Is there an open source OS with a GUI similar to Windows that will run Windows programs?
Yes. The Linux OS has a GUI similar to Windows (though it can be customized to be whatever works best for you, if the Windows GUI doesn’t work best for you) and comes standard with an “application” called WINE which runs most Windows Applications. The “KDE” window manager is very similar to the Windows GUI, and there are window managers out there on the Internet which have been designed to look almost exactly like Windows XP and Windows Vista. Note: You should be aware that there are a few Windows features which aren’t in Linux. One Windows feature which has never been implemented in Linux is Windows’ tendency to crash frequently for no apparent reason, and another feature which you won’t find in Linux is Windows Vista’s resource-hogging DRM functions (yes, sad to say, you will have to put up with a computer which runs faster than Vista). There are also no known Linux viruses “in the wild” (i.e., “where they can get to you”) and no Linux spyware/malware in existence, so if you’ve grown
