In migrating from one operating system to another, one of the hardest problems to deal with is finding software that performs similarly to what you are used to. That's why I created this list. Note that I have a KDE-centric slant. No offence to Gnome or Xfce users, I'm just trying to keep the list simple. As I came from a Windows background, I included the programs that I am familiar with. If any of our Mac users want to contribute (or Windows users want to add something that I forgot), then please write to me and I will add it. Thanks.
In Windows You Used |
In Linux We Use |
Notes |
| C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents | /home/user | The default location for storing users' files. |
| Ad-Aware | - | You don't need it. |
| Access | Open Office Base | |
| Acrobat | Acrobat, Xpdf | Acrobat is available for linux directly from Adobe. |
| Excel | Open Office Calc | |
| Internet Explorer | Firefox, Opera, Konqueror, Netscape | Konqueror is also the KDE file manager, just as Explorer is also the Windows file manager. |
| McAfree Antivirus | - | You don't need it. |
| Microsoft Office | Open Office, Koffice | |
| MSN Messenger | Kopete | |
| Nero | K3B | |
| Norton Antivirus | - | You don't need it. |
| Notepad | Kedit | |
| Outlook | Evolution | |
| Outlook Express | Thunderbird | |
| Paint | KolourPaint | |
| Photoshop | The Gimp | |
| PowerPoint | Open Office Impress | |
| Spybot Search and Destroy | - | You don't need it. |
| Windows Desktop | KDE Desktop | |
| Windows Explorer | Konqueror | Just like Windows Explorer, Konqueror also does double duty as a capable web browser. |
| Windows Media Player | Amarok, Kaffeine | In linux you will have one program for audio, and another for video. |
| Windows Messenger | Kopete | |
| Word | Open Office Writer |