Browser/OS/Office program
So...I'm curious. Wondering what everyone else out there uses, and why. Hoping not to start an argument.
I just switched to Firefox from IE, because IE started crashing when I opened new tabs and I couldn't be bothered trying to figure out why. Firefox doesn't crash when I open tabs, and even if it did, I've discovered that it'll restore your old session if it dies unexpectedly. I like to use it as an easy/breaking-things way to save something I'm looking at for later (turn off the computer without first closing the browser). Overall I like it a lot better.
The OS on both my machines is good old Win XP. I would kind of like to try Linux (perhaps Ubuntu?) on one of them, but I'm afraid this would defeat the purpose of my gaming machine, and I don't want to bugger up a laptop that works perfectly fine despite constant abuse. It might become my only option at some point though, because I would never be able to justify to myself spending $600-$1000 when a perfectly good free alternative exists.
Finally, I started using Openoffice last year. I did have (and still do have somewhere) a perfectly legal copy of Microsoft Office which I installed but failed to register within the given time, at which point it threw a tanty and locked all my documents as read-only. Fair enough, I probably should have been less lazy, but I'd rather use a program that's GUARANTEED not to sabotage all my hard work on me.
So what do you guys use?
I just switched to Firefox from IE, because IE started crashing when I opened new tabs and I couldn't be bothered trying to figure out why. Firefox doesn't crash when I open tabs, and even if it did, I've discovered that it'll restore your old session if it dies unexpectedly. I like to use it as an easy/breaking-things way to save something I'm looking at for later (turn off the computer without first closing the browser). Overall I like it a lot better.
The OS on both my machines is good old Win XP. I would kind of like to try Linux (perhaps Ubuntu?) on one of them, but I'm afraid this would defeat the purpose of my gaming machine, and I don't want to bugger up a laptop that works perfectly fine despite constant abuse. It might become my only option at some point though, because I would never be able to justify to myself spending $600-$1000 when a perfectly good free alternative exists.
Finally, I started using Openoffice last year. I did have (and still do have somewhere) a perfectly legal copy of Microsoft Office which I installed but failed to register within the given time, at which point it threw a tanty and locked all my documents as read-only. Fair enough, I probably should have been less lazy, but I'd rather use a program that's GUARANTEED not to sabotage all my hard work on me.
So what do you guys use?
I've been using Mozilla Firefox for a while now, and I must say it's much better than Explorer ever could be. It's a lot more user-friendly, it's safer, faster, and has more features. I really don't see why anyone would still use that crappy IE.
My OS is Vista, but it's not so great. It's prettier than XP, and has some nice new features, but it isn't half as stable and game performance is much better on XP.
I still use the old Office 2000, and while Word sucks, I've gotten used to it.
My OS is Vista, but it's not so great. It's prettier than XP, and has some nice new features, but it isn't half as stable and game performance is much better on XP.
I still use the old Office 2000, and while Word sucks, I've gotten used to it.
I used to use IE6 and when IE7 came out I used that for a little while until it died and screwed up IE6 while it was at it. Someone said I'd need to reinstall Windows to get it to work so I gave up and tried Firefox instead... Love it! IE can stay dead 
My OS is Win XP pro, which I really like. Not that I've tried anything else, I just know the workings of Windows and can't see the point of changing right now.
I'll maybe try Linux one day, but by the time I need to change OS Vista will hopefully work properly so maybe not
MS Works 8.5 has a word processor but not much else, and it's far too simple compared to Word, which I'm used to. The word processor is ok for general stuff but Open Office is better for anything more complicated, plus it comes with the things I don't have, like Excel (Calc). I do find Open Office quite confusing sometimes though, especially the weird help system, but I don't have much choice unless I shell out on MS Office which ain't gonna happen anytime soon
My OS is Win XP pro, which I really like. Not that I've tried anything else, I just know the workings of Windows and can't see the point of changing right now.
I'll maybe try Linux one day, but by the time I need to change OS Vista will hopefully work properly so maybe not
MS Works 8.5 has a word processor but not much else, and it's far too simple compared to Word, which I'm used to. The word processor is ok for general stuff but Open Office is better for anything more complicated, plus it comes with the things I don't have, like Excel (Calc). I do find Open Office quite confusing sometimes though, especially the weird help system, but I don't have much choice unless I shell out on MS Office which ain't gonna happen anytime soon
Your setup is the same as mine. Though I think Linux is pretty cool, from the limited experience I have with it... I keep XP around for the game compatibility. I've been using Firefox ever since one of the late Betas... 0.9, I think and I've always been pretty happy with it. I stopped using around the time Office XP came out and was tried to make me register for what seemed like every little feature. Fed up with that crap, I switched to OO.
