Quote:
Originally Posted by
Corona688
If you install Linux expecting WindowsXPButFreeAndCooler®©™ you will be disappointed.
How absolutely true! Amen to that!
On the other hand, if you are truly willing to learn and understand the tool - a computer and its OS is a tool, after all - you are using, you might be in for an amazing discovery which could well last a life. From washing machines to mainframes, from data base server to WLAN router, there is nothing you can't do. Yes, desktop PCs too - nothing special.
Windows is like a pre-built house. Move in instantly, but if you don't like the rooms layout, that's tough luck. Unix - every Unix and Linux - is more like a load of bricks plus some mortar. Build whatever suits you, but you have to DO it. There is a pre-built house included like in Windows - the distributions -, but what really sets it apart is the possibility to add, scratch and (re-)build rooms as you want until you reach your personal definition of "palace".
You will find an awful lot of things already built in other OSes lack, but you will have to learn how to use them, how to configure them and how to make them work together with other parts of the system. All this means you have to DO something to GET something. Still, the effort is both very rewarding and very satisfying to exert.
I work with Unix systems both professionally and for private use 25 years now - i couldn't say that i know everything worth knowing and still learn new things every day. And my curiosity still isn't satisfied. Not even by a wide margin.
bakunin