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[Jayson Rowe]

On Mon, 28 Apr 2008, Jeff Robertson wrote:

> I am considering buying a new Dell laptop in a couple months.  I am fed up with Windows and especially the crap they
> call "Vista".  Dell now offers new laptops with Ubuntu installed as the OS.  I would love to learn and use Ubuntu but I
> am worried some of my software won't work.  I have MS Office, Acrobat 7, PhotoshopCS IllustratotCS2 and Frontpage.
> 
> --
> Jeff
>

Hi Jeff - welcome to the list!

I'm glad that you are considering one of the Ubuntu based machines for 
your purchase. I think you will ultimately be pleased, but there are 
some things to consider.

First, there is an open source utility called WINE that you may be able to 
use to get some of your Windows applications to run under Linux, as well 
as a commercial product called CrossoverOffice that tends to have a little 
better compatibility than standard WINE. I'd suggest you research those 
options a little before jumping in.

What I would ultimately reccomend is getting aquainted with some of the 
great Linux applications that can replace those windows apps for you.

*MSOffice can be replaced by OpenOffice
*Acrobat7 can be replaced by a combination of Evince Document Viewer and 
cups-pdf
Photoshop can be replaced by GIMP
Illustrator can be replaced by Inkscape
Frontpage can be replaced by a variety of apps - there are Bluefish, 
Screem, Kompozer, Quanta and I'm sure many others.

Anyway - again, welcome, best of luck and do your homework. If you want 
you could download the Ubuntu live-cd and try it now in your current 
machine. Simply download the CD, burn the ISO and boot up your machine 
from the CD. Choose "Try Ubuntu without installing" and it will boot up 
into the Ubuntu desktop and let you test the waters so to speak. It will 
run a little slowly as it's running directly from the CD, but it will give 
you an idea of what you can expect from a default Ubuntu install.

-jayson