I've had a look at Ubuntu (well looked at it and played the games) and it seemed ok but much prefer windows to anything else I've used.
I've been using Firefox since before IE7 came out and it's really nice. It doesn't crash unless you try to give it a really hard time and it's just easy to use. There isn't huge differences now with IE7 but Mozilla is just that little bit nicer and more reliable.
My brother-in-law uses IE7 because he does at work and with his database writing it was conflicting when he tried Firefox.
I've been using Firefox since before IE7 came out and it's really nice. It doesn't crash unless you try to give it a really hard time and it's just easy to use. There isn't huge differences now with IE7 but Mozilla is just that little bit nicer and more reliable.
My brother-in-law uses IE7 because he does at work and with his database writing it was conflicting when he tried Firefox.
I started using Firefox about two years ago when IE7 wasn't out yet. I instantly fell in love with those tabs and have sticked with it ever since. I tried out IE7 when it came out but it was slower and a lot less user friendly. And since I'm using some Add-ons for Firefox it's a lot more pretty than all of the alternatives too. (I must say that Firefox's standard download menu kind of sucks though) I tried Opera, but I didn't quite like it's layout as well as that a lot more sites seem to have problems with Opera.
I have a dual-boot Windows XP and Fredora linux. But I use XP almost exclusively. Linux is reserved mostly for my schoolwork. (A lot of professional software seems to be made for Linux for some reason...)
Maybe I'll start using Linux more often after I get wireless internet from it as having an internet cable running up two stairs is pretty ugly to say the least. (And after I got to learn how to handle Linux properly I suppose...)
I'm using office 2003 which is fine for most things. I have OpenOffice.org running on Linux which seems good enough, though I haven't tried it well enough to really say.
I have a dual-boot Windows XP and Fredora linux. But I use XP almost exclusively. Linux is reserved mostly for my schoolwork. (A lot of professional software seems to be made for Linux for some reason...)
Maybe I'll start using Linux more often after I get wireless internet from it as having an internet cable running up two stairs is pretty ugly to say the least. (And after I got to learn how to handle Linux properly I suppose...)
I'm using office 2003 which is fine for most things. I have OpenOffice.org running on Linux which seems good enough, though I haven't tried it well enough to really say.
I have a dual-boot for Windows Vista and Ubuntu though I mostly use Vista. I'm using Firefox and OpenOffice (I rarely need to make office documents though, I'm mainly using LaTeX for university assignments).
I agree that Firefox is a lot more user friendly, even in minor details. For example, you can double click on the URL in the address bar to modify a part of the URL (which I happen to do a lot) but even in IE8, you have to select the part you want to modify yourself. They also paid little attention to the 'Show source' option in IE8 (just launch it in Notepad, yay....) whereas Firefox has a separate window/program with highlighting and such. It just shows that Firefox is more interesting to computer enthusiasts
I agree that Firefox is a lot more user friendly, even in minor details. For example, you can double click on the URL in the address bar to modify a part of the URL (which I happen to do a lot) but even in IE8, you have to select the part you want to modify yourself. They also paid little attention to the 'Show source' option in IE8 (just launch it in Notepad, yay....) whereas Firefox has a separate window/program with highlighting and such. It just shows that Firefox is more interesting to computer enthusiasts
I have a dual boot Linux (Fedora Core 8) and Windows XP, of which I only work in Linux, except when I need to record sound, because I can't seem to get that working.
My browser of choice is Opera, and because I once screwed up the Flash plugin, I use Firefox or Konqueror for anything Flashy. Besides that, I sometimes use Lynx, when I feel like it,
I theoretically have OpenOffice on my machine, but I hardly touch it for the same reason as Simeon: LaTeX is the preferred tool for writing papers and presentations. The LaTeX files are edited using either vim or Kate.
My browser of choice is Opera, and because I once screwed up the Flash plugin, I use Firefox or Konqueror for anything Flashy. Besides that, I sometimes use Lynx, when I feel like it,
I theoretically have OpenOffice on my machine, but I hardly touch it for the same reason as Simeon: LaTeX is the preferred tool for writing papers and presentations. The LaTeX files are edited using either vim or Kate.
I use firefox and openoffice. I might switch to the 3.0 beta version, just because the most recent (.13) update for firefox is buggy on my system, I can't get my recently closed tabs to be saved half the time, and it's actually crashing occasionally as well.
