I have the solution to everyone's problems, just dual boot.
If you will be playing AAA titles or other "popular" games makes no sense using Linux. For gaming windows is the best right now.
I'm going to make my stand on this issue so there is no confusion.
I think it's the users choice as to what he prefers to use.
But I wont put up with ignorant people, giving crap, asshat generalized answers, trying to sway people to one side. I will argue for both sides. Hard. If your reasons are crap. Or simply aren't true.
I agree with you that there is a strong place for linux in things other than home PCs.
But I think you're pushing it to say that windows only allows a 1% usage of capabilities.
I can do most, if not all things (Except compiling certain projects) On windows. There are certain advantages to using linux, I'll give you that. But your numbers are a bit extreme.
If you save a complicated enough text document or presentation with MS Office and then open it with OpenOffice, it will look different and in most cases broken. That's something you'll hear from pretty much any ordinary user who tried both and it's a deal breaker for most of them.
I have never heard this from anyone. Proof please?
I know how to use terminal. I don't want to use it for anything, especially for everyday tasks. Everything should be achievable by GUI.
Want me to spoon feed you and wipe your ass, too? You do know that terminal was here first, and the GUI only turns pretty pictures into terminal commands behind the scenes, right? The GUI is to make things easy for people that don't understand.
That's also completely your opinion.
How is saying that it has a low memory footprint, fast, playing many filetypes, and being playlist based an opinion? That's called a "Fact". Maybe if you googled the term, you would come up with some.
Most music players on linux that I've seen are similar to Audacious and I don't like this kind of interface.
Remember that "Opinion" thing you were bashing earlier? You're doing it again.
I don't understand why would anyone care whether a piece of software is open-source or proprietary as long as it does its job. I can't find any reason to care.
Of course you don't.
You are wrong if you think I'm a windows fanboy. I also don't like windows. It's just that there are no good desktop operating systems and windows is the most usable one and it does 95% of what I need from an operating system
Sounds like a fanboy statement to me. Unless the 95% of what you're doing is getting malware from pr0n.
Finally, someone who actually understands what actually should be done rather than just giving what they think/want themselves. Thank you and I love you!
For games just use windows. Don't buy it, if that's your problem.
OP could dual boot and use both. ;)
@OP
The only reason ive been hesitant to use linux is because i really dont want to go through a huge learning curve just to use the os
Well, if you aren't willing to learn anything, just get Windows. It's simple, and gets the job done. I got a free copy of Win 7 through my college. Maybe your school offers it for free or at least at a discount. If not, become best friends with Google. Google knows many things.
At this point in time, I see Linux as an OS for Internet browsing and productivity. If most of what you do on your PC is play games, then I would recommend that you make a list of games that you play and plan on playing in the future. Research those games and figure out if they are supported by Linux or Windows. If most are supported by a particular OS, then chances are, you're going to want to use that OS for maximum compatibility.
As time progresses, I'm certain more and more games are going to take advantage of Linux. You could also install Windows and use it as your main OS. Then you could run your favorite Linux distro inside a virtual machine.
[Edit]
Dual booting is also another option.
Although I think Linux is far superior I feel going with windows has prevented alot of headaches with getting things to work (especially on the gaming side), obviously the fruits of the labor are richer but for now I'm happy to use windows until there is better gaming support.
Want me to spoon feed you and wipe your ass, too? You do know that terminal was here first, and the GUI only turns pretty pictures into terminal commands behind the scenes, right? The GUI is to make things easy for people that don't understand.
Of course I know. But terminal doesn't provide a good user experience so if ordinary user has to use it for everyday tasks, developers are doing something very wrong. Linux will not be a mainstream desktop OS until they fix issues like this.
How is saying that it has a low memory footprint, fast, playing many filetypes, and being playlist based an opinion? That's called a "Fact". Maybe if you googled the term, you would come up with some.
How low memory footprint do you need? 15 mb is good enough? You know that's not an issue, considering how much RAM any currently used PC has.
