Open Source on Windows

As I can't have a fully functional system with Linux at the moment (till I convince my partner to allow a second tower in the house or I get around to buying an EeePC) I've had to settle with a few Open Source apps that I can run on Windows. I've downloaded a couple so far these are Open Office (OOo as it's referred to) and Pidgin. Of course there are many more Open Source apps out there but I've only gotten around to these two so far.

Open Office is similar to Microsoft Office, it has all the usual apps such as word processing, Spreadsheets, Database, PowerPoint and Drawing. The great thing about OOo is it works in the same way as the Microsoft version so it's simple to use you don't have to relearn everything, also you can open Microsoft documents with it and vice versa, it's compatible with most systems so you don't have to worry about converting files if you use OOo at home and Microsoft at work. The best thing about OOo compared to Microsoft is that it's FREE!!

Pidgin is a chat client that allows you to send instant messages using many existing clients so if you have more than one account you can bring them altogether using this one app. Pidgin works with these IM clients..........

AIM
Bonjour
Gadu-Gadu
Google Talk
Groupwise
ICQ
IRC
MSN
MySpaceIM
QQ
SILC
SIMPLE
Sametime
XMPP
Yahoo!
Zephyr

Both Open Office and Pidgin come already preinstalled with Linux OS so although I can't have the full version at the moment at least I can still have a taste of Open Source on Windows.

Ubuntu Features

As I said before I have managed to have a go with Ubuntu on an older system and I'm very impressed. The amount of features available from the offset is a lot more than what you get with a cheap Windows OS. Some Apps include open office, Pigeon, FireFox virtually any open source application available and the list of games are also impressive even with a more expensive version of Windows I haven't seen as many games in one menu.


I had a go Playing Chess and the "GNU" (as it's referred to in Linux) keeps beating me, any time I play against the Windows "CPU" I always win. This just shows you how much more care has gone into developing even the smallest feature available in the Linux OS. Another thing I quite like, is when you click the shutdown option. In Linux once you've clicked on shutdown the computer just turns off in an instant, whereas in Windows once you've clicked shutdown it comes up with messages "application still running do you want to close", then it says "Logging Off" followed by "Windows is shutting down". Basically twenty minutes later and finally the computer turns off.


I've barely scratched the surface with what this OS can do but so far it has me hooked. Not much more has to be done now to convert me from an everyday Windows user to a dedicated Linux die hard.

VM WHERE???????

I've had to install Ubuntu onto an older system. I'm a bit disappointed in this as all my files etc are on the new system and my partner won't allow me to....

A. have both systems in the house and

B. completely get rid of Windows on the newer system.

I tried a different route. I found out that you can download a free bit of software from VMware called VM Player. This allows you to create a virtual machine on your computer and allows you to run a different OS within your current system. So I thought cool! I logged onto the site and downloaded the software, once I had installed it everything seemed to be going fine but then the computer crashed (a Windows fault not Linux). I tried using it afterwards but it wouldn't work so I thought I'd uninstall and reinstall it.

After uninstalling VM Player I click on the program to reinstall and guess what happened. NOTHING that's what happened NOTHING HAPPENED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm still determined to use Linux, after playing with it on my older system I'm very impressed with it. What I'd like to do now is either get a cheap second hand Laptop with no OS installed or even with no HDD. Or there is the option of buying the new eeePC.