Goodbye Windows 8... for me linux...

Okay Windows 8 is officially gone from my main laptop. Replaced with Linux. Congrats microsoft for making a product with inferior UI and one that's became a spyware over the years. I am not ready to move my entire life into the cloud... I will miss some applications, especially Vsee and Paintshop pro but the peace of mind and the PRISM break is well worth it.
I still have Windows 7 as a back up on my netbook but that soon will be replaced with highly customized Windows XP to protect my privacy.

Update

So just to update my switch. I went through 5 distros so far. I started off with Ubuntu but I couldn't stand the unity theme and it had several privacy concerns too... But Ubunutu helped me solve few problems with trackpoint.... Then I went to Linux Mint Cinamon but in this one I couldn't stand the start menu. It felt disjoined from the reminder of the OS...Then I tried Linux Mint Mate and similarly, the start menu was horrible. I also tried Xubuntu which I didn't like for reasons I don't remember. Right now Im settled on Mint KDE which feels and acts more like Windows 7 than any other distro. At the same time it feels a refreshing experiance rather than a dull one that I experianced with the other distros. The visual effects on KDE are similar to those on 7 and it makes the switch very comfortable too.

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

Good move Mattdocs. I'm a few steps away from purging Win 8 and using Mint Cinnamon or Ubuntu. I'm just trying to figure out all my programs and if they'll run on linux. As soon as I can put that stupid Itunes on mint then I might switch.

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

What did you end up going with? Ubuntu? Mint? Fedora? Something else?

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

I started off with Ubuntu for the easy of their support forum and their large database of answers on askubuntu. Then after 2-3 days after I figured how to configure my laptop I switched to Linux Mint Cinamon which feels to me just like Windows 7. Actually even better than that because flash and java work out of the box and I don't have to worry about viruses and malware.

As for software thats windows only, there is an option to install Windows Emulator AKA WINE. There is a lot of windows software that is known to be compatible with wine such as Paintshop Pro, Word Perfect and Microsoft Office 2003. I haven't tried Wine yet but it may be my next step.

As for hardware I had almost everything working out of the box (keyborad light, thinkpad light, volume buttons, etcc). The only thing that required me to use terminal was trackpoint speed and sensitivity configuration and I found step by step instructions on askubuntu. I still don't have my fingerprint sensor working but I read somewhere that there is an app for that as well.

Im overall very very impressed with linux. Im going to be visiting my parents in Europe this christmas and Im planning to install it on their laptops as well. Just so I don't have to worry about them getting viruses or their windows crapping out on them for one reason or the other.

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

I really don't know what to say. If I post what I was about to say then it will be a rude post and will be moderated quickly. All I can say is this M$-Windows-hating-anti-PRISM-possible-backdoor-related-activity-because-NSA-is-spying-on-you-so-this-will-be-yet-another-privacy-violation-related-thread-which-gets-boring-and-we-have-so-many-of-them-since-it's-overdiscussed-and-will-turn-into-political-statements-all-over-the-place is too overboard.

I'm glad that you like your choice though.

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

Congrats, honestly. I tried it a few times, but I always failed due some typical linux problems like everything was lagging like videos and even card games, not to mention, that undervolting is quite impossible to achieve as well. I wanted to use linux just for my mother's computer and even that did not work out. Next linux version will fix that for sure.

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

Just to add, I also hope you will make use of Linux's full potential instead of making it only as your escape route.

Which distros?

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

New stats show Windows 8 usage up sharply as XP usage plummets.
The latest monthly NetMarketShare reports contain a few eyebrow-raising numbers. Windows 8 is up sharply, XP usage has plummeted, and Google's Chrome browser seems to be falling out of favor.
But this month's report might need a big asterisk to account for a key methodology change.
http://www.zdnet.com/new-stats-show-windows-8-usage-up-sharply-as-xp-usage-plummets-7000020098/

For those with Twitter accounts, you may follow Ed Bott via: https://twitter.com/edbott

 

Good for you mattdocs12345! How are you handling controlling application access to the internet? I've been waiting for a nice application firewall for Linux that can be fine-tuned before considering a move. I know Linux has a different paradigm using SELinux or AppArmor to control application access to resources. Have you had an opportunity to delve into either of these yet and are they somewhat intuitive?

