Your Best Advice

[chilly]

See it a bit broader. I have seen the failures. They often end up booting Windows for that other one is soooo difficult. They remain thinking Windows and that won't help them adjusting to Linux. Soon Linux is no more then a decoration on there bootup screen. For someone that had set his mind on change to Linux this whole Windows thing is a distraction at best.
Hmmm, well, it is "my advice" and there might be takers and non/takers

Yes i am looking at this in a far wider way,i was fed up with windows and tried a few variants of linux,i am a savvy guy so i knew the ups and downs of both platforms,using duel boot helped me make the choice.
However a lot of newbies have never heard of Linux and in that scenario will tend to stick with windows.

Thank you for pointing this out  

[ppiklapp]

What I tell people to do, is instead of dual booting on one hard drive, get a second drive to begin with Linux.  After a while they learn all the Linux stuff because it is easier than switching out hard drives.

[ferry_th]

More a advice for newbe´s. If you really want to switch from Windows to Linux do NOT dual boot. Counter productive.

Kinda remind me about how to stop smoking research. I read somewhere that your biggest chance to stop smoking is to stop smoking completely instead of reducing your smoking frequency little by little. 

[weirdwolf]

I've found a reboot can work wonders. (Takes just under a minute here)

[bicol_willem]

More a advice for newbe´s. If you really want to switch from Windows to Linux do NOT dual boot. Counter productive.

Kinda remind me about how to stop smoking research. I read somewhere that your biggest chance to stop smoking is to stop smoking completely instead of reducing your smoking frequency little by little. 

Exactly, a good comparison. 

[Linux-Blue]

Maybe the advice would be given to you depending on determination.

I myself dual booted windows and linux, and had its own harddrive later.
I hated windows, so I'd boot up to linux 99% of the time. Beauty of dual boot? Knowing that even though you're running linux, you know if you run into problems, you always have windows. Once the problem is fixed, use linux for it.
Its how I did it.

Those who like windows, don't dual boot. Just use linux.
those tired of windows, dual boot suggested, but not required

[gesata]

Those who like windows, don't dual boot. Just use linux.
those tired of windows, dual boot suggested, but not required

I like that that's how I got into Linux, as a tired of Windows type.
Mine is be persistent, Linux isn't Windows, it'll take you a bit to get used to it but it'll be worth the effort.
Oh and if you here from Win8 we still have a Start Menu!

[ZX80Man]

I try to push PCLOS to friends in need, if possible.  Dual boot, if they think they must have windoze.  I start them out using PCLOS and Firefox for safe internet experience.  Then they start to feel safe and explore more and more of what PCLOS has to offer.
IMHO, once they have a good look at PCLOS, it simply sells itself.
I can not say anything good about windoze 8. lol

[aguila]

Neither can I.

I have not experienced Win8 myself in deep yet, but the missing start button in the desktop mode and the completely idiotic routine for shutting down the computer are absolute nonsense.

The Metro screen is nothing else than a mix of widgets and icons. And worst is, it really gets in your way instead of getting out of it like the same functionality would if put on the desktop. So, where's the innovation in that? KDE has had this feature for years (the dashboard), only that Win8 has tiling on the "dashboard" and really, really gets in your way on a desktop (and laptop) workspace instead of getting out of it.

And the settings are cluttered over too many different places.

It still does not respect existing OSes when being installed and it still will not setup a separate user account by default. Most third party software will install some additional crap if you don't uncheck it and their one-stop-software-center is a really old hat. It has been an old hat for many years when Apple invented it on iOS.

[/rant]

As for the "dual boot or not" issue, having been p... off by Vista, I had dual boot for a while as a fallback option, but after first booting PCLOS I have never booted into Windows again and soon freed the valuable space for more useful things. Before finding PCLOS, I was not so sure I could ever really ditch Windows as the other distros I had used were less easy to use. So, YMMV when you start with Linux. But of course it will be quicker to like the new found land if you just "burn your boats" and exclusively stay in Linux.

[agmg]

Personally I have a dual boot with Windows 7 for just 2 programs that can't run under Linux and I need them for my work (CorelDRAW and Photoshop). I can do some of the things I need in Inkscape and Gimp but when it comes to proofing and printing I need professional software. And that's about the only time(s) I boot into Windows. I hate the fact they are wasting about 50GBs of my disk but can't do otherwise.

[agmg]

And to get back to this thread's purpose... my best advice should be: don't be afraid of the command line!

I used to be when I started using Linux but soon I realized that there is no need to. There are very good books about the command line, there is a special edition for it on our Magazine and there are man (manual) pages for every command line program out there on the net. All you need is search, read and learn.

When you have a problem and someone asks you to type a command in the terminal, ask or search and learn about that command. It is almost certain that you will use it again some other time in the future.

Most things can be done via the GUI. But there are times when the terminal way is faster, safier, more powerful or times when it's the only way.

[bicol_willem]

And to get back to this thread's purpose... my best advice should be: don't be afraid of the command line!

I used to be when I started using Linux but soon I realized that there is no need to. There are very good books about the command line, there is a special edition for it on our Magazine and there are man (manual) pages for every command line program out there on the net. All you need is search, read and learn.

When you have a problem and someone asks you to type a command in the terminal, ask or search and learn about that command. It is almost certain that you will use it again some other time in the future.

Most things can be done via the GUI. But there are times when the terminal way is faster, safier, more powerful or times when it's the only way.

Hmmm,... I agree about the power of the command line but it is my guess that the ENTIRE success of Windows (which is unsurpassed to date) has everything to do with eliminating the need for command line. It scares (and did so in the past) the heck out of the home user. Windows has little need for command line stuff and Linux has fairly catched up.
Don´t tell a Windows user "and when you figured out the differences have a look at the command line".  They might have never seen one and feel double threaten.
Well, my goal is to get Linux in homes used by average home users, the same that use Windows nowadays. There will be always expert area´s but that is a whole different story. The "masses" are home users. All they want is things to work like ..... Windows (minus the troubles is the bonus they look for).
just mho 

[MGBguy]

And to get back to this thread's purpose... my best advice should be: don't be afraid of the command line!

I used to be when I started using Linux but soon I realized that there is no need to. There are very good books about the command line, there is a special edition for it on our Magazine and there are man (manual) pages for every command line program out there on the net. All you need is search, read and learn.

When you have a problem and someone asks you to type a command in the terminal, ask or search and learn about that command. It is almost certain that you will use it again some other time in the future.

Most things can be done via the GUI. But there are times when the terminal way is faster, safier, more powerful or times when it's the only way.

Good advice. I used to dread the Command Line; and most days it's still beyond me. 
I started by making a cheat sheet of common commands; many introduced to me via Old Polack's helpful posts. 
Once you start using them it certainly builds confidence.

[ebvt]

The only reason I hung onto dual booting (during the xp era) was to help an old friend - even older than I - with his weekly problems. As he advanced from OS to OS, I canned W$ altogether and he has to wait until we visit each other. Since he makes up his own computer jargon, it became impossible to help him on the phone. Fortunately for him, he now restricts his activities to JPEGs and email.

I'm all for single booting and I'm even starting to enjoy the command line.

ebvt