Release your inner Penguin!

Some of you may already know this, but I run FFXI through Linux operating system on my PC, not through Windows.
For any of you who might want have been wanting to try doing the same I won't post a huge 'how to' here, as that has already been covered over at the official WINE website- http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=version&iId=2739&iTestingId=50482

Although for me there were no difficulties, the game and all expansions installed straight from the disks as normal and ran first time.
Only minor problems I have had are slightly glitchy shadows (think that's more my graphics driver than anything) and a very rare lockup bug, but I used to get similar in windows so meh.

One big advantage I have found to running the game in Linux is due to the Linux desktop having the ability to have multiple workspaces, and hot-key between them, I can run the game fullscreen and just flick to another workplace for web browsing etc. This also looks really cool when using some Linux desktop widgets-



Eat your heart out Microsoft, makes Win7 look soooo 20th century!

Awesome Fey

I remember when I saw my first glimps of the newer Linux and some of the cool stuff it can do, then I found out that Microsoft was making Windows 7 I assumed they were gonna try and copy the cool things Linux had, but apparently they epic failed at that lol.

Well, they did copy a lot of ideas from linux, like the hover over taskbar to view a mini screen of that window, and that docking windows etc, but all that stuff is a year or two old in Linux now, MS are just so behind the times, cos they are too busy 'telling' their users what they want, instead of asking/seeing what their users really want.

But meh, not going to get into a major 'why I hate MS' thing here, if people are happy with Windows then so be it, if they are not then I at least want them to know there is another choice.

I'm with you.

I helped my friend setup a Linux Dualboot system, she never uses windows anymore she says lol.

However, most people don't really know how to do anything on pc cept web and games.

True, although most recent Linux distributions do now have that covered.
Personally I use Ubuntu Linux. Couldn't be simpler to install, and I've never had any problems getting web/network access and stuff to work on it right away. And there are plenty of free linux games available on the web to keep most casual gamers happy. Granted it still can't run some of the more recent windows games that are more reliant on specific windows components to run, but those games that are, dare I say it, better written and thus not reliant on windows components to work, often run flawlessly under Linux with minimal effort. At the end of the day I don't think people realise how much the cost of a PC game is increased by the makers having to pay Microsoft license fees, and certification fees. If more people demanded a choice of operating system, it would actually free up the games makers to just make a 'PC' game, and not a 'Windows' game.

Very true Fey.

and with these modern consoles, games are so easily ported between pc, 360, ps3 that theres no reason they can't make it PC compatible, as opposed to Windows compatible, like you said.