- Can I...?
- Installation, Partitioning and Networking
- Crossing Over
- Promises Made, Promises Broken
- OpenOffice.org
- What About Protection?
- Could I Should I Would I...
Could I Should I Would I...
The ability to easily create a dual boot between Windows and Xandros — essentially giving you some training wheels until you’re ready to solo — makes Xandros appealing right out of the box. Its Xandros File Manager has a familiar Windows feel and CrossOver Office allows you to run those last few pesky Windows apps if you really have to. The security suite is just icing on the cake when it comes to selling Xandros to the now paranoid Windows crowd.
So would I take the plunge and switch permanently to Xandros? And would I set Aunt Mary up with a Xandros box for browsing (via Firefox), email (with Thunderbird), word processing, and viewing photos? Aunt Mary is a no-brainer. I mean, she has a brain, but there’s simply no good argument for forcing her to use Windows over Xandros. Most things work out of the box, and with the security inherent in Linux, I wouldn’t have to worry about her breaking many things or having a zombie computer serving up spam emails the next time I visited her. The same holds true for most users with similar requirements. Why pay a premium and risk your security at the same time? For those of us who enjoy gaming or who need to use the latest and greatest versions of software like Photoshop and Dreamweaver, we may need to stick with Windows for a little longer. But if I were Microsoft, I’d have the FUD machine set to "High." Oh wait a minute, they already do.