Playing many filetypes is also common feature of modern players not worth mentioning, unless you are playing something exotic. I personally haven't encountered anything less common than True Audio and the player that I use supports it. Which uncommon formats do you need?
You cannot measure user experience in technical specs like memory usage and number of supported formats. There are no "best" music players, everyone has a different opinion on what a music player should be.
Remember that "Opinion" thing you were bashing earlier? You're doing it again.
Of course I am. But the point is, if there's something that I need that is not present on an operating system, for me as a user it's a shortcoming of that operating system.
Of course you don't.
And of course you don't have any valid reasons that you can tell me.
From what I understand, you arent even competent enough to get linux installed, little on run skype.
I've installed several major distributions in virtual machines.
It's less flashy, and more efficient. You have a contacts list. Thats is. Thats all you need.
1. It's ugly. I don't like ugly software. If you have problems with me caring about how interfaces look, move along.
2. It's less convenient to use compared to windows version because of how interface elements are placed.
And don't tell me what I need.
Many windows music players are clones of ones from linux. Go use iTunes somewhere else.
I use AIMP. Now go assume things somewhere else.
But you said linux didn't have any?
I never did.
VLC with a few plugins is one of the best video players there is (In terms of being able to play EVERY video format). And guess what. Its on linux.
It's also on Windows and I don't like it. And again, which formats do you need?
MPC-HC plays .mkv with embedded subtitles and ordered chapters and uses DXVA, also supports Hi10P. That's pretty much the most complex thing I need from a video player. And all of that without installing any additional codecs and configuring it.
Which exotic video formats do you play that specifically require you to use a player that can play something other players can't?
You can't be serious.
Right click or double click and extract. That's all an ordinary user needs from an archiver.
So going to a website, finding the program, downloading it, clicking several times to install it. Yep. Definitely easier than typing out two lines of a command.
In case where I can use a package manager, I need to find what to install first which requires going to google and finding the program first. The amount of time saved by being able to type a command instead of clicking next is insignificant. By the way, there's cinst on windows.
Also, package management the way it's on linux right now, sucks. Not from the perspective of the user but a developer.
You haven't been using a computer very long, have you?
Somewhere around 15 years.
It's funny though how offended you can get by arguing about an operating system that has 1% desktop market share.
Market share has nothing to do with it. Also he's not offended because of the argument, but because of ignorant, stubborn guys like you.
Market share has nothing to do with it.
Small market share is a direct consequence of linux's shortcomings.
Also he's not offended because of the argument, but because of ignorant, stubborn guys like you.
Since when having a different opinion is ignorance?
I have an Android phone. So what?
Also, why do you assume that I don't like linux in general? We are talking about desktop linux here, and how well linux fares on phones, servers, routers, supercomputers etc. has nothing to do whatsoever with it.
Hihi, ridiculous.
Linux has the biggest market share of all operating systems.
When you're misusing the word opinion. Obvious troll since most of your points were proven false and/or faulty, some were opinion. Apparently you don't like linux, and that's fine. Voicing the reasons is fine too. But when you counter a counter with saying your original point was irrelevant, phew, you lost me there.
I'm talking about desktop market share and you know that. But apparently, you are not even trying to make a meaningful discussion
I wouldn't bother installing something without an automated installer, I hate when user is forced to do something that software can do by itself.
Not a single piece of software, or a whole collection for that matter, can decide for me what I want to have installed. So no, software can NOT do my install for me. You're too used of being told what to do and the lack of choice. (Think basic tools)
This is why I prefer minimal installs, having a better choice of what I want installed and avoiding the bloat from the start. Ubuntu-server, Debian, Arch, Gentoo, those are the ones I know and have tried that have minimal installs and also having tried "complete" distro's, the minimal installs remain my favorites.
I've always preferred the linux way of installing software. The vast majority of what you need or want is simply in the repositories (or however you want to call it) and is a simple package manager installation, GUI or cli since some offer both. The rare occasion you need something that isn't in there might be harder, but for those few times it's barely worth noting... It usually means you're trying to do something advanced anyways so why you'd be put off is beyond me.