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Empire Deluxe ... Only speaking as a satisfied customer.... who also loved the original Empire. Found at http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/

"Um, bullshit. It takes time to switch, and to find comparable applications. Then you need to figure out if you can even keep things like your documents, your finances, etc. There's also added support costs, in time and / or money."

The items you've listed are all soft costs, outside of "potentially" support

With respect to the "added support costs", I can tell you as a user who had used only Windows until 2 weeks ago (had to do SOMETHING about my wife's machine) and I couldn't believe how:

1) FAST and EASILY Ubuntu installed;

2) the few questions I had (more for my own education) were easily found in Ubuntu support forums; and

3) all the software we needed was either already on the machine, or was quickly downloaded, installed and organized with minimal effort. Even Wine installed in seconds, and was up and running the one windows game I really love (Empire Deluxe Enhanced Edition").

I was TOTALLY blown away. Outside of games, Linux (or at least Ubuntu) is a pretty safe bet for home use.

Just play it online

http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/kbsgames/pgnew/

I started playing Empire http://www.classicempire.com/ with my Atari ST about 1987? Move forward to today, and I'm still playing it, albeit a newer version. http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/ Speaking of Atari games ... FTL's Sundog and Dungeon Master

Listed somewhat in chrnological order:

Zork - http://www.infocom-if.org/downloads/downloads.html

Empire - http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/

Sundog - http://dmweb.free.fr/FTLGames.htm

Dungeon Master - http://dmweb.free.fr/FTLGames.htm

Deus Ex - http://www.deusex.com/

While I am currently playing with games like Neverwinter Nights and Far Cry, quality games like these, last and last.

Turn based strategy games might fit the bill.

One that I particularly enjoy Empired Deluxe Extended Edition (yes, for those of you familiar, its part of the family tree of Empire Deluxe).

You can download a fully playable trial version at http://www.killerbeesoftware.com/ too, so you can test it fully to make sure its functional.

I'm thrilled that some of these games we love are being redone.

In 1987 I purchased "Empire" for my Atari and in the early 1990's purchased "Empire Deluxe". Empire has remained at the top of the strategy games list and anyone who plays it, knows why. Its addictive as hell! I still play my old DOS version, even today.

I just learned that Empire is now being redone too by Killer Bee Software and is now in beta! Yay!!!

He sorta brought them up to modern standards.

Internet play is now supported, which beats the hell out of the null modem that I needed with Perfect General on my 486.

The graphics are dated, but the interface has improved, and you can now play at a decent resolution, i.e. see more of the map.

Speaking of interfaces, if you've ever tried to go back and play eg. Ultima IV, you realize how incredibly annoying those interfaces were, compared to what we're used to now. I can't play those games any more, they're too freaking annoying.

He sorta brought them up to modern standards.

Internet play is now supported, which beats the hell out of the null modem that I needed with Perfect General on my 486.

The graphics are dated, but the interface has improved, and you can now play at a decent resolution, i.e. see more of the map.

Speaking of interfaces, if you've ever tried to go back and play eg. Ultima IV, you realize how incredibly annoying those interfaces were, compared to what we're used to now. I can't play those games any more, they're too freaking annoying.

why does no one ever mention Empire Deluxe. it was just re-released. see Killerbeesoftware . it's even more original than before, not a re-hashing. no fast action, just thinking. it's the only game i've got.