OS: a standard Ubuntu 7.10 setup. Dualbooting with Windows XP, which I use for using the TV connected to my laptop and recording sound (Ubuntu only supports so much hardware, after all 
).
Browser: under Linux, usually Galeon, because it's almost like Firefox only a whole lot less CPU intensive and faster. Whenever I need extensions or when I'm in Windows I use Firefox though.
Office program: OpenOffice for almost everything. MS Visio for schematics, in Windows, but I don't make much of those anyway so it's all good.
).Browser: under Linux, usually Galeon, because it's almost like Firefox only a whole lot less CPU intensive and faster. Whenever I need extensions or when I'm in Windows I use Firefox though.
Office program: OpenOffice for almost everything. MS Visio for schematics, in Windows, but I don't make much of those anyway so it's all good.
I have Kiwi7.10, a modified version of Ubuntu, which includes all the audio and video codecs, and some nice other features.
As a browser, I tried IE6, Opera9, then I tried Firefox, and I sticked with it.
I use OpenOffice for text editing, but when it comes to math, I use LaTex too, with TexMaker.
I also have a Windows XP installation, on a virtual machine, which I use for school projects(Xilinx), and when I write Delphi programs.
As a browser, I tried IE6, Opera9, then I tried Firefox, and I sticked with it.
I use OpenOffice for text editing, but when it comes to math, I use LaTex too, with TexMaker.
I also have a Windows XP installation, on a virtual machine, which I use for school projects(Xilinx), and when I write Delphi programs.
OS: I have recently started dual booting XP and ubuntu. I use linux for everything except school work and gaming. So that leaves normal browsing, music, and email for linux.
Office program: On my XP I am using a "not so legit" version of office 2007. and I have to say; i haven't used Vista a lot, but I have fallen for office 07'.
Browser: I use Firefox on both OS's and i am very happy with their performance on both.
Im surprised though...maybe I missed a post; but I haven't seen anyone say they are using leopard? safari? where are our token mac users?
Also I would like to add a question, what music player does every use? On windows I use iTunes and for Linux I use Banshee, mostly because both work well with my ipod which makes my life easier.
Office program: On my XP I am using a "not so legit" version of office 2007. and I have to say; i haven't used Vista a lot, but I have fallen for office 07'.
Browser: I use Firefox on both OS's and i am very happy with their performance on both.
Im surprised though...maybe I missed a post; but I haven't seen anyone say they are using leopard? safari? where are our token mac users?
Also I would like to add a question, what music player does every use? On windows I use iTunes and for Linux I use Banshee, mostly because both work well with my ipod which makes my life easier.
I use audacious, because it looks like winamp, which i used on windows
I use Firefox as my web browser, usually the 'stable' version, which currently is 2.0.0.11 on my system (although I haven't checked for updates in a good while to be honest) because of its philosophy: Be nothing more than a web browser that can be extended for whatever needs you have. Opera and the Mozilla suit both have feature creep, a.k.a. bloatware tendencies. I run 16 extensions in my Firefox, so I guess you could say it's pretty bloated, but at least those additional features are exactly what I want and nothing more. Though as long as people aren't using Internet Explorer, I'm pleased.
All my systems run Gentoo Linux exclusively. I'm considering merging to Ubuntu to ease maintenance, but the switch is a bit cumbersome, and I've currently not felt like it. I choose to use GNU/Linux because it uses less resources than Windows, is more stable than Windows, it's available entirely free of cost, most, and if you're careful, all the components of the system are free (as in freedom) and are completely configurable and modifiable, and last, it has a lot of features that I've come to miss in Windows, among other things the command line features provided by GNU coreutils, sed, grep, etc. My system is a 1.8 GHz with 512 MB RAM and runs better than most installations of Vista I've seen to this date. I'm sure Vista couldn't even run on this thing or if it could it would just not be bearable.
I have OpenOffice installed, mostly because people keep sending me Word and PowerPoint files, even though I explicitly tell them not to. Every time they do, I send them a lengthy mail about why they shouldn't. Most people get the message eventually. For writing my own documents and presentations, I use LaTeX (w/Beamer).
For gaming, I have one GNU/Linux machine connected to my TV with a joystick that hosts all NES, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, GBColor and GBAdvance games ever released (and not released) for playing them ol' classics, and I have my Playstation 1, 2 and 3 for more modern gaming pursuits. I've hardly ever played games on a computer.
