I run Windows because some software requires it and I don't do dual boot (or the better modern way
a virtual machine) because it isn't worth the bother to me.

It's pretty easy to install a linux like Ubuntu on a new machine but you can boot a live Ubuntu system
off a USB thumbdrive to try it out before you have to install anything.

It gets used for conference software and steam. Neither that frequently. Turning on windows is a guaranteed hour or so of patching and scanning before I can use it.

Linux has been pretty comfy for me!

I switched to single boot. So it's Linux on my main machine, Android (which is based on the Linux kernal) on my phone and a form of MontaVista Linux on my Sony eReader.

What's the setup process like? How long does it take?

Once I installed WINE (from the Linux repository) it was just a matter of going to Pokerstars and downloading the installation package (Windows .exe file) and then opening it the "Wine Windows Program Loader."

And when you decided to use only Mint where did you go for that option?
What worries me about dual boot is what happens if you get a virus or
malware on Microsoft?
I had an odd experience the other day when I was switching from a
temporary free AVG with more extras back to a FREE AVG anti-virus with
less coverage. In the middle of the switch, AVG said there was a virus.
They showed details of the virus and then offered to wipe it out. They did.
I don't know what it might really mean. Could I have picked up something
just in the short time Microsoft has signed off?

Anyway, it makes me feel more like just getting rid of Microsoft completely.
Except for the games. I like their checkers and Free Cell and Hearts.
Just a diversion but sometimes needed.

I was hit with a worm that AVG didn't catch and I didn't have the restore disk. Since I couldn't afford a version of Windows, I got an Ubuntu CD. Ubuntu/Mint also has Freecell.

nor that other brand... starts with an A or an i ??.... something like that, in just as long.

Ubuntu is the main OS with Gnome and then there's XP, Vista and Windows 8 > .

(So I can walk friends through their problems.)

Also XP and MSDOS 6 (including Windows 3.1) in Virtualbox.

That uses peeks and pokes, right?

DOS 6 was to see if games like Leisure Suit Larry, Jill of the Jungle, the original Doom, Wolfenstein 3D and Terminal Velocity would run.

Had to limit the clock on some.

Forgetting to limit the clockspeed though causes games to run at light speed on modern hardware.

Did you try the games with DOSBox or FreeDOS?

It took forever to figure out how to get them to see a USB gamepad. Terminal Velocity is STILL addictive.

Windows 2.1, 3.1, 95, NT4, XP and 8. NextStep 3.3, Rhapsody DR2, OS X 10.6, BeOS 5, Haiku, Plan 9, Syllable, Solaris 11, MikeOS, ReactOS, SkyOS, FreeBSD and Debian all in VMWare on OS X 10.9.

Now, I actually USE XP, 8, 10.6, and Debian. Everything else is just a collection.

It's actually entirely stable and useable, but there's a bit of an app shortage, to put it mildly.

It's kinda nice to see just about any question you have has already been asked and answered with a fix.

Their mobile offerings are neither here nor there and their recent legal behavior is beyond words - but having a proper "systems vendor" is an invaluable lesson I learned in college supporting 32 O2 workstations on an Origin200 server. Sometimes, having one company make the whole package is a damned good thing.

Then again, IRIX did warp my mind. I think it's why I still prefer BSDs...but can't be really happy outside of SysV

I spend an unusual amount of time fixing their computers.

One recently decided to fool around with the handicapped settings and lost their keyboard.

I do sometimes wish every hardware vendor had to support their OS.

I guess people who work at computers all day hate going home to a chair at computer on a desk.

They want mobility.

Which makes me envision a future where we will look back on cubicle life as "the good old days".

"You mean there was a time when you could SIT through your whole eight hour day?"

Input isn't by mouse and keyboard. It's by THOUGHT.

For the past five years or so. I haven't used Windows in ten years and in between I had a Mac. I switch off distros every so often and always have different ones in partitions. Currently:

Linux Mint 16 KDE

Elementary Luna

Linux Mint 16 Cinnamon

Peppermint Four

Deepin 2013

I only just installed Deepin yesterday. I was curious about how it might have progressed since the last time I looked at it a couple of years ago. They've done a beautiful job of it. I upgraded the kernel and made sure Netflix and Amazon had no problems, but Deepin 2013 is pretty much perfect the way it comes. There will be a new release soon and I'll be installing that one.

Your question: How complicated is it to install Linux on a new build?

I know it's not complicated on Linux Mint. You have the option of installing it alongside your Windows installation. When I very first installed Peppermint One, my first Linux distro, I kept XP in place for six months after as insurance, though I never used it. I had no idea at all of what I was doing with Linux at the time and nothing went wrong. However, this installation process along with Windows may have changed over time, so please don't take my word for it.

...which is Xen-Linux based. The rationale behind Qubes is high security in a desktop.

Out of the box Qubes runs Fedora Linux but you can install Windows in it and have the apps 'seamlessly' appear in the Qubes desktop.

http://www.qubes-os.org

I've had so many differnet flavors of linux on my old box that I can't even begin to name them all. Sometimes I've had as many as a half dozen different flavors on one hard drive even. I've had linux dual booted with windblows XP. If you go with a dual boot with a Gates and company product you have to put it on first cause none of them will recognize a linux partition. I run AutoCad 2000 on linux using Wine. Works as good as it does on XP. Acad2000 native operating system is win 98 so you have to emulate to run it on XP anyway so why not just go all out and use wine.

