Switching from Windows to Linux Part 1

This is a brief overview of some major applications that help with the switch over from Windows to Linux. The switch is easy, installing a plug and play Linux distribution such as Ubuntu makes it a snap. You create a bootable cd, install Ubuntu, and your done. Most distributions will even automatically setup a dual boot so that you can still boot your Windows system. I still keep a small Windows installation just in case I need to play some Call of Duty for or some other Windows only game.

Below are some of the major applications that you can install which could help with your switch.
OpenOffice.org - Replace Microsoft Office.
The GIMP - Replaces programs such as paint, image composer or even photoshop.
Thunderbird - A small email client, think of it as the outlook express client.
Pidgin - Your AOL Instant messenger, MSN Messenger and Google Talk client all bundled in to one client.
Amarok - This is a really cool media center that can play and organize all your music. You can even listen to 100’s of albums from Internet sources such as Amazon.
Evolution - Here is your Outlook replacement, you can connect to Exchange servers with this client. This would be your Outlook replacement.
AVG Anti-Virus - This you won’t need to worry about as Linux very rarely gets viruses.
MonoDevelop - This is what you can use if your a current Visual Studio developer. MonoDevelop has a GUI builder for making nice applications, and you can run and deploy these applications on Windows as well.

This pretty much sums up part one of of the Windows to Linux series. Stay tuned for more on migrating to Linux. Be free, run Linux.