I have not switched to Ubuntu yet. If you have it then why did you switch to Ubuntu?

I switched to Ubuntu roughly three years ago. I spend most of my time there but occasionally dual boot to Windows for gaming and testing software.


Reasons for switching: it's free, fast and secure. It covers my needs (web, email, office, video, music, coding, recording). I like the window manager (scroll without window focus; alt-middle click to resize; alt-left click to move). I like the available software (gnome-do launcher; banshee media player; guake drop-down terminal; easystroke mouse gestures; empathy messenger; firefox; chrome; openoffice). I like its themeability and customization options. I like the fact that it uses familiar keyboard shortcuts (unlike Mac OS X or other Linux distros). I love the fact that it boots in 6 seconds flat (on my Intel SSD).

Reasons for not switching: you use your computer primarily for playing games. You absolutely require some piece of software that doesn't work on Linux. You prefer streamlining over customization (i.e. you wish to treat computers as an appliance).

My advice: try it out. Reserve ~16GB on your hard drive (run compmgmt.msc on windows and shrink one of your disks) and install Ubuntu there. Stick with it for a week, create a development environment, browse the web, see if it works for you. If it doesn't, no harm done: boot windows and wipe the partition. If it does, stick with it and add another tool to your belt. You never know when it will come in handy.

I have a Ubuntu setup at home and a Win7 setup on my work laptop. I use Ubuntu for pretty much everything, but do require access to Windows apps for work.

Ubuntu is capable of doing pretty much everything you need however it is, as stated above, rough around the edges. OpenOffice isn't as streamlined as Microsoft Offerings, but will work sufficiently well for most tasks. Window Resizing sucks, as mentioned. I do like the multiple desktops which turns Ctrl-(Up/Down/Left/Right) into a quick desktop navigation tool, and Ctrl-Shift-(Up/Down/Left/Right) to quickly move the current window around the desktops.

Overall I am impressed with the available applications for Ubuntu. I do enjoy using Thunderbird, Chrome, GRAMPS, KTorrent, VLC and some other apps which I have used less frequently. For home use I have also been very impressed with its ability to detect printers when connected without having to track down drivers at all. I haven't tried Win7 in this respect with the home Printer, but I know for work printers I was required to chase down drivers.

Win7 does seem far more polished though.

EDIT: Oh, the WHY....
The laptop had Vista on it. I needed to rebuild it. Vista sucked even worse on it after I rebuilt it, with finding drivers a major problem, and once drivers were installed it was still slow as a dog. I couldn't justify buying Win7, so Ubuntu was my Free option. I thought it was about time to give it a try (I had last used Redhat 7 many years ago, and it was only moderately successful in its job). It exceeded my expectations for speed, reliability and usability. I doubt I will go to anything else on that laptop (Compaq C710TU).

I have not switched to Ubuntu yet. If you have it then why did you switch to Ubuntu?

It's ok but I like ArchLinux better because it allows you to choose what you want to use more easily and has more recent versions of software in its package manager (it's more bleeding edge). Needs a bit more time to set up (you need to install the desktop manager you want for example, you start without any), but once you set it up to your liking, it needs no maintenance at all except a "pacman -Syu" every once in a while. I've had an ArchLinux running for 4 years without problems, then I got a new PC, and now this one is running for 3 years. It doesn't get slower or less stable after a while or so. It doesn't require risky updates to new major versions twice a year like Ubuntu (I say risky because in my experience Ubuntu gets less stable if you don't reinstall it from scratch), instead ArchLinux just gets incremental updates as often as you want.

Ubuntu is easy, but, if you post something on their forums it gets no reply because your message is pushed to the second page soon, and it's only easy if you want it their way.

I have not switched to Ubuntu yet. If you have it then why did you switch to Ubuntu?

I switched three to four years ago, because it was generally somewhat better polished on the desktop than Debian. I still feel happy with it, and I'm typing this on an Ubuntu netbook.

The window resizing thing did annoy me when I switched from KDE to Gnome during the initial messy days of KDE 4. Under KDE, you can bind a modifier key to window resizing, so that e.g. Ctrl + Mouse Drag moves and Alt + Mouse Drag resizes your windows, which is very cool. Then again, I'm a fullscreen kind of guy, so it never really bothered me much.