I just purchased an SSD and put ubuntu on it and I'm here to say it is blazingly fast. from turn on to ready to go in 13 seconds.

My gaming laptop has a highly tweaked Windows 8. My main computer has Windows 7 Pro X64, The one I use for analog to digital audio conversion has XP. My HTPC is running Mint 15 XFCE X64. My backup/bedroom computer has XP Pro X64 and the one in the library room/office has Windows 7 Home Premium X64 and Mint 13 X64 on it. My tablet runs Android 4.1-I use it mainly as an E-reader.

Burn a CD/DVD from install iso (or create bootable usb), put in computer, boot from that disk, follow prompts, done.

I've used pretty much everything, *DOS, OS/2, BeOS, Windows, Mac, Linux, ReactOS, Haiku etc. but for the last 5 years I've only run Linux as my only installed OS.

Currently still running Linux Mint 13 Mate desktop edition. May have to give Valve's SteamOS distro a try one of these days, maybe when I get around to building a box around the AMD A10-7850K.

As for installing Linux, it's dead simple, almost all desktop oriented distros have a graphical install setup like you'd see in Windows or Mac OS X. You just put in the base account info it asks for, tell it what volume you want it installed on and let it install and grab updates while the installer is running. In about an hour(depending on how fast your internet connection is) you've got it fully installed.

I recommend Ubuntu, Mandriva or Mint* as a beginner's OS. If you have a Steam account and any games you own are available on Linux you'll be able to play them without having to repurchase them. The same is probably true for Desura and Gameolith accounts.

* Mint is based on Ubuntu and is a better choice for slightly more advanced users who want a different desktop UI installed then Ubuntu's Unity, as I myself use the Mate desktop which looks very much like the traditional Windows 95-7 era desktop. The problem with Mint though is that the changes they have made do not allow you to directly upgrade the distro every 6 months, you have to backup and install from scratch or move your /home directory (where your user accounts data is stored) to another volume and replace the install. Ubuntu on the other hand has the ability to directly upgrade every 6 months, provided you have remembered to remove any PPAs and their software before hand as these can cause all kinds of problems with upgrades, especially if you are doing some very advanced stuff with the experimental open source GPU drivers and still in development kernel.

for exactly the reasons you specify.

It can be a PITA, but it's worth it.

to run Windows XP just for updating my Garmin navigator.

Got to run Win7 to get the most out of them. Win8? Fuck that. I'll change completely to Linux and DirectX will be dead to me. I despise Windows 8 with a passion.

reliable. ... absolutely easy to install and use. ... and there are none of the ridiculous predatory MS licensing schemes.

It is easy to dual boot Ubuntu over a previous Windoze install (through Win7 anyway, I still prefer XP), but you need to read the directions, and install Windoze first.

don't think I understand what you mean about installing Windows first.
Also up to now you've had Microsoft support. Are you worried about
getting viruses on the Microsoft partition?

Although I do generally install their updates, and run AVG anti-virus, and make sure my firewalls are working.

If you install Windows first, Ubuntu can repartition the drive and install a boot loader that lets you select which OS you wish to run at boot time (when you turn it on). You get dual boot, and you get a convenient way to choose which to run, and how much disk space to give each.

Most of the security troubles Microsoft has are to do with Outlook (their user-mail-handler botch) and Internet Explorer (their internet browser botch) which I never use voluntarily.

The other thing is I don't DO things on the internet that I want kept private. You will never find my dick there. I assume my email is public, anybody can see it. While I do buy things on the web now and then, I avoid it, and I never use PayPal. No "accounts" for random sites I visit, sometimes I lie about who I am. (That can be interesting, you can find out who is sellng you by giving different sites different info and seeing what names show up on your junk mail. I don't do social media at all (except DU). I have a few financial accounts on the web, but try to avoid that too. The recent blowup over SSL had little effect on me, I don't use that stuff, and the things I do use have their shit together.

And still I am sure the watchers know lots about me.

Happiness is knowing you are not much exposed to the risks.

but some very annoying messages which makes me wonder how to shut Microsoft off completely. Ridiculous messages such as one which pops up whenever I go to my email which asks if I want to see it all, or "only that which was delivered securely" i.e., to their satisfaction. It's ridiculous and meaningless, but you have to respond each time.

Every time I turn the computer on I get a whole slew of Microsoft Security Essential messages warning me that my computer is "At RISK" and that Microsoft is no longer supporting the running of apps but that I should hit RESTART.

Again, I already have windows XP installed on my computer. Are you intending to mean that in the sense of when you turn the computer on AFTER downloading Linux?

Microsoft troubles are endless, beginning after XP and including all of their crashes and freezes which they've never worked on repairing. Afaic see they've never repaired any of their problems, preferring to create a diversion. If they knock down all of your screens when you only X'd out one, then then begin to supply you with a new bit of BS which asks whether you'd like them to restore them all? Or another which asks if you want to close just the current screen or all of them. Diversion, no repair.

I'm sure what you are saying in your 4th paragraph is something most of us do in tring not to be foolish. Otoh, I agee that we all have to understand how all of our communications are being captured by NSA.

I run Windows 7 for games on the laptop, Android on my phone, and currently a Mint x64 build on my main desktop.