I have a tough time accepting the "leave your Windows paranoia behind, Linux doesn't need an AV or application firewall" type of arguments, so I'm reluctant to switch camps just yet.

 

I'm switching my XP machines to Linux soon, but I have not decided on what flavor i'm going to use. My other machines are running Windows 7 X64. Who knows what kind of data Microsoft collects, and what they do with it.

 

A computer is an information machine quick and easy information in information out. You get their information they get yours doesn't matter Windows or Linux information goes to the highest bidder.. and besides its like the guy at the doctors office asking me why i was giving out so much personal information my reply: God has all of my personal information what else is there?

Thanks..
Hogndog

 

This is typical "I've nothing to hide, so I've nothing to fear" type argument.

Please post your WSF password in the next reply because God already knows that/has that; you don't need to hide it.

Also, please don't spread misinformation about linux data going to the highest bidder. We can't trust Microsoft; we probably can't trust Canonical, but we can trust the people at Gnu, the people working with Debian and others.

 

Re: Goodbye Windodws 8... for me linux...

I suspect so as Win 7 took a sudden rise.

 

How will a highly customised XP provide more privacy than Windows 7?

 

According to noone_particular (maybe that discussion should be in its own thread): https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?p=2270752#post2270752

 

A good place for info on Linux is www.dedoimedo.com.
I've been the Linux route and am somewhat dissatisfied
with it. To me it was a matter of to many chiefs and
not enough Indians. By that I mean every time someone
want to get their doctorate in computers they write another
distro which is better than any other one out there.
Do you have any idea how many distros there are for Linux.
And then there is the mess called "Grub". You also have
to understand 'Sudo' and all its ramifications to use
Linux well. That's absolutely absurd IMHO.

Besides I am a programmer and my programs do not work
in Linux. MASM32 and GoAsm. So I must suffer with Windows
like the rest of you. Yes I know about "Wine", but that is
not the way to write programs for Linux.

 

My attitude is, if I have to learn a new os, why not Windows 8? I believe Linux would be much more time-consuming and difficult for me, since I have been a Windows user for years, starting with Windows 98. To date, I have found my favorites are XP and Windows 8 - guess some would say that's the "child" in me, since both are rather colorful and over-structured. I am very pleased with Windows 8, by adding Stardock's Start8 and Rainmeter, I have exactly what I am looking for and find it very reliable and simple to use. To each his own....good luck with Linux!

 

I think it's a good move to linux. I'm just too comfortable with Win7 and Win8 in my pcs. I don't wanna spend more time and energy learning linux and everything.

 

As for me, I need Windows. All my programs and games are Windows exclusive. No, Wine is not an answer. I hate emulating anyway.

 

If learning 'sudo in the terminal' frightens people, those folks should pause for a moment.
It means clicking on an an icon, which opens a screen aka the terminal.
You enter sudo+command and thus you'll be asked to enter a password.
That's it folks. Typing a password. In a screen called 'terminal'. Not that absurd imao.

The linux learning curve really isn't that high, imo it's much more a vocabulary thing.

 

I think that at some time in the future I will also make the move to Linux. Most probably Ubuntu first, as I have experimented with a live CD of it in the past. I am quite happy with Win 7 at the moment, but I don't want Win 8 & I really think one day it will be time to move on.

 

Agreed. Didn't we recently see a very similar claim for Macs get proven wrong?

 

How come Grub is a mess?

It's just a bootloader and you should have no problem with it unless you plan to multiboot, and a simple sudo update-grub fixes most of the problem that can arise out of it. Yes, In some rare cases you can mess up with grub, but a newbie can easily fix that with livecds like Rescatux or Super Grub Disk.

What's there to learn in "sudo"? It's just an acronym for Superuser Do that is used to perform a task with elevated privilege of the superuser which is the root.

 

Win 7 is solid OS but again privacy issues turned me off. As for linux there is so many distros that its hard to choose.

 

I plan to run Win 7 as long as it is supported, but after that I'm pretty sure I will look at alternative operating systems to MS. I've been thinking about it for quite a while. I have no immediate plans but I am slowly & surely researching options & alternatives to Windows.