which open source operating system should i choose?

Question

Hey guys, I'm replacing my hp laptop hard drive and since it crashed before I had chance to burn a windows 7 restore disc, I'm out of luck. Since i dnt really have the money to shell out the extra dough for a new windows operating system, I've been thinking about making the switch to something open source; but what? There's so much to choose from, what seems to be the most user friendly with the best software compatibility? For example, will windows movie maker, word, audacity, or adobe premiere CS run on any of these systems?
Thanks so much for your input!

Answer 1

Your best bet is to go with a Linux distro. You have many to choose from, however, the big two are Ubuntu and Debian. If you are an everyday user who isn t looking to do any computer development or troubleshooting type stuff, then Ubuntu is your OS. It s very user friendly, has a beautiful GUI, comes with office tools like a word processor, spreadsheet, etc., and is all around a nice operating system for day-to-day tasks. Debian is more meant for troubleshooting and whatnot. It s user interface is just as clean and polished, and can get the job done just as well as Ubuntu.

Answer 2

1. if you still have the serial code for windows you can download windows again for free (the serial code is the only thing that costs money)

2. your open source choices are linux.... ALL open source OSes are linux based and dont run windows programs (unless you use wine) but there are linux versions of these programs.

Answer 3

some windows products should work but if you wanna be safe just cough up the cash. if you are dead set against buying a new OS i suggest linux. its opensource free and works real well