Linux.

Firstly, Linux is not, nor will it ever be Microsoft Windows - think of it as you would when comparing an Apple Mac machine (which is Unix / Linux based) to a Windows PC and you'll appreciate that it is a totally different operating system.

The Linux operating system is used in more everyday items than some people may realise. It is used for major Internet and Company servers, the Military, Government, home and office computers, car computers, cell / mobile phones, digital televisions, digital top boxes, your internet router, vehicle satelite navigation - even Google is powered by Linux! 50 Places Linux is Running That You Might Not Expect. You probably use Linux powered devices everyday without realising it. The London Stock Exchange switched over from Windows to Linux during March 2011!

If you have an older machine that won't run the later and more resource hungry Windows releases, Linux can give your old PC a new lease of life with an up to date operating system that offers an attractive user interface together with enhanced security and functionality.

Linux is becoming ever more popular as an alternative to the Windows operating system, not only because it is generally available for free or very low cost (there are paid for versions) but because of the built in security and the fact that Linux is not vulnerable to the many thousands of virus, spyware, and malware infections that have unfortunately always plagued Windows. It would be wrong to say that you could never get a virus on Linux, but there are only a handful of them out there so you would have to be extremely unfortunate to get infected.

Using Linux is very similar to using Windows, the mouse is your main interface with the system, application launching and use of the software applications you have installed. There are choices on the type of desktop environment and "start" menu, you can choose from super fast minimalist to full blown 3D effects with rotating windows and transitional effects - you can choose what suits you best because Linux is infinitely customisable compared to Windows.

You can dual boot your PC or laptop, this means you can choose either Linux or Windows when you switch your machine on. For the home user, this is ideal if you want the security of Linux for your day to day activities eg. working on office documents, emailing, instant messaging, skype, on-line banking, shopping, listening to your music, browsing the Internet etc, then if you want to play Windows games you simply boot into windows.

Linux is not only an alternative to Windows for the home PC, it also plays a major role in the office environment with secure servers and workstations. Again the dual boot option could prove handy for the office if you have some windows specific software that you cannot manage without, but still require a secure system for other work.

Another option to dual booting is to use a product called Virtualbox (Oracle Corporation), you can install it on Linux and you then install your Windows operating system inside it. You can now launch Windows as an application and then run your windows programs without having to reboot. It will run any version of Windows in full screen mode. Note: You will still need a legal copy of Windows in order to do this.

There is a free software package called Wine, when this is installed on Linux, it enables you to run Windows applications, it must be noted however that it will not run all Windows software, this is not a limitation of Linux, it is the way in which the software developers chose to write their applications. Some applications are referred to as cross platform, that means they have a version that will run on more than one operating systems. A paid for product called CrossOver Impersonator which runs even more Windows applications.

Linux works very well with windows networks and windows domain servers so you could have a mix of operating systems. There is an excellent replacement for Microsoft Office called Libre Office - this is also available for Mac and Windows, it can open, edit and save all Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents including Office 2007 / 2010 with it's added x on the file extension i.e. docx and xlsx instead of the more normal doc and xls.

For Email, Linux has an equivelant to Outlook called Evolution, this does all that Outlook can for Email, contacts, appointments, and reminders etc. If you don't require the complexity of Evolution, there are many other email clients available including the very popular Thunderbird email client - which has many addons including a calender.

So in brief, Linux is mostly free, stable, safe, secure, and doesn't suffer from Windows viruses, spyware, malware, adware infections etc

Disadvantages? Well it does not run Windows games or applications natively - then again, Windows cannot run Linux or Apple Mac software natively!

The biggest problem for some people is the sheer amount of choice they are presented with when choosing a Linux distribution, fortunately you can download and try as many as you like without altering anything on your PC.

If you would like to see what the many Linux distributions look like and the different desktops and menu designs, take a look at this web site where they list them, you can also read reviews on these operating systems: http://www.distrowatch.com Use the search feature and select the Distribution category from the drop down list to narrow your choices based on the type of computing you do.