anyway linux is much better OS than windows and everyone knows this(at suck-o), and linux provides so much control, that windows cant even imagine, but still there are things i love about windows, and there are some apps without them it would be really difficult for me to be organized, but its just for me, i m sure your views and experiences/requirements/preferences might be different from mine, so its just my personal opinion.
1.outlook-I was a Thunderbird user until i got my hands on a copy of windows office 2007 blue edition, i checked out outlook and i couldnt love it more.. it has a real nice and organized interface with so many options, views and features, and is miles ahead of Thunderbird, this app is neat, i would love to list some of cool features which arent there in Thunderbird(even with lightning addon).And it has so many handy features that i m sure none of you are aware of... I know the security issues, but a firewalled, updated system should do fine.. This app is actually neat!
2.Nokia PC suite and Sony Ericsson PC suite- ok i have two phones, one is nokia E71 which is a business phone, basically for my push email, and IM on the go, other is Sony Ericsson W350i basically for music, anyway i keep two numbers, so its really cool how these apps let me work sync my contacts and to-do lists and calendar with outlook, i can actually sync my contacts between two of them.. which makes my life a lot easier, also it supports phone backup at a mouse click, and these phones can connect via bluetooth so no wires.. and they can act as modem, so my gprs connection helps me stay online while on the move, this isnt really possible in linux. I know you can get their alternatives on linux but it isnt that fun.
3.Windows versions of clients- Personally IM clients like Yahoo, skype and msn have better looking clients for windows than for linux, and probably more features( i know pidgin p4wns) but still i m like addicted to their GUI
4.Drivers
a)Sound drivers- I have installed ubuntu on my lappy previously, but the windows drivers for audio sound much better than they did on ubuntu, ofcourse i configured my sound card on ubuntu properly and tried to tweak it too, but still there's a very slight difference, windows sounds better, i got a $50 pair of headphones, which are decent enough to tell you the difference.
b)Video Drivers-Windows is much much better, having ATI card and ubuntu is not a good idea, normally it would work fine, but since i am an eye-candy lover, and i feel not having some transparency effects on your desktop is kinda old fashioned, so compiz doesnt like my graphics card and their are some officially acknowledged bugs(Their are open source ATI drivers) but who cares. Plus the video quality in windows is much better, there are tweaks for linux, and i did them, but still its not as good as windows.
c)Wifi drivers-Everyone with wifi and linux must be aware of this.. how much pain wifi drivers can be.. i did manage to get them to work on ubuntu nicely without any problems, but again the initial setup was so much pain in the ass.
5.Mobiola web cam- now this is a cool app for me, i can use my E71 as a wireless webcam and it works over wifi, i m sure linux doesnt have anything like this.
6.Games- I sometimes like to play games, my lappy doesnt do good with wine.. and not all games work well with wine..
7.USB devices- All the gadgets which connect via usb have their own drivers and utility softwares, which are only meant for windows.. so i can realize a device's full potential and with ease.
8.Gmail drive(shell extension)- i can use my gmail account space like a network attached hard drive, a good handy place for backup, with easy access and transfer. I m not sure if linux has something like this.
So basically the main apps which are always open on my lappy are outlook, putty and IM clients like skype, yahoo,notepad++, gtalk,
they are my lifeline(and ofcourse firefox).
Apart from these, i dont really care if the software i m getting is "free", or is open source, i just want them to work for me and do what computers are made for.. make my life easier.
Most of you will say that probably i never explored linux enough, well before windows i had ubuntu, before that i had debian. And i have tried every tweak in the book and compiled apps wherever required to extract maximum from my hardware, i used 64 bit as well as "Generic" versions, and this is what matters at the end of the day.
Ofcourse windows still sucks for viruses, trojans and poor security, bugs, errors, BSODs, "send error report?send, dont send", paperclips, but if you are careful enough and know your stuff, its not that bad. Its not like they paid me or something..lol, its my personal opinion. I had faced problems like hang ups and BSODs, random restarts, but then linux hasnt been an easy glide either.
