1. FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE. And then you can drop it on a million systems if you wanted from your wrist watch to the worlds largest "super computers".

   Everything you need is usually included in the distribution or easily downloaded. I.E. Office suite, email clients, web server, email server, file server, file sharing (one of our favorites), Graphics editors, Internet browsers, and even Telephone PBX Software (to have extensions in your home for crying out loud) so I can answer the phone "Oh she is at extension 102 let me transfer you". And all for FREE.

   Also the system is rock solid. Built for network communication (from its predecessor Unix). A network of Linux machines communicating can be viewed as one n-processor computer. I have ran one for years without any virus software. Just never login as root (The Administrator) and you should be fine. If not move your important things to a disk, delete your account and add another one, (something that I never had to do).

   There is no annoying registry either. or dll nightmares (somewhat cleaned up on Windows with .net).

   But it is a VERY DIFFERENT system. You have to be a little more computer savvy than the average windows user. It is just as user friendly as Windows but will also give you the power to jump into text configs and terminal prompts and really get things cooking.

   Thats my 2 cents

   RJ

2. Put it this way…

   Linux is free and even if you pay for it, it is still legal to distribute afterwards. Most software on linux is totally free. Linux is safer has very little viruses, much well maintained. Microsoft basically has a monopoly and user friendlyness.

Tags: mandrake linux, linux file system