I started my switch to Linux in October 1998. I had been more and more disturbed by how much software from Microsoft or for a Microsoft O/S;s would change things without asking. In particular, this was during the so-called browser wars when Microsoft was destroying Netscape. I refused to use a browser from Microsoft and used Netscape instead. Every time I loaded new software, my default browser was switched to Internet Explorer and I was not asked if I want to switch! What arrogance on the part of the crowd from Redmond! Our computer-science son suggested I try Linux, since I used the command line almost exclusively under MSW already.
I started using a dual boot system so that I could go back to MSW as needed. The learning curve for Linux is quite steep, at least at that point, and I made slow progress. There were many things that I liked but so much was different that I was rather ineffective and over time I drifted back to MSW. Working with two operating systems is problematical using a dual boot. Moving form one to the other is quite slow.
However, after about a year or so, I was galvanized into action, to get back to Linux in earnest, by various news articles about Microsoft wanting to become a software utility. That is, you would no longer buy a boxed O/S product that you could install. Instead, you would buy a computer with a MS O/S installed, and then you would have to pay a monthly fee for it to work. In exchange, MS would keep your system updated. However, if you did not keep up your payments, your system would stop working. Neat idea from Microsoft's point of view. A great way to make sure you always have a good cash flow.
Not long after that, I found a web article that gave even more reasons for shifting. It talked about the UTICA, which was still very much alive at that point. I forget what the letters represent but it was a new proposed commercial code involving computer software and hardware. It had some scarey provisions in it. One of the most sinister was a new provision that made reverse engineering of data formats a crime. This was cleverly inserted by---well I'll let you guess! Anyway, the web article asked if you wanted your business held hostage by Microsoft? Here was the plausible scenario for that to happen:
1. UTICA would be passed by a majority of states.
2. Microsoft would make some small changes to their data formats.
3. New versions of their software would only write the new data formats.
4. Once the new data formats were in wide use, Microsoft could increase prices for upgrades to software.
5. It would be impossible to switch to any other software or operating system without losing your Microsoft documents because no other software could read it without reverse engineering the formats-a federal crime.
Again a clever move to cutoff any competition. In time, it happened that UTICA died the death it deserved. However, large corporations have lots of funds, and they can and do buy influence in Washington. Who knows when some other similar proposal will become law?
This time I restarted with a new approach. I no longer used a dual boot system. Instead, I used VMware to run a virtual machine that ran MSW. Finally I had MSW where it belongs--inside a terminal under Linux:) This meant that I could switch between Linux and MSW by just a click of the mouse. This worked well for my purposes and I rapidly became more proficient in using Linux. VMware is an excellent product and the overhead is minor, especially compared to the flexibility that it provides.
Over time I have moved nearly all of my operations to Linux. I do not have a native install of MSW on any of my daily-use systems--MSW is always running under VMware.
Here are some of the good things about working this way:
1. I plan to not upgrade beyond Win 2K Professional. VMware supports virtual machines that run software all they way back to DOS 6.22 and perhaps earlier. Thus I do not need to upgrade to support new hardware.
2. I am planning to not upgrade any of my MS software. Again, VMware gives me the chance to do that.
3. I do not use MS Word or Excel. I use Tex, Latex, and Openoffice and they meet my needs well.
4. All of my E-mail and web browsing is done under Linux. Thus the malware that so afflicts MSW is of little concern. I have no anti-virus software on my systems and have never become infected. Oh, one time I got my laptop infected, under MSW when I hooked it directly to the internet, not through my firewall computer. It took only about 30 minutes on the Internet and I had a virus! That's how bad MSW was and perhaps is even today--I don't know because I would never run it directly connected to the Internet!
5. I have FEQ, FEQUTL, and related software setup to run under both MSW and Linux. The only way to go. I can use Linux and others can use MSW
6. Recent changes in how FEQ stores unformatted files permits these files to be transferred, without change, between Linux and MSW.
7. Much of the software I use in free for download and most of it is of high quality and reliability. I do buy a text editor for Linux since none of the standard ones emulated Brief!
8. I do not plan to develop any software that runs on only one O/S. With the tools available to me on the Internet, I can create software, including GUI's, that work on both MSW and Linux and none of it uses one scrap of software from Microsoft!
There are some downsides:
1. It has taken a major investment of time and effort to learn how to do things the Linux way. Its view of the "world" differs quite a bit from that of MSW.
2. It has not saved me money, at least not yet. However, I have learned new skills that will serve me well in the years to come.
3. Some of the latest hardware may not have drivers yet. However, for the most part, hardware support under Linux is at least as good as under MSW, and installs of the O/S are easier.
However, the major benefit is that I am no longer subject to the whims and machinations of the boys and girls in Redmond! That is worth every penny and hour that I spent! I am using Linux as distributed by Debian and that will survive any attack launched by Microsoft--consequently, I can ignore, for the most part, what Microsoft says and does. Most of the time it is amusing and at worst infuriating as they continue to do everything they can to destroy any meaningful competition.
As a final note. The Internet would be a much safer place if Microsoft had about 50 percent of the desktop, Linux had about 30 percent of the desktop, and the rest could be anything else. Microsoft would still be rich but not as rich as they are now. So far their security improvements still have a ways to go.
Switching to Linux is much easier now than when I started. I suggest considering Ubuntu (or one of its variants), or Suse 10.1. Both appear to have good desktop implementations that are getting better all the time. Whatever you do, start out slowly, get a good book on making the switch, and be prepared to learn some new things. There is abundant help on the Web as well as in the bookstore. I have been able to answer nearly every question I have had via the Web. Google Advanced search is your friend!