I've thinking of downloading a linux distro (after looking through them of course) and instaling as a dualboot but tbh i've been wondering what would be the point so i'm wondering, what's the use and or advantage of using linux over windows 7?

It's free. But if you already have Windows 7 then it has no advantages unless you are one of those who believe anything Open Source is automatically the greatest thing ever.

It's dumb to say that there are NO advantages.  But it also depends on who you are and what you use your computer for.  For a lot of people Linux is just going to be more of a hassle than a good thing but for some people and some usages Linux is v.  nice.

But considering you wanted to try a dualboot and you've already got Windows installed first (which is the correct order to do things if you want to dualboot easily) then just download it and install it and see if you like it.

if you're doing basic computing(wordprocessing, listening to music, web browsing, etc) or techie shit then linux is fine. If you already have and are comfortable with windows then there's really no benefit to using linux. I use debian on my netbook and it works fine but YMMV if you've got some incompatible hardware.

I'm not sure if you can do this in other distros but you can install Ubuntu/Kubuntu inside windows, so Linux uses a virtual disk. Look for a WUBI install program when you download it. It has the advantage of being easy to uninstall if you don't want it anymore.

It's free. But if you already have Windows 7 then it has no advantages unless you are one of those who believe anything Open Source is automatically the greatest thing ever.

That qualifies as me.

It's practical in my situation because I have to do all my programming schoolwork on unix machines, and I like doing most of my testing without having to go and SSH the server on campus. (plus I can do that even easier with Linux just by going to the terminal)

It really is a personal decision as to whether or not it's something worth having, but that's enough reason to say it's worth trying out at least. (since it's just as easy to uninstall either way)

Ack, i can't belive i forgot about this thread i started, nvm. any way i think i won't bother, it's just tbh the problem that i had with Vista i don't have with windows 7, i'm happy with it and i don't do much programing (any more) and i can reasonably fix any issues that do come up (so far none). Since i do have Virtual computer software build in to windows 7 i might try it with that but it would be more for the novelty of it then to actualy have a use of it. Still thanks for the info.

P.s. windows XP mode is really pretty usfull

the primary advantage of linux is it doesn't make me want to kick my computer out a window. if you don't know better you can just use windows though.

edit: seriously windows 7 starter edition made me so mad. it's like a preloaded virus.

the primary advantage of linux is it doesn't make me want to kick my computer out a window. if you don't know better you can just use windows though.

edit: seriously windows 7 starter edition made me so mad. it's like a preloaded virus.

Hence why i whent with pro, but beyond that is pointless.

oh is that why you went with pro over an edition that only comes with netbooks?

ahahaha you're judging windows 7 in its entirety based on the starter edition???  why would you do this???

I'd say over half of everyone who uses linux as a desktop OS feels the need to publicly justify it in some way

"Welp: it's better than windows starter edition" is about as good as any other, regardless of how dumb it is

Yeah and I'd say that same over half don't really have any business using linux.  Like they don't have a reason beyond HEH, IT'S LINUX.  I'M USING LINUX.

Linux is great for certain things.  A lot of people using it aren't using it for those things.  I will never understand people who primarily use a computer for gaming that also use Linux.

most of the games i care about run sufficiently well on linux and to be honest if your reason to be running windows is access to derivative space marine bullshit you should just read a book. there's lots of books about space marines. internet cafes have most new games available for a lot less timewasting / cost than putting them on your computer and you feel less obliged to continue playing if they turn out to suck.

imo the main reasons not to use linux are:
- lack of good CAD software for engineering drawing
- no good DAW support aside from renoise so if you don't like trackers...
- gimp really isn't photoshop (mypaint is awesome for drawing from scratch though)
- a piece of hardware you own doesn't have proper drivers for linux or is intentionally locked to windows/mac
- lack of good game development tools beyond compilers and text editors.

the reason I do use linux is that it doesn't fight me at every turn when I want to change something about my computer. it has good terminal programs, which simply don't exist on windows (I think it's reasonable for me to say this, I worked for about 3 months in a Windows environment and mostly stuck to the terminal when possible.) it's a lot faster and easier to manage software with a package manager once you've learned how it works than to keep around a bunch of .msi files and use the add/remove programs dialogue. ext3 doesn't require anywhere near as much defragmentation and dicking around as NTFS (i.e. i have never defragmented my disk) and you can send kill signals to programs, which are significantly more effective than clicking "end task" and hoping your box does what you told it to do. i don't need antivirus software and my computer doesn't constantly advertise to me with windows performance scores (that go down even though my computer hasn't changed??) and anti hacker super macro command centres. basically, if something goes wrong with my computer, i don't need to ask official permission to fix it or beg a wizard to diagnose my fault code.i'd say that that's something worth paying for but I got it for free. if you really want to pay, you could get a mac.

please, break it down for me. it wasn't at you btw.