You may be thinking of switching to Linux. What's holding you back? Is it that you are worried that you won't be able to perform X task effectively? Maybe you think that you won't be able to use Linux effectively because your favorite programs are not available. You might think that your carefully collected music collection will become unmanageable, or you won't be able to watch DVDs and other movies on your computer. Do you believe that MSN Messenger only works on Windows? Do you think that Bit-torrent is not possible? If so, this article is meant for you.

In this article, we will focus on all the little programs that you are used to using in Windows, and their equivalents in Linux. People who have switched over often complain that they can't find the proper movie player, or MP3 player that they like to use. Sometimes, this is so irritating that they switch right back, just because they couldn't watch their favorite movies, or listen to their favorite songs. What they do not know is that there are many alternatives available in Linux. Some of the programs are so much better than their Windows counterparts that you may wonder why you didn't switch before.

We have categorized the most common tasks people do on their PC's, and listed Open Source equivalents for all of them. This ought to help you quickly get up to speed on Linux. Links to all the programs are provided as well; so, if you see something you might be interested in, simply click on it.

1. Internet Browsers: This is an easy one. Mozilla Firefox is an excellent replacement for Internet Explorer. Many people may already have used it on Windows. Firefox has many great features, such as tabbed browsing, a pop-up blocker and a series of extensions that make your browsing experience much more pleasurable. Opera is another good browser, and it is cross-platform as well. Opera is not free, but they do offer an ad-supported version. The Mozilla suite, distinct from Firefox is also available. Konqueror and Epiphany are two Linux only browsers that come with KDE and Gnome, respectively. We would recommend, however, that you use Firefox.

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