Last night in the pub I was having one of my periodic left-wing rants to the effect that I am tacitly supporting Microsoft by being forced to use Windows as an operating system. One of my mates said he thought that Linux was a possible alternative OS for PC's. Anybody any knowledge about this?
Specifically (and I am not computer literate);
a) is Linux a possible OS for PC's;
b) where would I find it (I'm told it's open source, I had a quick search but couldn't find anything that looked useful);
c) all my software is configured to run under Windows. If Linux was a valid OS option for me, how hard would it be to reconfigure my machine?;
d) could I do irreparable damage by just trying?
Any help would be appreciated, as I really don't want to be a pawn in Microsoft's game (you don't need to agree with this sentiment, but there it is, I do)