Everyone interested in Linux has their own story. Some people are just curious. Others have a serious programmer background and Linux offers a huge platform of free utilities with no strings attached. Whatever the reason, its a wide open territory with a huge platform of opportunity.
My story is part and parcel to why I am interested in the publically licensed OS. A couple years ago, I like everyone was struggling with virus, malware, adware, pop-ups and the continuous planned obsolesence from MS. After two separate marathon bouts with my wifes pc, my own pc and my work pc that consumed at least 100 man-hours I was completely fed up.
I was tired of paying $30 to $60 bucks a piece for every inconsequential program with no guarantee that they could or would fix my problems.
It was during this time that I was stuck in an airport and picked up a Linux magazine, thinking it was a program platform, not a full OS. I read with interest, realizing the magazine assumed an existing working knowledge of Linux. From all of this I realied that Red Hat was a big player.
I checked on the net and discovered enough to peak my interest. Within a week I bought a ‘Red Hat Linux 9 Bible’ and loaded it up on a spare hard-drive and I’ve been tinkering with Linux ever since.
Red Hat 9, Knoppix, Damn Small Linux, Fedora, and Ubuntu are among those that I’ve tried so far.
I won’t go into reviews at this time, but I’m incredibly impressed with Linux in general. You can download an entire operating system that includes a full suite of applications with complete freedom and no cost. You can find full OS’s of Linux that can run without even being loaded in the hard drive. The platform is wide open to individual customization for whatever the end user might desire.
Is it exactly like Windows? No. Is it easy like Windows? Some parts are and some parts aren’t. Can it do everything Windows does? From everything I’ve experienced and I need, yes. Does it have a future?You betcha. I believe that as major organizations (like Brazil and Maine) rule out propreitary formats, heavily charged license fees, and get tired of the continued trend of planned obsolescence (i.e. forced upgrades/fees/cost overhead) we’ll see the doors open more and more for Linux and Open Source Software in general. Linux is definitely here to stay.
21 Buzzards 