I still use Windows from time to time.  The HP Laptop is back running 
XP/pro [32-bit] and my Dell laptop dual boots Vista [32 bit] and 64 bit 
Ubuntu 12.04 with MATE as its desktop environment so it works closely 
like my [generic custom built quad] desktop's 10.04/GNOME 2.xx system.

There are some software I still have not found a good Linux version for 
and there are some USB hardware that I have not found a good Linux 
driver for.  So I still need Windows once in a while.  I have people 
that need help with their Windows systems, mostly laptops, so I need to 
be able to boot up a Windows system to help them out.  One day I hope to 
replace the Vista OS with Win7 on my dual boot Dell laptop.  My HP 
laptop does not have enough free hard drive space to do a dual booting 
system.

ALSO
I have 2 USB drives for backing up my desktop, and also sharing media 
file with my Blu-ray player and other systems that require Windows-based 
drive formats.  SO, I need a Windows system to defrag those USB drives.  
I have a 1 TB and a 2 TB USB external drive, so they can easily become 
fragmented when I update them with my files/folders that need to be 
backed up - I copy the file onto the external drives - from my desktop 
to the external ones. I have a 1 TB and a 2 TB internal drives on my 
Ubuntu desktop.

SO I still need Windows for some things.

YET, with using Ubuntu [GNOME or MATE] for several years now as my 
default OS, I still do not know all the ins and outs I use to know with 
the Windows systems.  I still have not figured out all of the things I 
could do with my XP or Vista systems.  I still am not completely 
comfortable with the Terminal and all of its uses.  I know there are 
many, many, more things I could do with the Terminal that I never really 
learned.  I still forget how to install LO on a Ubuntu system - sudo 
dpkg -i *.deb - sometimes. There are install options and other commands 
that people using Ubuntu, and other Linux distros, know how to do much 
better than I.  I do not get into Ubuntu as much as I use to in the 
early days when I supported XP and Vista systems for others.  I do not 
do even half of the things I use to do in the late '90's to mid 2000's 
with a computer.  So I never really learned how to do some of the things 
I could do with my Linux systems.

SO
Anyone who really wants to learn how to use Linux as a replacement for 
Windows, try dual booting a system if you do not have a spare one to try 
Linux with as its only OS.

I started using Linux for the simple reason that I needed a package to 
convert AVI and MPEG video files into a TV DVD movie disc.  My Windows 
software crashed and I could not longer get it working even with a 
re-install.  So I found that the Linux software DeVeDe worked well.  Now 
it comes with a Windows version, but not when I started using it on an 
P4 CPU IBM server made in 2000 and burned it on a USB DVD burner.

That was when I started looking at all the free software that Linux 
offered to its users.  With a fixed income and the need to get a lot of 
different software, and many costing a lot for my Windows computers, I 
decided to look into using Linux - Ubuntu 9.10 for a few months till 
10.04 came out - when I had the money to buy a quad CPU desktop.

Now I get to learn a new Linux-based OS - Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich 
- since now I have a 7-inch tablet costing about $100. It is not the 
best 7 inch tablet on the market, but it was what I could afford on my 
fixed income.

So, the short is:
Linux is a good OS to use, but you may still need to have a Windows 
system from time to time.

Another reason for keeping a Windows system available - testing:
K3b burns a great data disc, but the default "Windows and Linux" disc 
format does not work well for making a web-based DVD.  It messes with 
the file names sometimes.  I found that out the hard way when I tested 
the DVD on my Windows system.  Now I use "Rock Ridge" file system for my 
DVD.   There are other "default" CD/DVD burners, but K3b was the only 
one that I could easily define the CD's / DVD's file system.  So I found 
out that way, that I needed to keep a Windows system to check that my 
DVDs will work on Windows.  I do not have a MacOSX system, so I cannot 
check that OS out.


On 07/22/2012 11:05 AM, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> Ok, so i have posted 'a few' anti-MS posts but not everyone is ready to suddenly jump into the alien 
> world of the scary sounding GNu&Linux or unix-based OSes.  Windows is supplied on almost every 
> machine bought anywhere in the world so why change at all?!
>
> If you have realised why then how to go about it?
>
> Many first-timers fail because they try to "burn their bridges" and completely suddenly switch 
> without much planning, or perhaps with too much planning.
>
> A frequently successfully route that many have followed (often as a 2nd attempt to get into it) is often found to 
> be to  first familiarised yourself with the programs that run on both Windows and Gnu&Linux: programs such as 
> Firefox (instead of IE), Thunderbird or Evolution instead of Outlook, Gimp instead of Photoshop, LibreOffice 
> instead of MS Office.  That way once you arrive at "the big switch" you have familiar 'friends' on your 
> desktop and in forums/mailing-lists.  Documentation can help pull you through too.
>
> A good next step is to resurrect some ancient machine from a junk heap or cupboard and try as a "Live Cd" 
> (booting straight from the Cd without installign anything) and then next is to install as a dual-boot.  Chances are 
> that first time you try to do a dual-boot it goes wrong even though it's the default for almsot every distro and 
> basically requires you do the equivalent of just clicking "Next".  If it's an old machine anyway then you 
> don't lose much AND you get to learn how to do it properly before risking yoru main machine.
>
> I was really quite keen  but oddly reluctant to escape from MS but it took me about 2 years between 
> the time i got my neighbour to install a dual-boot of Mandriva alongside my Windows.  At first i 
> booted mostly into Windows but about 1/month might boot into Mandriva by mistake.  by the end of 
> the 2 years it had become more and more often and more deliberately especially after i found a 
> decent game and then found i really could work from it too.
>
> To be fair i had an impression that Gnu&Linux was like Unix and therefore big, scary and all based on 
> the command-line.  I'm still a little intimidated by the command-line so i was glad to find that actually 
> even back then Mandriva was almost entirely point&click.  Then Wolvix and Ubuntu seemed to take that 
> further and now i am mostly in Ubuntu nearly all the time but even now i do use Windows from time-to-time.
>
> Once i had made the switch i found myself getting irrationally angry about all the odd things that i 
> had been forced to do unnecessarily over the years to maintain Windows.  A bit like a hostage released 
> from captivity after long-term imprisonment.  All the slow-downs, antivirus, sudden forced reboots, 
> forced updates, pop-ups grabbing focus and generally being slave to the machine.  All of which vanished 
> with Gnu&Linux (weirdly the grabbing focus thing seems to have been added to Ubuntu since then).  i 
> became obsessed with freeing people who didn't want to be freed.  I guess that is roughly where Andreas 
> is now with Base but has been stuck there a while.  Really there is no need.
>
> Nowadays i can mostly sit back and just laugh at the ridiculous things people put themselves 
> through with Windows and then claim that Windows is easier as though they have tried anything else 
> when they clearly haven't even picked up an iAnything.
>
> It's not easy to avoid trying to help especially when a little help can often go a long way.
>
> The mistake a lot of people make when they are new to Gnu&Linux is trying to force other people to 
> use it.  This earns a bad reputation and really there is no need for it.  if people would rather dig 
> with a spoon than a shovel then let them.  Just smile wisely and move on to help a person that does 
> appreciate it.
>
> Regards from
> Tom :)


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