Xp Sp3

[calumc]

Oh i forgot to mention, if you are going to be looking for it to install permanently I'd wait a week or two for the new version based on Ubuntu Gutsy, it supposedly has a lot better feautures and better hardware support

[xRyokenx]

Or that'll work too, lol. I'm not planning on getting it installed too soon as I don't entirely feel like it atm, lol. But yeah, I'll look at that too, lol.

[.Maleficus.]

You guys complain far too much about Microsoft.
98 sucked. 2k was much better, and XP was an improvement on that.

I'm not saying they're perfect and I'm not saying they're the best at everything they do, but some of their products are really good and I'm tired of the mentality of "Linux is better than Windows!"(specifically by the people that still run Windows)

They're different products that work in different ways, even if they are in direct competition with each other.

If you'd spend more than a day actually USING Linux (and I don't mean browsing the web, I mean getting into the command line and diving into the system) then you'd understand why Linux has so much more to offer than Windows. If it weren't like this, PC World wouldn't have a new 10 page Linux article in almost every new issue. They wouldn't push dual-booting as much as they do. Open source is one of the greatest "ideas" ever. The fact that the community as a whole can design, collaborate, refine, and tweak programs to their specific needs without stepping onto licensing issues is awesome. How many open source Microsoft programs can you list? Now, if you asked me to do the same for Linux, I'd just point you to SourceForge, and let you marvel in the vast amount of open source, cross platform programs it has.

And like I already said, I use Windows because there is currently no alternative that will do exactly what I need it to do. I'm not that dumb that I don't realize I need Windows to do "normal PC things" like gaming. Microsoft did a fine job at making an OS that "just works". You install it, give yourself a username, and you're done. Everything else just works. And that's what I don't like about it. I'd rather go through all the manual steps and have a fully configured "for me, by me" PC, than have a vanilla Windows install.

It's all preference, and I never said Microsoft was bad. They're a fine company, making millions on products perfect for 98% of the world. However, I'm not one of the 98% they're perfect for.

[calumc]

I know where you're coming from Mal. Since I've started using linux I've found myself digging around in source code and .conf files and it is fun actually knowing what makes your system tick.
Here is a really good article written especially for windows lovers that may migrate. It's long but def worth the read

[XcOM]

nice read dude, i enjoyed that.