Can Linux Really Replace Windows?

[Donald Darden]

After playing with several Linux Distributions, I think the answer is, that depends on who you are and why you ask.  If you mean an exact, transparent replacement, the answer is "No way!"  It's like asking if the American Standards for Weights and Measures can be completely replaced with the Metric System.  We ventured down that road a bit in the past, and the cost of wholesale conversion and the limited benefits gained simply make the process unacceptable to most.

If you are not yet a Windows user big time, then maybe beginning with Linux is not that much of a deal, and Linux has a lot to offer, most of it free for the download, so it could be an excellent way to go.  In that case, the answer could be a resounding "Yes!  Linux instead of Windows".

I found a number of tasks that I thought were just easier in Windows, or for which I could find no Linux counterpart.  That is because I still have a lot to learn about how Linux works.  And you are likely to be unhappy with Linux if your fancy equipment does not come with a driver for Linux that allows it to work with your disltribution.

But having played with Linux for awhile, I would say that if you do not have any great dependency on Windows, that Linux becomes like a great adventure.  There is so much given to you outright just for the download, and so much more in the offering, that breaking away from Windows is not without its compensations.  It's probably like learning gymnastics or taking up rock climbing - it may not pay off big time in the boardroom, but it has the prospect of giving you a richer life overall.

And with the emergence of Virtual Machine and LiveCDs increasing your range of options, you may find a way to walk successfully between these choices, taking the best from each.  In a manner of speaking, I've already have been doing something like that myself, but yet without the VM aspect.  My slow progress has been due to my need to remain productive in other areas, and my concessions to immediate considerations and having to put some of my goals on hold as a result.  But I continue to plug away and chip away at my objectives.   

[E.K.Virtanen]

Yes it can and no it dont.

For me, it has replaced windows totally. Personally, i think windows is useless OS in whole planet and i often wonder how anyone can use so badly coded, unstable, unsecure and unlogical operating system.
But some other thinks totally opposite, and most likely thinks how anyone can use so weird os than linux.

We have to remember one thing. Linux is not ment to replace windows, it is alternative operating system.
Instead of trying to get one perfect OS, we should get riddof closed standars and try to make everything as open as possible so anyone could write OS that can work decently.
Closed drivers for hardware are for bad, closed document styles...you name it.

E.K.Virtanen