HeHe! I use nothing but Linux, so no wories here either.

Too bad Linux can't run quality do-something software. I tried
Linux, here is what I found:

Firstly, Linux is very hard to use. Yes, many distributions are easy to
install and KDE has a nice user interface. That is only there to trick
unsuspecting users. Try installing software in Linux. Most of Linux
software is available as source code. Many Linux cult members lie
that it is easy to install from source code. All you have to do is type
3 commands: ./configure, make and make install. That is nothing but
bull. Every distro puts files in different places. The configure is
supposed to guess where all the files it needs are. It always 500%
of the time fails. You have to edit files with cryptic garbage to get
it to work. After all of that you learn you need a crap load of
dependencies. These are library files needed for software to work,
similar to .dll in Windows. So then you have to search all over the
internet looking for the crap load of dependencies and after 5 days
you find them all. You try to install them and you get warnings that it
cannot be installed because other crapware needs an older library
file. So you spent 5 days for nothing.

There is rpm which is precompiled software packages. This is a little
easier but you still run into dependency hell. Then there is Debian's
apt-get and Gentoo's emerge commands. You type apt-get GIMP
and it will download GIMP and its dependencies and install it. This
is very easy, however this only works for a very small amount of
software. The vast majority of the software will not work with apt-get
or emerge. Now you know why Linux distros come with several CDs.
They are loaded up with software because it is the only way to install
them.

Linux is not stable. I have had several kernel panics in the past 5 months.
I have had nothing but freezes and lock ups. Windows 2000/XP is
10 trillion times more stable than Linux. I have built 20 computers
since Windows 2000 has came out and all 20 have never had a freeze,
auto reboot, bsod, hiccup or a burp. Many have run several months
24/7 without even a warm boot. On top of that you can run something
called quality software. You put in the CD and insert finger in ass and
the software is installed without problems.

Now that you know it is next to impossible to install software in Linux,
lets take a look at a few impossible to install astronomy programs for
Linux. Firstly, the main reason to use astronomy software is because
of the extensive database they come with. Stars to 15th magnitude
and the ability to download UNSO A2 data is an absolute must. Over
100,000 deep sky objects are a must also. We like to look at something
other then M this and NGC that over and over again. There are great
objects such as the coat hanger cluster and strongman cluster we
would like ploted. Also, CCD imagers need a large database so they
can identify the objects they have imaged.

KStars is a popular Linux astronomy program. First it is version 0.9
that means beta and it is buggy and crashes. Also it doesn't have the
data as described above. Remember TheSky version 1 running on our
386 and 486 computer with Windows 3.1? Even that is far better than
Kstars. Xplns isn't any better either. It plots a few stars and a puny
deep sky database of 10,000 deep sky objects. Guide has over a
million deep sky objects. Cartes Du Ceil is free and is far better than
Kstars and Xplns put together. That's right folks: Windows has better
free software than Linux does.

XEphem the king astronomy software to the Linux cult. After I spent
10 days trying to compile I ran the software and I laughed. What a
joke for a user interface. When you click on an object (that is if you
can find an object with is puny database) you have to hold down the
mouse button for the data to stay on-screen. The display looks like
the astronomy software we used in the 80's. It isn't Starry Night. It
only has basic typical hum drum features that any other charting,
ephemeris software has. Guide has tons more features. To be fair
you can purchase the CD version which has something called a
database but why bother - there is Cartes Du Ceil and it kicks
XEphem's ass.

Linux has no alternatives for the great programs like Deep Sky 2002
or SkyTools. Those are very useful programs and Linux has nothing to
offer for planning and logging.

Windows is freedom. It gives you the choice to run top quality astronomy
software such as TheSky, Skymap Pro, Skytools and Guide the best
astronomical software there is period. You can even have free software
such as CDC, Hello Northern Sky which blow away Kstars, Xplns
and XEphem software. You even have the freedom to run Linux-like crap
such as crappy Sky Globe. Do yourself a favor: run as fast as you can
away from the communist evils of Linux and embrace the freedom of
Windows 2000/XP.

Say no to Linux.