For a while now when people find out I'm in IT they invariably ask my opinion or advice. Recently I've been telling people to try this thing called Linux. It's an operating system similar to Windows or Mac OS and it is good. Very good.

No! Wait! Come back!... don't run away, I know I've mentioned the L word, but I know what you're thinking. It's difficult! It's for techies and geeks! It's too complicated for me! it won't work with everything I need! Well, I have some news for you. If you can move a mouse and click things on the screen then you won't find it difficult and it probably WILL work with every thing you need. In fact it works so well that the new Asus EEE PC (that really small one you see in the shops but can't get as they've all sold out), well it comes with Linux pre-installed...

The majority of people are most comfortable when they are in familiar territory. For computing this usually means Windows XP/Vista and Ms Office. Both are severely over priced or have been installed as "borrowed" version. These people are probably using less than 10% of the installed programs and capabilities. Basically this boils down to email with outlook/express, word processing with Word, the odd calculation in Excel and almost certainly browsing the interweb thingy with Internet Explorer. Well, there is a way to do all this by using Linux and even better, there are less viruses (windows has hundreds of thousands, linux has only just touched the hundreds mark), spyware, adware and every other kind of annoying browsing-interference-ware. It is safe and your data/information/computer are very well protected but of course common sense does need to be applied to keep it that way. Plus, and this is a big plus, Linux and it's programs are free.

The most popular Linux these days is a distribution called Ubuntu. You can order a free CD (it takes about 4 weeks to arrive) from the website or you can download it and burn it to CD. As I said, It is free and these are full versions not just trial software. Even better, you can try the entire thing from a CD without having to install it! Just stick the Ubuntu CD into the drive (or the downloaded one) and reboot. It is a little slower when you run from CD though so have that in mind when you are comparing performance.

Too complicated? I bought my dad a computer at christmas and I saved nearly £80 as it didn't have Windows pre installed. He has been quite happily running Ubuntu, listening to his music, browsing the Internet, watching videos, typing documents, doing his finances, and since I gave him email I have run out of excuses for not keeping in contact. As for photos from him digital camera, he takes out the memory card, plugs it into the slot and it is immediately recognised, the helper program loads and his images are transfered to the computer. No hassles at all. To buy the equilivent products for Windows or Mac would probably cost somewhere in the high 100's, the cost for using Ubuntu and the other programs is zilch, nada, nothing, zero, gratis, neechevo. To date he has never had a problem. I have never once been asked to fix something and there have been no instances of spyware, adware or anything that can slow the computer down. It isn't a particularly high specification PC either but it runs very smoothly indeed.

A quick comparison of programs:

Windows Linux Word OpenOffice Writer Excel OpenOffice Calc Access OpenOffice Base Powerpoint OpenOffice Impress Outlook Evolution Internet Explorer Firefox MSN Messenger Amsn Media Player Totem or Mplayer or Amarok (there are lots...) iTunes Amarok or Listen or Rhythymbox (there are lots...) Photoshop Gnu Image Manipulation Program (The Gimp) Personal Firewall Built into Linux Virus Protection Built into Linux CorelDraw Inkscape Publisher Scribus


OpenOffice is developed by a huge name in IT, Sun Systems and it is completely free. It has all the features that you need and is compatible with Microsoft Office documents. Make no mistake this is a feature rich program.

Evolution is developed by the Networking company Novell, it has email, calendar, contacts, to-do, events and is similar to the full blown version of Outlook.

aMsn is the Windows Live equivilent but after a diet with the fat cut off. It has all the features you need including webcam and voice support.

The Gimp has all the features that a normal user of Photoshop would require and it gets better and better with each release with lots of filters and plugins freely available.

Installing programs could not be easier. There are lots of centrally maintained repositories and by using one program (Synaptic) you are able to install any program that fits your needs with just a couple of mouse clicks.

The downsides are that it may take a while to learn. Everything new does but everyone has to start somewhere. There are limited games but then thats why you have the PS3 under the telly collecting dust. There are some good timewasters available and some windows games will run under linux but it is always best to check on the site of the people that develop the compatibility layer before buying them.

So, if you want to spend less time fixing your computer and more time using it then break free of the chains and try Linux for a while. You may be pleasantly surprised at just how far it has come and the quality of the programs available. Google, facebook and other HUGE sites use linux for a good reason...

Links
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http://www.ubuntu.com
http://www.openoffice.org
http://www.gnome.org/projects/evolution/
http://www.scribus.net/
http://www.inkscape.org/
http://www.gimp.org/
http://amarok.kde.org/
http://www.gnome.org/projects/totem/
http://www.happypenguin.org/
http://www.fedoraproject.org/
http://www.opensuse.org/

(oh, and some of these programs work on Windows too!!!)

You can normally find lots of willing, helping hands at the forums

http://www.ubuntuforums.org
If you don't like the look of Ubuntu there are many other version available. You could try Kubuntu or Xubuntu or Fedora or Suse, choice is the keyword and I'm sure you will find one that fits your personal tastes. There is a list of the popular linux distributions complete with information, links and screenshots at:

http://www.distrowatch.org

So go on, give it a go, what have you got to lose?