Almost seven months ago I bought myself a new laptop and decided to not use the Windows Vista installation that came with it. Instead I decided I was going to put Ubuntu Linux on it and just see how things went. I've been a Linux user for years at work and wanted to see just how far Linux had come on the desktop.
Could I do everything I needed to do on a daily basis using Linux? Could I really get by without any Microsoft products on my laptop? Has Linux finally grown up to the point that it can be a solid, stable, every-day computing environment? I wanted to find out.
Now, I understand that I'm a fringe case. I'm a geek. I do geeky things. (like putting Ubuntu on my laptop) I have more technical skill than the "average" person. My experiences would not be those of the typical housewife from Boise or the grandmother next door.
Still, though, I wanted to see what happened. I even started a blog about the process that I called The Ubuntue Experiment. I wanted this to be a place to store my knowledge- maybe someone else might find it useful, or maybe I would need to know some things again later.
So, after more than half a year of living with Linux in a Windows world, here is my conclusion: It's a lateral move.
Linux and Windows are not the same, but I would say there is parity. Yes, there were some weird little "gotchas" that popped up as a result of using Linux. There were a few tricks I had to learn to make my every-day computer use go smoothly, but what Windows or Mac user can't say the same thing?
Every operating system has its own idiosyncrasies just as every computer user has his own preferences.
In seven months of using Ubuntu daily there hasn't been anything I needed to do but couldn't. The interface is visually pleasing, and the performance on my new hardware was quick and reliable. I can recall offhand maybe two crashes in that time, which is about the same number crashes I experience with my Windows Vista computer at work in the same amount of time.
In short, there's no compelling reason (evangelical Open Source mantras aside) to move from Windows to Linux. If you buy a new PC it's sure to have Windows on it, and moving to Linux doesn't gain you any functionality or usefulness.
Neither does it give up anything. Ubuntu Linux is just as good, just as usable, just stable, just as polished as Windows with just as rich an ecosystem of applications.
A lot of Linux advocates talk about how Linux is free as in beer- meaning free of charge and that you can save money using it. While this is technically true, most people don't ever see the cost of Windows. It's just built into the cost of their computer when they buy it.
The advocates also stress that Linux is free as in speech- meaning without restrictions. Again, this is true, but it's not something Joe Average cares about. He just wants a PC that works.
So, there's no compelling reason to move from Windows to Linux, but there's no compelling reason not to. It's a lateral move that gains you little and loses you little.
For me, I like Ubuntu and will be sticking with it. Yes, I have a licensed, legal, paid-for copy of windows (more than one, actually) at my disposal if I ever need it, but so far I haven't needed it, and I don't see that I will any time soon. Ubuntu, you had me at "hello."
Well said. I have had the opportunity to “breath new life” into an old platform for a “little old grandma’s” machine using Ubuntu. Her Windows 2000 install was trashed and she didn’t have any sort of installation CD. She also didn’t want to pony up any money on a new version of Windows. All she wanted to be able to do was type up recipes, so I installed Open Office, and she is using it fine. It is pretty snappy too. I think the better application of Linux based OS’s is to breath new life into old hardware.