Newbie questions (was hijacked thread!)

[Mark Haney]

Bill and Jan Klemme wrote:
> Les wrote:
>> On Wed, 2008-02-20 at 13:37 -0500, Mark Haney wrote:
>>  
>>> Bill and Jan Klemme wrote:
>>>    
>
>>
>>   
> OK, right....here I go at the bottom!  Thanks for the courteous 
> responses and hints. I notice that I am responding to the last poster as 
> well as the entire group, which means that poster will get double.  Any 
> way of avoiding that?  I did not "reply all".
> It sounds like I may want to go with that "ubuntu" as someone suggested? 
> I love the bits and bytes stuff, but I just do not have the time now to 
> get into that.  I want a replacement for Windows, but want to be able to 
> run my Windows apps (like Quicken and Photoshop, etc). I am tired of 
> firewalls and virus programs and having to buy new ones every year that 
> haven't been debugged yet.

Most people do want a Windows replacement, notably to replace the 
disaster that is Vista.  There are some Quicken like packages that run 
natively on linux, but honestly I've never used them so I can't say how 
they work.  I believe that Quicken runs just fine under WINE, but again, 
I have not used it in that manner so I do not know.

> 
> I was led to understand that some version of Linux would be much less 
> vulnerable to hacking and viruses so thought I'd go that route with 
> Fedora.  

By default, I would say most linux distros are more secure than windows 
at least on the mailware/viruses side.  That topic, however, is a very 
big discussion and probably not suited for this thread.  Windows is 
vulnerable for several reasons, mostly it's need for every user to be 
Administrator to do normal things, whereas in linux that's not the case. 
  Another reason though is popularity.  The more popular an OS gets, the 
more likely it will see an increase in malware/viruses.  Note the latest 
crop of viruses and malware to hit the Mac.



I would like an OS that would be able to run Windows
> underneath, but would be very user-friendly...maybe even look like 
> Windows. (My wife uses the computer sometimes too. I don't want to have 
> a lot of explaining to do.) 

Personally, I don't think Fedora is your best solution.  Fedora is 
really 'bleeding edge' and usually has some issues with packages/softare 
being the latest and greatest.  That doesn't mean it's not a good 
choice, just not necessarily the best one for you.  I've moved several 
people over to Linux from Windows (my whole family uses linux, windows 
is only a game platform for us), including my Mom, and I think the best 
one for n00bs is Ubuntu, specifically Kubuntu, the KDE version.  The 
interface is so much like Windows, the learning curve is a lot less for 
things like opening email, etc.  It works on a lot of hardware without a 
lot of configuration and the liveCDs are good way to test that if you 
aren't sure.


Is a Mac a good solution, albeit an
> expensive one?

A Mac is a pretty good solution, although, I'm not a huge fan of OSx. 
Never have been.  To me, it's like windows in that it seems to want to 
hide the guts from the user and I like opening the hood.  Must be the 
Southerner in me.

> 
> Again, thanks for the invitation to jump in.
> Regards,
> Bill K
> 


-- 
Libenter homines id quod volunt credunt -- Caius Julius Caesar


Mark Haney
Sr. Systems Administrator
ERC Broadband
(828) 350-2415

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