Actually i use W/8.1pro with the media center, dual booting with Linux. On the Desktop I installed Linux on a second HD, with the Windows HD disconnected so as not to have boot menu or mess around with the uefi bios. Just plug in the 2nd drive (which i have done while the PC is on standby) and tap F12 during boot or whatever key gives you a choice of drives to boot from.
But i always have found problems with Linux not doing what you take for granted can easily be done in Window, resulting in various attempts to analyze and scripts to find and try. Trying to get Flash - which Adobe no longer supports for Linux (its level of support for Windows is itself deficient) is the latest for mem, plus incomplete shutdown.
I’m not claiming Linux is ironclad, but it’s definitely harder than most contemporary operating systems.
That is actually unwanted for me, as I imagined Linux was about freedom, not being told i did not have permission to do change this or that. Just yesterday i tried to copy the libflashplayer.so to /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins only to be told i did not have perrmission! So i had to find out how to go thru the sudo mode.
I searched on how to run Ubuntu as root by default (as Puppy does), and while it can be done (but not with auto login it seems), you get constant dire dissuasive attempts against doing so, with one poster saying they thought it was against forum rules to say how to do so!
Under Windows one of the first thing i do after an install is to choose to see all system files, and file extns, and show files as details, and end up turning off the UAC. And with no anti virus Windows has been extensively used with intensive Internet use for over a decade, from Win/ 9x to 8.1, with only 2 viruses. I usually used the mvps host file , but W/8 changes it back, which it should not.
I guess i am what they call a "power user," usually having about 100 tabs and and multiple docs open, etc, and i have far more freedom to change files. Thanks be to God.
And finding and installing 3rd party apps is much faster and easier in Windows, with more variety. However, Winpatrol is a must to let you know what wants to change what. Linux is weak on Bible programs, so i use Wine to run BP Bible, but E-sword is a challenge. Two of my favorite Windows progs i have not found in Linux are Autohotkey, which i to launch many things by hot keys, and changed the Caps lock to copy, and Esc to paste (NumLock is now Esc). And PhoneTrayFree, which tells me who is calling, keeping a record of calls for years, even allowing me to zap 800 numbers.
And in Ubuntu at least, i cannot even right click on an icon in the Application (Start) menu and find its location, or copy it, or make shortcut key to it, etc.
But thank God for variety, and which Firefox much helps in doing, which along with LibreOffice or OpenOffice are the two primary apps for Linux.
Below is what W/8.1 looks like with the ClassicShell prog (the right side of e screen and the clock only showed up bcz my cursor was in the top right band corner)
Firefox (better than Chrome in customization) with TabMixPlus (reduce tab width; multiple tab rows, etc.) Session Manager (save sessions), Colorful Tabs, NOIA 4 theme (minimalist, reduce tab height, much customization) and other extens, which you can use in Linux as well.
