I think Windows 8 is a damn good OS, and I've been using it on my HP machine (what I'm currently) on for 2 years now. Well more like 1 year and 11 months because there was a month long foray into Linux. Anyway W8 is a good OS (Well the update, 8.1 is good).
I mean, it works, it doesn't crash, it starts up fast but its the visuals and layout that annoy me and that is very subjective. it is certainly usable and while I do dislike it I have been using it for more than a year without doing anything active to switch to another OS so it's not "the worst thing ever" but I still want something more like 7.
Well there are ways to get seven, if I wasn't scared of the legality I'd give you the copy I have from a MSDN package. (School supplied me and others in the computer science field with ~10K USD MS software). Anyway I'm sure there are ways to get a copy, have any friends or family with a spare copy lying around?
Hmm, maybe. I'll definitely ask. Thanks for the idea!
Yeah, I completely understand not wanting to risk it.
Thank you for the recommendations. I've been thinking of jumping ship for Linux if all else fails but all the variations makes it kind of daunting and it's really helpful to have a place to start.
Well is suggest that you go with Ubuntu 14.04 since it's the most current distribution right now. I started with Ubuntu 8.04 i think it was back in 2008, and dabbled until i got windows 7 in 2009, after that i such with windows for the next four years, until about three months ago with my month long stint in Ubuntu 13.10/14.04
So newest Ubuntu is the thing I should go with?