content: I see a lot of people asking about switching to Linux. Here's some words from someone who has and helped others along the way. Some people seem very nervous as they don't want to be left in the dark and can't do what they need to. They are comfortable with Windows and have been for quite some time. Linux is just different than Windows. The average person can do whatever they need to on Linux. Sure there are some exceptions. Gamers and people who use proprietary software for work thats only available on Windows will have some difficulties. For regular folks who just browse the internet, do some document editing, and other basic things I think Linux is perfect. There's even tools for image, video and sound editing if thats what you're into, and most of it is free. At this point, I can't justify the cost of Microsoft products considering how capable and easy to use the free and open source alternatives are. After converting my parents (who had no experience with computers outside of Windows) to Ubuntu a few years ago, and converting my SO to Linux Mint, I have had no problems. The only time I've had to "fix" my parent's computer since installing Ubuntu has been to install a printer....and they didn't know how to do that on Windows either. So if you are remotely curious about switching to Linux, I say try it out! There's a bunch of distros and many desktop environments. Boot to a live disk and test drive it before installing it on your hard drive. If you decide to take the plunge and install it to your hard drive, make sure you copy all your files onto another drive and verify they copied correctly before installing Linux over Windows. Even if you're going to try and dual boot Linux and Windows, back up your files from Windows to another drive before starting the process.  Good luck!