On Sat, Jul 9, 2011 at 4:14 PM, Always Learning <centos at u6.u22.net> wrote: > Experience 44 years - it makes me seem old :-( as computer programmer > and the usual collection of other computer posts/tasks/assignments I > truly believe with Centos and Gnome 90% of "ordinary" M$ Windoze users > have what they need. If they use specialist databases and applications > not HTML compatible (all mine are HTML compatible so they run on any > operating system) they need something which will run in Centos/Gnome. I agree. I set my brother and family up with CentOS about two years ago and his whole family uses it -- once it was set up it has required zero maintenance from me. Basically I just had to put the RPM forge in the repository. I have family and friends who use Windows and I've spent a *lot* more time supporting them then I do my father and brother who use Linux. That said, neither my Dad nor brother play major games on the computer, nor have they ever used M$ Office. My wife uses PowerPoint presentations and she doesn't want to change, so I support XP (on her Desktop) and Windows 7 on her Laptop. (The desktop came with Vista, but she had me install XP -- it took about 20 hours for her to make that decision -- Vista was a dog -- with apologies to dogs.) So, anyhow, you (generic "you") might be surprised how many people could get along just fine with CentOS on the desktop now. A lot (I would almost say most) personal computer usage is now web-centered. Which is why Android and iOS (and others) are taking off. For me, personally, I went completely to Linux about three years ago. I never was a big game player and *never* liked M$ Office. I used WordStar for DOS for years, then went to Lotus SmartSuite before moving to Linux. I use a couple specialized Windows programs (NetObjects Fusion and Screenwriter -- and sometimes dBASE for Windows) which run fine in a Windows 2000 virtual machine under VirtualBox. I also occasionally use DOSBox, where I can run WordStar for DOS and dBASE for DOS. That's about all the Linux non-native stuff I use. -- RonB -- Using CentOS 5.6