Is there any practical reason to dual-boot Linux alongside Windows? [closed]

"There are hundreds of practical reasons to use Linux and hundreds of practical reasons not to run it.

Your real question, I think, is ""Do I have any particular reason to install Linux?"" Based on what you wrote above, the answer seems to be ""No.""

It's hard to say much more unless you give more information. What sorts of things do you use your computer for? Why did your previous experiment with Linux end?

Ultimately, nobody else can tell you what's good for you. I suppose they can try (and often do) but it rarely does either side any good."

"Sort of yes with all your points - aprt from the last 2.

It isn't really about running UNIX programs, it is about running the whole Linux environment.
No need for Fat32, you can just have two seporate partitions. Fat32 is only needed in order to transfer data between both OS's unless you want to install a NTFS addon for Linux or a EXT (?) addon for Windows.

The real reason is people want to use Linux if they want to - May have a program that only works on it, want to do testing or something else. They could use virtualisation, but it is faster just to run.

It is the same reason why people with Macs want to run Windows. It is hard to explain unless you are in the position and need to do it yourself."

"IMHO there isn't any reason today to waste a whole disk on another installation, when you can run both operating systems at the same time with one boot (that of Windows).

See the following two linux distributions:
andLinuxdotorg -- Run Linux natively inside Windows
Wubi -- an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows"

"Here's a take on it: if you don't really think you need to run it, it would probably be better not to dual-boot. If you need to do something Linuxy, you could use a LiveCD or stick a tiny distro on a thumb drive.

If you were a Linux user, dual-booting just might be helpful. You could do a lot of stuff in Linux, but you might need to boot into Windows for a few things (like some gaming). And Windows is somewhat harder to use LiveCD style or from a thumb drive (just because it's not really designed for that)."