Wow, today my one year of sobriety date from using Windows! It feel so great to be free from the blue screen of death. Why switch to Ubuntu Linux? I was fed up with Windows. I hated having crashes all the time, security flaws cropping up every hour on the hour, having to pay for software, and everything else the closed-source community embraces. This why I did it!
My top 10 reasons to switch:
1.It Doesn't Crash.
2.Viruses Are Few and Far Between.
2.Virtually Hardware-Independent.
3.Freedom of Choice.
4.Standards.
5.Applications, Applications, Applications.
6.Interoperability.
7.It's a Community Relationship, Not a Customer Relationship!
8.It's Not About How Big Your Processor is!
9.Linux Is Configurable.
I've booted up in Windows three times, for a total of about an hour. In Ubuntu, everything just works. If I want to talk on Yahoo,Gmail, Facebook,AIM or MSN, I just pop up Pidgin, which is pre installed. Wanna edit images? Just use Gimp! Almost everything you want to use is available right off the bat. Even Open Office.
Ubuntu is a true multi-user operating system. Each user can have his or her own individual configuration all on one computer. This includes the look of the desktop, what icons are displayed, what programs are started automatically when the user logs in and even what language the desktop is in.
Now, I must say, I'm in love with Linux. I'll never go back to Windows as my main system. I will, however, leave it installed for my wife and family. But for me everything I need is included in Ubuntu, and it's very functional.
Some links to check out.
http://www.ubuntu.com/
Ubuntu is a community developed, Linux-based operating system that is perfect for laptops, desktops and servers. It contains all the applications you need - a web browser, presentation, document and spreadsheet software, instant messaging and much more.
http://www.osalt.com/
Find open source software alternatives to well-known commercial software.
Add your $0.02!
Categories:
sense of renewal
4 comments:
Congrats, Ken, on surviving for a year. 6 years ago when I was putting Debian on SPARC for you I was wondering why you were going through such efforts trying to make Windows work for you.
Welcome to software liberty.
Next, legal liberty.
By: Anonymous on March 1, 2009 at 1:20 PM
On the "virtually hardware independent" comment, I'd like to add something.
Ok, two things.
First, I looked at trying out Windows 7 beta. I didn't have enough machine to run it, on any of the 4 systems in my house. None.
Three run Debian, one WinXP. I guess they will continue to do so.
Second, as I mentioned in the first comment, I was installing Linux on SPARCs. Linux runs on everything from monolithic mainframes to wristwatches, natively. Heck, on SPARC I noticed that it ran faster than SunOS or Solaris, Sun's own OSs.
Sure, 10 years ago a full Debian install could be done on a 500MB disk. Now 500MB is what it takes for a bare-bones but workable system. 4G for a full-blown desktop multimedia system. But did you see the requires for Windows7? 16GB available space, and that is before ANY APPLICATIONS!
If Windows didn't come pre-installed, few would use it at all.
By: Anonymous on March 1, 2009 at 5:37 PM
As I stated in http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/28638/
I learned UNIX while still using Win311. Win95 and those that followed seemed to me to be steps backwards.
Heck, even with Win95 I was able to turn things OFF, which later versions took away from me. I resent having abilities taken away, and as the Windows I used at work advanced, my disgust with them only grew.
While at the same time, Linux systems became ever easier, more robust and more powerful in terms of what I could do.
My experience was parallel, directly comparing the two year after year, and I chose to use what worked better. Linux. (meaning the entire F/OSS community: software, users and systems)
By: Anonymous on March 9, 2009 at 5:22 AM
"With Windows, the BSA chooses YOU!"
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I thought the "Peace, Love, Linux" meme was really good. Running with that, we get John Lennon singing "Imagine there's no copyright...", "Please Copy That Floppy!", "Where do you want to go ... tomorrow?"
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A raid at a Starbucks full of laptop-using yuppies (obfuscated of course, to not infringe copyright, maybe "goddess coffees"), the black-tactical-clad officers with BSA in big yellow letters (or again some obfuscation) on their backs block the exits. Some lawyer-looking types follow as the stormtroopers start checking everyone's computers.
"Sir! The Scan shows that this laptop has a pirated OS.", "Sir! The Scan shows this laptop has illegal copies of word processing and video creation software.", etc.
After a while, the boss sees one of his stormtroopers looking dumbly at his scanner next to a laptop with TUX on it somewhere. "Robertson! You haven't fulfilled your quota! What did The Scan find?"
"Sir, I... I... this computer has no pirated software on it at all."
The room goes still. Everyone, especially the laptop owners in handcuffs, looks over and listens carefully.
"But, how can that be? YOU! Answer the question!"
"I run Linux."
As the Linux user closes his laptop and walks out free, the camera cuts to Robertson, sitting in the vacated Linux user's chair and starting to cry, as his boss leans over and says, "You're fired!"
Linux: Free, as in Freedom.
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How about a commercial with an entire office of screaming white-collar types, screen after screen showing some awful virus, and one lone cubicle at peace, maybe saving a spreadsheet, and when the application closes has a TUX picture as its desktop graphic with LINUX in big letters: "Use your computer, when everyone around you is losing theirs."
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By: Bob Robertson on April 3, 2009 at 9:54 AM
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