I am not technically oriented, and that is an understatement. I use XP as a word processor in which to write fiction. Should I consider LINUX, and if so, what would be my biggest hurdles?
Thank you in advance.
If you’re able to do what you want to do, there’s no reason to mess with Xnux.
I use XP as a word processor in which to write fiction. Should I consider LINUX, and if so, what would be my biggest hurdles?
The main reason you should be concerned about keeping your operating system up to date is for security purposes. (preventing viruses and/or hacker access to personal data from the internet, etc.)
As long as Microsoft continues support for XP, and you keep your system up to date, use antivirus software, etc, etc, etc, you should be OK.
However, on April 8, 2014, all Windows XP support, including security updates and security-related hotfixes, will be terminated. After that, your computer will become more vulnerable. So rather than buy a brand new computer, that would be when you would really HAVE to consider Linux.
Here is a short article about Disadvantages and advantages of Linux over Windows
The biggest hurdle that you would face is if you are addicted to some special Windows program that you absolutely had to have and cannot adapt to a linux equivalent. (In your case, this probably isn't a problem.)
The other "hurdle" is that you might have some odd/unusual computer hardware configuration (network or video adapter cards, some oddball printers or scanners, etc) that's not compatible with linux. But if you have fairly common "name brand" hardware, this shouldn't be a problem either.
Of course, since you don't have an immediate necessity for linux, I would suggest that you review another thread that I recently posted: 5 ways to use bootable Linux live discs
If you have the simple skills to follow instruction how to download a linux distribution file, and use it to make a "Live CD", then it should be easy for you to reboot your computer using that Live CD without changing the Windows XP installation on your hard drive!!!
That would be a VERY EASY way to try linux first, just to see if you like it!!!
And if you don't like it, then you can simply remove the CD and reboot your computer from your Windows hard drive!!!
Stick with XP. Unix is an outstanding industrial operating system, but Unix on a PC for personal use is only something true geeks can enjoy.
In fact, stick with XP over Vista or Windows 7 for that matter. If you’re happy with XP for hosting Word and a web browser to surf the web and read email, you don’t need anything else. Businesses and government never bought into the marketing hype of vista and are still sticking with XP for the most part. Windows 7 is just Vista that works, and Vista/W7 is mostly marketing hype. Fundamentally, for the average PC user, Windows 7 has no real advantages over XP, and as far as I can tell, does most everything slower and worse than XP.