Re: help

[Matthew K Poer <matthewpoer@gmail.com>]

On Wed, 2007-02-14 at 21:14 -0700, RJ Gillis wrote:
> Hey guys...
> Thanks for all the responses and I got it figured out; my buddy went
> there and thought it was a Quick-time like player needed to view the
> page. Nothing happened and so he never told me about it.
Well it is good to know that Debian wasn't installed on your computer
with malicious intent.

>  But I would think a program install would show you something...?
(The developer is in the CC list. They'll be able to respond to this
better than I can, as I have never even used that installer.)

>  Anyway, from reading your emails, I got kinda interested, my main
> question is; will all my programs run on Debian? If so, I might try it
> out. Thanks again for the replies- RJ

Windows programs, (.exe files), do not run naively in a Linux/Unix
environment. There are work-arounds to make them run, using a program
called WINE. 

But instead of using WINE, I typically recommend people find open-source
software to replace the proprietary software they were using. For
example, instead of Microsoft Office, use Open Office. Here's a
quick-list of popular desktop software and their Debian superiors:

MS Office = OpenOffice.org 2.0
Outlook / Outlook Express = Evolution / IceDove
Windows Media Player = Rythmbox and Totem/mplayer
Photoshop = GIMP
Internet Explorer = IceWeasle

Many users feel that the Open-Source replacements are superior to their
proprietary counterparts, but it may require a bit of getting-used-to.

Debian is a great system. It is functional, stable, secure, and free.
There are disadvantages, though. I wrote a lot about these in a blog
post, The Disadvantages of Linux and Open Source Software(1), where I
describe substantial negative issues that many users face when switching
from Microsoft Windows to a Linux-Based Operating System, and how to
deal with them. 

Please give it a quick reading, and if you think you can face these
issues, run that installer next time you boot, and let us know how you
do.

1:
http://matthewpoer.freehostia.com/wordpress/index.php/computers-technology/the-disadvantages-of-linux-and-open-source-software

-- 
Matthew K Poer