Free operating systems are good alternatives for people who can't afford to use Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, or any other operating system.
Free Operating System are great if someone don't agree with the "Terms and conditions", or price of paid operating systems like Windows or Mac OS X which can cost hundreds of dollars to run over the course of a few years if you include paid antivirus subscriptions, antispyware subscriptions, and other paid software subscriptions by 3rd party companies like anti-spam, and parental control subscription cost.
Indeed, buying Windows by itself without a computer can be very expensive. I also dislike the many versions which Windows have since it is confusing. Plus, the feature rich version (Windows 7 Ultimate) cost almost 200 US dollars for the full version.
To be fair, Mac OS X is not much cheaper since you need to buy a mac, or buy it on Amazon for 161 dollars.
A lot of the times you may find that using them isn't really much different than using Windows, for the exception of learning how to mount and unmount a hdd or usb device, (which can be done by the right-click menu) you might be able to use it as you would windows.
When I first downloaded the Knoppix live cd, burned it and then used it, I thought that it would be difficult, but after a few minutes of getting used to the differences, and remembering that I would have to mount a device before I could use it or make it writable so that I could copy or move files to and from it, I was able to get used to it and use it with no problem. It was very similar to windows, but I didn't have to install anything to the hdd itself.
Since I use mostly use Freeware and open source software in Windows like Gimp Image Editor, Open Office, Google Chrome, VLC media player, Adobe Flash Player, Pidgin Instant messenger and Java Plug-in which all have Linux versions, I found using most Free Linux based operating systems like Knoppix, Ubuntu, and other free OS pretty similar to Windows.
I actually prefer how Linux mount and unmount USB drive vs using the tiny USB system tray icon to mount and unmount USBs like in Windows.
I think that in the future there might be more low cost PCs which run free operating system for people who just need an extra PC for the internet, watching videos and movies, going online, and non-windows gaming.
I used Kubuntu years ago (Version 7.04 for those who want specific details.) and to be honest it really wasn't that different from Windows. I mean graphically yes, but for the most part it handled roughly the same. Though adding new programs and updates was pretty easy to do thanks to the repository system. (Also, there were never any updates where I had to download them, then restart the computer... Which I was really glad for. I really hate having to download some upgrade only for it to tell me it wants to restart right now.)
So I think that free alternatives are pretty good and they're likely even better now than they used to be. I imagine that more people are turning to them now more than ever. (Wasn't it not too long ago that Russia announced they were going free OS by a certain date?)
Sometimes I wonder just how far MS would go to keep their users should more and more people end up following suit. I remember reading an article a few years back about MS suing the Open Source community demanding that they start charging for the software and O/S's because they saw them as unfair competitors.