All my systems run Gentoo Linux exclusively. I'm considering merging to Ubuntu to ease maintenance, but the switch is a bit cumbersome, and I've currently not felt like it. I choose to use GNU/Linux because it uses less resources than Windows, is more stable than Windows, it's available entirely free of cost, most, and if you're careful, all the components of the system are free (as in freedom) and are completely configurable and modifiable, and last, it has a lot of features that I've come to miss in Windows, among other things the command line features provided by GNU coreutils, sed, grep, etc. My system is a 1.8 GHz with 512 MB RAM and runs better than most installations of Vista I've seen to this date. I'm sure Vista couldn't even run on this thing or if it could it would just not be bearable.
I have OpenOffice installed, mostly because people keep sending me Word and PowerPoint files, even though I explicitly tell them not to. Every time they do, I send them a lengthy mail about why they shouldn't. Most people get the message eventually.
For writing my own documents and presentations, I use LaTeX (w/Beamer).For gaming, I have one GNU/Linux machine connected to my TV with a joystick that hosts all NES, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, GBColor and GBAdvance games ever released (and not released) for playing them ol' classics, and I have my Playstation 1, 2 and 3 for more modern gaming pursuits. I've hardly ever played games on a computer.
I use Firefox 2, and was using Netscape before. I never use IE whatever version; IE has lots of security flaws, and when I say a lot, I mean a LOT.
I have been trying and learning Debian as operating system. I still need time to make something in it.
And of office applications, I have seen Open Office. Looks good.
I have been trying and learning Debian as operating system. I still need time to make something in it.
And of office applications, I have seen Open Office. Looks good.
For the longest time, I used Safari, on my laptop running Mac OS X.
Now, I use Firefox, because I miss Safari, and it's the most Safari-like thing you can get for free and run on a PC (both Mozilla based).
*sigh*
I miss my Mac. Once I can pay to get it resurrected, it will be back to Safari. I'd never need to use anything else--all the succinctness of the old Netscape browser, with plenty of up-to-date functionality, a pop-up blocker that works, reliable and FAST in the extreme.
Now, I use Firefox, because I miss Safari, and it's the most Safari-like thing you can get for free and run on a PC (both Mozilla based).
*sigh*
I miss my Mac. Once I can pay to get it resurrected, it will be back to Safari. I'd never need to use anything else--all the succinctness of the old Netscape browser, with plenty of up-to-date functionality, a pop-up blocker that works, reliable and FAST in the extreme.
"For gaming, I have one GNU/Linux machine connected to my TV with a joystick that hosts all NES, SNES, Genesis, Gameboy, GBColor and GBAdvance games ever released (and not released) for playing them ol' classics, and I have my Playstation 1, 2 and 3 for more modern gaming pursuits. I've hardly ever played games on a computer."
About that... How much effort did it take you to be able to use the TV on your computer? My laptop (with ATI card) just won't detect it...
About that... How much effort did it take you to be able to use the TV on your computer? My laptop (with ATI card) just won't detect it...
If you're using Windows: Safari runs on Windows too.
OK, Simeon, maybe you know something I don't.
Last I checked: Apple made it so that Windows users could run a Windows OS on Apple hardware if they wanted (which I found totally unnecessary). And they made a version of iTunes which ran on Windows (largely a commercial ploy).
However, I thought Safari was strictly for Mac OS X software. This is why I went to Firefox.
If there is a Windows version, do you know if it's free?
If you're right, I have some downloading to do. And thanks. If not, well, you've gotten my hopes up for nothing.
UPDATE-- Thanks, dude, but you have to have at least Windows XP to use Safari. Right now, I'm stuck on a crappy PC running Windows 98. nm, I'll just get my Mac fixed.
Last I checked: Apple made it so that Windows users could run a Windows OS on Apple hardware if they wanted (which I found totally unnecessary). And they made a version of iTunes which ran on Windows (largely a commercial ploy).
However, I thought Safari was strictly for Mac OS X software. This is why I went to Firefox.
If there is a Windows version, do you know if it's free?
If you're right, I have some downloading to do. And thanks. If not, well, you've gotten my hopes up for nothing.
UPDATE-- Thanks, dude, but you have to have at least Windows XP to use Safari. Right now, I'm stuck on a crappy PC running Windows 98. nm, I'll just get my Mac fixed.
Not much effort, actually. Since I had the computer connected to the TV when installing, that's how the computer got configured, heh. So I just installed it that way and kept on running it that way. I'm not sure how you're connecting your computer to your TV, so I'm not sure what remedies you need to take, I'm connected using S-Video, though.
Typically, you would have to edit some X configuration to do it. What is your laptop's model and make, and how do you want to connect it to your TV?
Typically, you would have to edit some X configuration to do it. What is your laptop's model and make, and how do you want to connect it to your TV?
