avoid M$ products in general avoid windows rt devices (it's nearly impossible to replace the os with linux) avoid Microsoft Signature Edition PCs, e.g. Lenovo Yoga 900-13ISK2 - note that Lenovo Yoga 900-13ISK mostly works on Linux - ASUS X553S - get the older 13ISK version if you really want to use Linux - also does not work with Yoga 900S or Yoga 710S (uses proprietary SSD driver) avoid wmv, wma files in particular (sometimes wmv and wma files don't have DRM) avoid DRM video and audio avoid WGA (Windows Genuine 'Advantage') avoid IRCX and MSNP (microsoft's attempt to usurp IRC and instant messaging protocols avoid Microsoft shill sites like http://www.howtogeek.com avoid smartsource.ca very linux hostile, wine and much effort required to use avoid Rich Text Format, a proprietary document format from Microsoft avoid COM, ActiveX, and .Net as these are all Microsoft technologies avoid DDE, Dynamic Data Exchange is a method of interprocess communication for windows avoid http://msn.com (microsoft controlled portal site) avoid ASP, Active Server Pages. use PHP, Perl, Python of course don't buy the Xbox avoid bing (use google or startpage as blekko is now defunct) avoid microsoft office use LibreOffice/OpenOffice/Koffice avoid microsoft lit ebook format, however: August 2011, Microsoft announced they were discontinuing both Microsoft Reader and use of lit format for ebooks at the end of August 2012 avoid Microsoft surface: "Surface was the first major initiative by Microsoft to integrate its Windows with its own hardware, and is the first PC designed and distributed solely by Microsoft" use Java avoid .NET foss version microsoft version Computer -> chromebook avoid Microsoft surface Software Presentation -> Kpresenter, MagicPoint avoid PowerPoint Word Processor -> Abiword, kword avoid Word Spreadsheet -> Kspread, sc avoid Excel Internet Browser -> Firefox, Lynx avoid Internet Explorer Personal Finance -> gnucash avoid Microsoft Money Office Suite -> koffice, LibreOffice/OpenOffice, avoid Microsoft Office google docs Web Server -> apache avoid IIS IDE -> kdevelop avoid visual studio email server -> sendmail, eudora avoid exchange SQL database server -> mysql avoid microsoft sql scanning software -> xsane, xscanimage avoid twain games -> kmines avoid minesweeper BIOS -> coreboot avoid secureboot printing -> kedit, abiword avoid GDI printer, use postscript printer example of printer to avoid: EPSON AcuLaser C1750 cad -> freecad, KiCad avoid autocad music composition -> MuseScore avoid Sibelius (no linux version) discontinued: koffice (koffice-trinity exists), openoffice (LibreOffice exists as a fork) language issues --------------- say "digital audio player" instead of ipod say "digital video" instead of ipodcast software I use all the time: apache web server audacity multi-track audio editor coppermine photo gallery drupal content-management framework fbreader epub, ebooks firefox probably the most versatile web browser, used with noscript gcc c compiler glabels label generating program gqview great for looking at images kalzium periodic table for KDE kedit I use this to print addresses kolourpaint for image editing and scanning, now using the 4.14.3 version kpdf I use this a lot to look at pdf files kstars KDE desktop planetarium osmo personal organizer with calendar vim great for text editing, I also use kedit xchat IRC client suggested FOSS operating systems with source code ------------------------------------------------- Debian Linux, AntiX, Q4OS Slackware Linux, Vector Linux OpenBSD, FreeBSD, NetBSD OpenSXCE Plan 9 from Bell Labs Minix Haiku