benefits of dual-booting?

[fryc86]

I finally got ubuntu (new release) to work on my laptop and Vista is running also. I thought about eventually phasing out Windows, but am going to keep it for now, because it does have its perks. I'll have to see just how good ubuntu is before getting rid of Windows.
One reason I thought of phasing out Windows is that I realize that Ubuntu is not as prone to attacks at this time, mostly due to lack of interest from hackers I know. Obviously if I'm still running windows, the threats are still there. Is this a big enough reason to get rid of it, knowing that Ubuntu will likely draw interest sometime in the future from attackers?

What are the benefits of dual-booting, especially with Vista and ubuntu. What are some of the big (and not so big but notable) things that one does better than the other? I've already got my Vista set up to look nicely and I noticed Ubuntu doesn't seem to have different skins and stuff available yet. But what other reasons are there to keep two OS? thanks

[Saxon]

The best way to think of dual booting as a advantage is freedom of choice, say you have decided to use a program that isn't available on Linux you will have the choice to use Windows an vice verse.

The next one is crash recovery say your windows partition screws up an refuses to boot, you will be able to (most of the time not always) read the NTFS partition in linux an save all your music, pictures, videos etc.

That's just two that come to mind.

[NZcomputergeek]

Actually, there are plenty of reasons to dual boot Windows/Linux. I dual boot XP Pro and Ubuntu 8.04 on every PC I own.

1. Its not very likely that you'll get viruses or spyware on Ubuntu.

2. I use Windows for gaming and programs that I love that aren't available for Ubuntu/Linux

3. There is a ton of free software for Ubuntu/Linux that is malware free.

4. You never know when you will need Windows for some special website, program, etc.

5. Ubuntu just doesn't crash. At least, not in last few years of me using it

6. You can say, "I dual boot Windows and Linux" and computer geeks like me will think you are cool.

Also, Ubuntu is A LOT more customizable that Windows. I can send you some pics of my desktop if you want.

Anyway if you have any more qustions, or want some free tech support for either OS, just let me know.

Chris

[carnageX]

I dual-boot Vista/Ubuntu 8.04 on my laptop, and triple boot XP, Vista, and Ubuntu on my desktop. I like switching between Vista/Ubuntu on my laptop, but usually stay in XP on my desktop.

[QuadCore88]

It's also fun to learn. I used to dual-boot Linux but it's very difficult to do stuff, really takes brain-power.

[CalcProgrammer1]

I don't think going completely Windows or completely Linux is a good idea, I dual boot whenever possible, usually XP and Ubuntu, but my new laptop is Vista Ultimate and Ubuntu.

Dual booting allows you to enjoy both OS'es running in full hardware without having to reinstall a lot. What I always do is keep my Windows partition large and make my Ubuntu partition small (20GB or less). I keep all my files (media, documents, pictures, etc) on my Windows partition and access them from there in both OS'es. This minimizes HD waste by two OS'es because they can both share the one partition for files.

Ubuntu (Linux) is good for:
-Browsing (SAFE!)
-Torrenting (No viruses, No .exe)
-Learning Linux (duh)
-Using Linux apps
-Performing system maintenance (partition editing, Windows partition editing, Windows virus removal, etc)

Windows (XP/Vista) good for:
-Windows-only programs (Wine is 1.0 now, but still not perfect)
-Windows-only drivers (*cough* ATi *cough*)
-Games
-Getting Viruses...err...Scanning for viruses...err...if you browse in Linux you won't have that
-Network Bridging (use your Laptop to extend your wired network)

Other than that, it's just better to dual boot if you have the extra HDD space available because you get the benefits of two OS'es.

[Jayce]

Originally Posted by QuadCore88

It's also fun to learn. I used to dual-boot Linux but it's very difficult to do stuff, really takes brain-power.

I don't think Linux is that hard. It's just, it's more difficult to make the switch from the one operating system everybody has known since its initial creation. I started on Linux thinking "Where is the start button?" "Where is the device manager at?" etc... once you get that out of your head and just be very patient and look around, you pick up things pretty easily... suddenly, Linux doesn't seem like you need a bachelor's to understand.