hi and i have ubuntu and it is worth it. this is because u can download a program called “wine”. after that u can download any program u used to download on windows through “wine”

No no no… you are doing it wrong , go get wine and you will be able to run most of the windows apps.

Not long after you wrote this article, I finished building my new computer. In fact, it is my new Linux machine I’m using as I write this, and it is strictly a Linux Ubuntu machine. There is nothing about it that is Windows, and that includes not using Wine for an emulator.

But the first six weeks were not a pretty sight. I had total hell getting things running correctly and I learned how horribly disorganized the process of changing from Windows is. Frustration to a degree I have never known, mostly because answers to questions and solutions to problems, while widely available, are exactly that: widely spread all over the internet and not in a central location.

There is a real, though confusing to a new person, reason for this lack of co-ordination: Unlike windows, where a corporate structure creates apps and programs for a general purpose (which usually involved making money), Linux is wholely created by individuals who have a particular and specific need in mind when they began creating. When his/her creation is complete, is doesn’t matter that it does not work for you or me, neccessarily. But if you can use that person’s creation as it is, or if you have the ability to modify it further and thereby make it work for you, great. And maybe what you have created will also work for somebody else…or not.
(I do not have the knowledge to create or modify these applications and therefore am totally dependent upon what others have done before me).

What I have learned and want to stress to those who are contemplating making the move to Linux is this:

1) You will be best off not to do this (as I have) without knowledgeble guidance, unless you have the ability to understand code and modify it.

2) You will find that many things do not work as you want or expect them to. You will probably find that most things fit into this catagory.

3) Spend some money on some books and get to know something about the flavor of Linux you’re contemplating, first, and.or go to the library and use what’s available there. Among other things, many of the phrases and terms used within Linux are not the same, and most have been changed from what Windows uses to avoid legal repercusions from Micro$haft. I especially recommend the Non-Geeks series to you.

4) You WILL need the forums at some point, but your help from these forums will be short-lived if you are too lazy to do some homework on your own, so do it. You can not blow smoke up the butts of these people who know how easy some of the basic information is to find. If you anger them by being lazy, they will completely ignore you and you will be relegated to ignorant bystander status. The folks who help others on the forums devote their time out of kindness (or, in some cases, ego) and, like Bob Dylan, they get tired of getting the same requests over and over.

Good Luck.