is ubuntu better than vista? an can it be installed alongside it?

[joko]

as above really

thanks

[Ethel]

It can be installed on the same hard drive,in a partition, so you can use both; or you can run it from a cd.

Many people think it is better than Vista; many people don't.

The current issue of ComputerActive has part 1 of a Ubuntu guide, which tells how to install it on your hard drive or burn to a cd; the next issue is due out this week.

[fo3nix]

'Better' is a very subjective term.

Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux, packaged up for beginners, or those who don't want to mess about with configurations too much.

Linux is free software, meaning that you have the freedom to share it with friends, use it for whatever purpose you desire, make modifications to it, and share those modifications with friends. In this sense, many would consider this to be enough to be 'better' than Vista. Vista comes are Microsoft intended, and that's the way it always will be. Same with Mac OS X and any other proprietary operating system.

As part of Microsoft's war on copyright crimes and their allegiance with the record and movie industries, they added a lot of low-level stuff to Vista (and in Windows 7 too), that tries to prevent users doing this sort of thing. This is what led to issues with drivers not working properly when Vista came out, and a whole host of other potential issues. It's also responsible for causing Vista to feel slow, and require more resources than Windows XP did. (Mac OS X doesn't have any of these monitoring programs running in the background, which is why newer versions of OS X are faster than previous ones generally (i.e., they just optimise things and add new features).)

However, the problem with Linux is that it lacks commercial support. Like it or not, most of the world's computers run Windows, so most software is developed for Windows. There is no Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, etc. on Linux. There are very few popular commericla games for Linux (the same is true with Mac OS X).

So if you're buying a PC for games, get Windows (ideally XP). If you want to have control of your PC, get Linux (which is also in many ways more secure and stable). If you want a nice mix of the two, and don't mind paying for the well-designed hardware, get Mac OS X.

[VHG]

>Like it or not, most of the world's computers run Windows,

The worlds END USER computers maybe.

There are thousands (millions?) of computers that most users never see running Linux, Sun software, HP software, IBM software and so on.

I believe it is true that half the worlds web sites are hosted on Linux?

[fo3nix]

Yes that's true, and what I meant to say.

I think current about 2/3 of web servers are running Apache, mostly on Linux.

[Gromit]

fo3nix

Like it or not, most of the world's computers run Windows, so most software is developed for Windows. There is no Photoshop, Illustrator, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, etc. on Linux.

Final Cut Pro on Windows PC? Shome mishtake shurely?

[joko]

well ideally, id like to be using XP, i used to have it, but this new computer came with vista....i installed xp onto it and was able to dual boot....but i found a few things just wouldnt work...like the modem, nor could i install new drivers...so i ended up having to ask a mate to put it back to XP...

so im reluctant to try it again

anyone know if it can be done? without all the probs

[fo3nix]

Gromit: sorry, I was just meaning commercial software in general. I'm typing from my Mac, so the names had a Mac slant :)

joko: that would depend on what hardware you have, and if XP drivers are available. I would think they would be, but you may have to search around a little to see.

Regardless though, you can triple-boot your machine if you want: Vista, XP and Ubuntu! Just make sure each OS has enough of your hard drive space to cope, and they can all be happy.