Questions on all OS...

[Disgrace]

I've got a new build coming up and the OS worries me (because I know absolutely nothing beyond XP) so I have a bundle of questions which don't really need too much detail to be answered so long as I end up with the right choice in the end.

Is Windows Vista really a nightmare to install and maintain?

How can Windows 7 be so much better (when it's out obviously) if it's made by Microsoft like Vista was?

If I'm going free, what can I get instead? I hear about Ubuntu and Opera and things like this but how can they be installed? Putting files on a CD, simple as?

[Alaron]

The short answers to your questions are:

1. No, its not a nightmare. There are plenty of Vista users that are perfectly happy with it.
2. Windows 7 includes features that Vista should have had, and has been fairly rigorously tested in Beta for a long time. And Microsoft was much smarter about taking the information learned from those testers and implementing changes. Vista on the other hand was, arguably, more rushed to production, resulting in a less polished finished product. Keep in mind that XP was not well liked at its introduction either.
3. Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux options and a good place to start. Check out the Alternative OS forum for discussion about Linux. Ubuntu also has a great site of its own: http://www.ubuntu.com/. You can download the OS, burn it to a CD and install it just like you would with a Windows CD. Opera is a browser, not an OS.

Hope that helps.

[Disgrace]

Thanks.

[Force Flow]

You can try out the Windows 7 Release Candidate:

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/win.../download.aspx

(signup process only works in IE)

If you already have a vaild XP or vista license, you can get the windows 7 upgrade for a lower price until July 11.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16744...grade_faq.html