Before I begin I want to point out that I want you all to know that I am not one of those Linux fanboys who live in their parents basements surrounded by old hardware that’s running a command line version of Linux. I must also mention as an intro to this post that since I should have been studying I decided that I’d rather mess around on a computer this weekend seemed a good time to finally install Ubuntu Linux on my old laptop just to keep myself busy.
Now I’d installed Linux before on the machine, it was Ubuntu five point oh something or other but while it installed it didn’t pick up my wireless card or my graphics card and I do not have even nearly enough technical knowledge to try fix something like that. This weekend I got round to installing the latest and greatest version of Ubuntu known as Hardy Heron or version 8.04 for the technically minded out there.
I must say, I am rather impressed considering it was very easy to install, picked up all my hardware and runs a vast amount faster than Windows does on the exact same hardware. This brought me to this obvious thought of “why aren’t we all just running Linux?” Okay sure it isn’t useful for gamers, graphics designers and other specialist users but it is perfect for the average user that needs it for office and internet usage.
First of all, it’s free and second of all it does everything you could need in terms of the basics. In fact not only is it free but Ubuntu comes bundled with a web browser, an email client, an office suite and even some basic accounting software. I’m racking my brains but I cannot think of any use an average office user would not have available to them.
I’m not a highly technical person and I got the whole system working within an hour including the install time. If I had to to the same in Windows I would have to have the drivers for every piece of hardware ready and spend a good few hours installing. What’s interesting for me is that Linux actually seems like it is ready to hit the mainstream. It’s fast, very accessible and does not require a major change in mindset from Windows but best of all it just seems to work.
Can I see Linux on the desk of every worker in major offices around the world within ten years? Certainly
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I shifted to an Ubuntu laptop when my MacBook died and went to Mac repair heaven. Actually to get to that point I wiped Vista Home edition (or a variant thereof) off the office laptop and installed Hardy Heron instead.
It was a wonderful experience. Although it isn’t a Mac and I wasn’t sure about all the software I hadn’t really used before, if the sky fell down and Apple disappeared from the face of the Earth, I would be an Ubuntu man!
Ubuntu is free, powerful, feature rich, packed with awesome software and can do what most people need a computer to do. I expect there is a lot more power in there than us plebs are aware of and which the power users can point to but at the very least I can’t see a reason why the majority of people (at home and in business) shouldn’t use an Ubuntu machine.
I’ve only used Vista about four times and each time was akin to swimming through treacle.
I agree that if you’ve used and enjoyed OSX then Ubuntu is a poor competitor but did you apply Compiz and all the graphical effects? It’s really, really pretty. I definitely see this being very mainstream compared to Windows in a very few years.