[Katylar]

Hi. I have a laptop that currently has Windows Vista Home Basic.

I like the OS well enough, and am a admitted high-level Windows user (meaning I know the ins and outs of windows well enough, and Vista, although it may be extremely different from the other OS's, it's still pretty much Windows, as far as I'm concerned). actually, despite the talk, I actually enjoy Vista very much, and I really don't have any complaints about it. In any system, a little thinking is all that's required to like most annoyances.

However, I've been thinking of dual-booting Ubuntu with my Vista, with the hopes of using this OS extensively so I'll get to know it as well as I know windows, and maybe eventually swtiching over to it.

My only qualm is compatability. I myself use a lot of freeware and commercial software and I'm afraid that I might not be able to use the same applications I enjoy now.

At the top of my head, my mose used applications are MS Office 2007, Adobe CS3, Audacity, Winamp, RPG Toolkit, DAZ 3d Studio, Firefox, Kaspersky, Utorrent, CDisplayEx, ZoomPlayer, VLC, MS Reader, Alcohol, Spybot and a bit more.

And helluva lot of GAMES. I have some games that I had to get DOSbox for just to play. So aside from new games, I have a lot of old games.

My question is will I be able to function in the same way? I know, most would recommend using OpenOffice.Org and GIMP instead of MSoffice2007 and Adobe CS3, but I've tried these alternatives, and find that I much prefer Microsoft's Office Suite and Photoshop. Everything else, as far as I know, are crossplatform (except for RPG toolkit and MS Reader). Will WINE be enough for me to use my old programs and play my same games?

Despite how much set into Windows I may be, I really want to try ubuntu.

Any suggestions?

[CouchMaster]

You could repartition the HD and run both - instructions should be on the Linux forum.
Also you won't need all of that antivirus stuff for Ubuntu, and it comes with an office suite.

[saikee]

If you dual boot both systems you lose nothing but gain whatever Linux can offer you.

So what is the problem?

Installing one OS doesn't take away any of the functionalities of the resident system.

[adanedhel728]

At first you might not see much use to it, but after awhile you may find you like certain things. I was in a similar situation when I first started dual-booting (I didn't go straight to Ubuntu, but it's where I landed), and now I'm planning on getting a computer specifically for Ubuntu.

I don't care a whole lot for Open Office, and I much prefer Photoshop to Gimp, but I've just grown to like Ubuntu because it's faster than Windows (unless you use Compiz-Fusion), it's got a great UI, and there are some freeware programs available for Linux that aren't available in Windows. For example, Amarok is an iTunes-like program (minus the DRM nonsense) that I've grown to really really like (I imagine its praises are probably sung by many Linux users) and I wish were available in Windows, same with a program called dvd::rip. I really think you might be amazed at the available freeware out there for Ubuntu.

It can also be very frustrating at first, but after awhile I certainly grew to like it.

I'm not an anti-Micro$oft fanatic (personally, I think Windows is a great OS), but Ubuntu is just fantastic at some things (like the multiple desktops, I use those all the time!). And the 3D effects in Compiz-Fusion are more than just eyecandy, they're very useful. Well, ok, sometimes it's just eyecandy, but other times it's pretty useful (like the 3D cube). But even the things that are eyecandy can be nice; like I like to have a raindrops effect just to break the monotony if I'm doing something uninteresting.

Even now it can be frustrating to me sometimes (like right now my Amarok isn't working and I can't figure out why; I'm going to restart after I finish posting ), but I still think it's worth it.

As for games, there are some interesting freeware games for Linux (and once in awhile you'll find proprietary games on Linux, too, like Quake 3 or some things like that), but all-in-all, I wouldn't use it much for games. I've heard some amazing success stories involving Wine, including people getting better performance out of Wine than in Windows itself, but all-in-all I don't really like Wine. I figure, I'm dual-booting, I've got Windows, and if I want to use a Windows program then I'll go into Windows. If I'm in Linux, I use Linux programs. A lot of people might disagree with me, but I just don't like Wine because it's finicky. I tried it and had some success with some things and no success with others.

But, at the end of the day, I would recommend Ubuntu to anybody who has the slightest bit of interest in it. It's a great OS. Sometimes I go into Windows and it feels refreshing, sometimes I go into Ubuntu and it's refreshing. They both have advantages; that's why I suggest either dual-booting or using two different computers.

So, to sum up an especially long-winded post, yes! Go for it!

[TerryNet]

If you don't want to repartition your disk(s), try Wubi: http://wubi-installer.org/

It will install Ubuntu (or Kubuntu or Xubuntu) as a Windows program, and can be removed as any other installed program. Actually it carves out a large file (I'm using 15 GB) that is formatted for a Linux installation. It does not run under Windows. The boot is set up to default to Windows, but you get about 15 seconds to select Linux instead.

The only downside I see is that a Windows reinstall would require a Linux reinstall.