Do you know of a free O.S. that is as good as, or better than Windows?

Question

Due to the many problems my customers are experiencing with Windows Xp and Vista, (crashing, freezing, lack of proper technical support) I am on a search for a good media based O.S.
I won't look for a business or office type, because there are many good add-ons to make your O.S. an office machine without it being imbedded in the O.S.

Actually, I need a good media type, are there any that are good for that too?

Answer 1

Have a look at http://distrowatch.com/ and find your *Unix distro.

Answer 2

I agree with what's been suggested already -- some form of Linux is your best bet. "Ubuntu" seems to be doing very well in the consumer market just now, and for 'open source' software, that's generally a good indicator that it's well-made and user-friendly.

Using something like Linux for a media OS has it's pros and cons. One of the biggest benefits is that you are not pressed into using some proprietary file format which might have limited support on other systems (such as Microsoft's WMA format). As such, you're free to use some of the open formats, which are often better, more flexible and/or more compatible with other systems.

On the other hand, there are sometimes legal issues (such as patents) preventing the use of some file formats and/or encoding algorithms. In many cases, you theoretically just need to pay a license fee, but since free software projects can't afford to do that, it means you'll need to buy commercial software.

Answer 3

Personal opinion -- Windows runs on over 90% of all PCs - why take a chance on incompatibility?

WindowsXP is so popular, Microsoft extended sales to June. Dell has ordered more computers to sell with XP. Microsoft is offering non-technical help for XP until 2014.

Vista takes some getting used to, but with a little work, it can be learned. Setting it to "classic view," which makes it resemble XP, helps a lot.

Too many users give up too easily and do not make sufficient effort to learn. Amazon sells a myriad of books, used, at great prices. I have purchased many. With TV so sophomoric these days, what better to do than read a good computer book? Check these out and you'll see what I mean.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-5320541-6721500?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=WindowsXP

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw/104-5320541-6721500?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Vista

Answer 4

There are many good forms of linux. Right now Ubuntu is the hot version: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Answer 5

I would recommend Linux, any flavor.