``So, most of that stuff is covered, in some way or another.
The trick is that it will take longer than a week to install and learn all this and the rest of it. It's harder for some kinds of Windows power users to switch over to Linux than it is "newbies", ironically...''
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What I found happened after switching over entirely is that I evolved differnt ways of working that were more easily integrated into the unix world.
The best example I can think of is that I used to do a lot of graphic design and learned to do layout in Quark. After changing the OS, I had to forget graphic design and I was stuck for a long time without any layout tools. Then I discovered TeX---jesus yet another monster learning curve. But, I was used to facing the impossible by this time, and just bellied up to the bar and started in. Took a few weeks, and then I could use TeX in a limited enough way to get by for my needs. Then leaning TeX, reminded me or made me aware of just how much bullshit work there is in computer graphic design, and how little art. TeX turned out to depend a lot more on a kind of art sensibility than Quark---however much easier, faster, and nicer to use Quark was---at the core it was artless--it was a hard core production tool.
The point is that instead of expecting to transfer all the ways that you used to do things on an MS system, you discover you have changed in a fundamental way. So, after the transistion, you do things differently with different tools. But the good part is that in addition you learn all sorts of things that you never expected to know, and discover entirely new worlds with other problems.
It really is a (or was for me) a very radicalizing experience.
Chuck Grimes
Gotta go to work...dam