One of the latest and greatest Linux Distibutions is now out in Long Term Service. Here's a great tutorial on how to set up a Linux desktop to replace or work in tandem (dual boot/boot up either) with your Windows installation. It's a good starting point for learning to work with Linux and includes installing more free software than you could afford by sticking with windows. The advantages are many, your system will be faster, MUCH FASTER, more secure, most likley have more eye candy...  You will be able to download software for tasks you need to do, at will, and as time goes on you will find that you can do anything windows can do. My experience is that I can actually DO MORE and accomplish things quicker with Linux. Once set up, a Linux system will be ROCK SOLID, it will not slow over time, it will not install adware and spyware all over the place without your permission. Get Vista Promised performace delivered by Bloatware Free Linux.

The How-To is located here: http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-kubuntu-8.04-lts

Check out some of the applications included with the install.....click for more.

For Most People: You won't need any other software.                            With this you can

Surf the Web
Send E-mail
Edit Graphics
Record Music off the Net
Rip CD's
Burn Movies
Download Torrents
Manage Websites
Design Websites
and once it's installed you'll have access to 1000's of free open source programs at the click of a mouse!

To fully replace a Windows desktop, I want the Kubuntu desktop to have the following software installed:

Graphics:

• The GIMP - free software replacement for Adobe Photoshop
• F-Spot - full-featured personal photo management application for the GNOME desktop
• Google Picasa - application for organizing and editing digital photos

Internet:

• Firefox
• Opera
• Flash Player 9
• FileZilla - multithreaded FTP client
• Thunderbird - e-mail and news client
• Evolution - combines e-mail, calendar, address book, and task list management functions
• aMule - P2P file sharing application
• KTorrent - Bittorrent client
• Azureus - Java Bittorrent client
• Kopete- multi-platform instant messaging client
• Skype
• Google Earth
• Konversation- IRC client

Office:

• OpenOffice Writer - replacement for Microsoft Word
• OpenOffice Calc - replacement for Microsoft Excel
• Adobe Reader
• GnuCash - double-entry book-keeping personal finance system, similar to Quicken
• Scribus - open source desktop publishing (DTP) application

Sound & Video:

• Amarok - audio player
• Audacity - free, open source, cross platform digital audio editor
• Banshee - audio player, can encode/decode various formats and synchronize music with Apple iPods
• MPlayer - media player (video/audio), supports WMA
• Rhythmbox Music Player - audio player, similar to Apple's iTunes, with support for iPods
• gtkPod - software similar to Apple's iTunes, supports iPod, iPod nano, iPod shuffle, iPod photo, and iPod mini
• XMMS - audio player similar to Winamp
• dvd::rip - full featured DVD copy program
• Kino - free digital video editor
• Sound Juicer CD Extractor - CD ripping tool, supports various audio codecs
• VLC Media Player - media player (video/audio)
• Helix Player - media player, similar to the Real Player
• Totem - media player (video/audio)
• Xine - media player, supports various formats; can play DVDs
• GnomeBaker - CD/DVD burning program
• K3B - CD/DVD burning program
• Multimedia Codecs

Programming:

• KompoZer - WYSIWYG HTML editor, similar to Macromedia Dreamweaver, but not as feature-rich (yet)
• Bluefish - text editor, suitable for many programming and markup languages
• Quanta Plus - web development environment, including a WYSIWYG editor

Other:

• VMware Server - lets you run your old Windows desktop as a virtual machine under your Linux desktop, so you don't have to entirely abandon Windows
• TrueType fonts
• Java
• Read-/Write support for NTFS partitions

Lots of our desired applications are available in the Ubuntu repositories, and some of these applications have been contributed by the Ubuntu community.