What are some advantages Ubuntu has over Windows?

Q: I don't really know much about Linux Distro's, or what purpose they serve. But a lot of people seem to like Ubuntu, some even prefer it over XP & Vista, why could this be. I read that not everything is compatible with Ubuntu, so if i wanted to switch over i'd have to sacrifice my games? music? pictures? etc?

A: You will probably not be able to play some of your games. There is something called WINE which, with some work, may allow you to play certain Windows games. You will be able to listen to all of your music, although you may have to do a bit of reorganizing if you are like me and have a `system` for storing and keeping track of your music. You will absolutely be able to view and edit all of your pictures. One of the main reasons that people like Linux in general is that it is free and community developed. This means that anybody can contribute to the OS, so long as they have an idea and the skill to put it to a good use. Perhaps the greatest attraction for Windows users to switch over to a Linux OS, is the lack of viruses. While malware does exist for Linux OSs, it is much more difficult to get an infection, let alone a serious one. First time Linux users often choose Ubuntu because it is one of the most user-friendly Linux distributions around. Linux can scare people away because it has a reputation for requiring advanced command line skills. Nowadays, it is not true that you need to be proficient with the command line to use a Linux operating system. This is especially true with Ubuntu. Ubuntu is, for many users, and particularly desktop users, an out-of-the-box solution. It supports a huge range of hardware and can configure drivers automatically, and for the things that do need a bit of configuration, there are tools with graphical interfaces to make the process more accessible. In fact, you could probably use Ubuntu for months, and almost never have to open a command prompt. Here too, is another great aspect of Ubuntu in particular. Since it has such a large userbase, chances are, that even if you do need to use the command line, you will be able to find some tutorials online where all you need to do is copy and paste some commands, maybe changing one or two things along the way to suit your system. Much of the time, you don't even need to know what the commands do. If you are considering using Ubuntu, but are concerned about compatibility or difficulty adjusting to it, I'd recommend freeing up a bit of space on your hard drive and installing Ubuntu to a separate partition. It can be a small partition if you want; that way, if you like it, you can increase the size of the partition later.

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