Ubuntu Linux

People who know me will know that it's not long before I start talking about operating systems. They will also soon know that I don't use Windows. Now, I've nothing against Windows, if you discount the time it takes to boot up, or the fact that it's susceptible to invasion by all manner of nasty worms, viruses, trojans, malware or spyware. Which means you have to have the security of decent anti-virus. All this slows the system down, and leads to bloat. Just when you've got your system up and running nicely, Microsoft in their wisdom decide on bringing out yet another version of Windows... Even more bloated than the previous version, you also find that you need a hardware upgrade, because the new OS requires it. All this is fine if you are aware of making a choice, but the majority of ordinary users aren't. It's more than likely that the original computer they bought came with a version of Windows pre-installed, and so the logical step is to upgrade to the newer version of Windows, more than likely also buying a new computer. The plus side is of course that Windows has ubiquity on it's side, it's literally everywhere and is installed on about 95% of all computers worlwide. The rest have a mixture of operating systems installed, the best known being Mac, but amongst the rest are the various 'flavours' of an operating system called Linux.

Many of you will have heard of it, and some of you will have tried it, possibly many years ago, and been distinctly unimpressed. Many found that various bits of hardware that performed well under Windows refused to work at all under Linux, or if it could be persuaded to work at all, it needed fairly developed knowledge of editing scripts etc. To a certain extent, that's still true, but for most things, most versions of Linux are now much better supported, and it's easier than ever to have a real alternative to Windows. It's always had a bit of a 'geeky' image to it, and sadly, that image persists. It can indeed be very techie indeed, if that's what you want, but there is an easier way. It's called Ubuntu.

Ubuntu came to life in 2004, not very long ago really, and since then has become recognised as the easiest way to become familiar with Linux. Sure, it has it's detractors, and playing games on a Linux machine, apart from the few that are written for it, is out of the question, (though some games will run on something called Wine, but that's beyond the scope of this post). But Second Life does run on Ubuntu, and runs well at that. It seems to be more stable on Ubuntu than on Windows.

But crucially, Ubuntu will run on a machine that has fairly modest specifications. I have a few friends who were almost resigned to buying a new computer so that they could upgrade to the latest version of Windows, until I passed them a disc with Ubuntu on it, saying 'Try this'. I left it at that, letting them make the crucial decision. Many have been amazed at the lease of life it's given their machine, and they discovered that they didn't, after all have to go out and buy a new computer, and they've avoided buying yet another upgrade to Windows.

Ubuntu is free. No, no catch, it's free, as in 'free beer' and in the sense of 'freedom'. It's Open Source, which means that all the code is accessible, and anyone, (with the knowledge, of course) can look at it, improve it, change it, even make their own version of Linux, if they want to - as long as they agree to the terms of the licence – that the version they release is free for others to copy, change or distribute in the same manner as they acquired it. It's true that Ubuntu does use some closed-source stuff, drivers and certain codecs, but only the purists get upset over that, not that I'm decrying them, but most of us want decent graphics and the ability to watch DVDs or play mp3 files.

Ubuntu is easy to use, and though there are a few differences from Windows, anyone familiar with a computer desktop will soon feel at home. There are literally thousands of programs available, all with the same cost as Ubuntu itself, nothing, zilch, nada. Sceptical? You're of course correct to be, I bet you're still wondering what the catch is? You can pay something for it, if you want, most developers have a PayPal button on their site so that you can make a donation, which I recommend that you do, if you have downloaded their package and like it. After all, they do have servers to pay for etc, and most seem to do their stuff in their spare time, as a hobby almost.

You're still sceptical, fear not, you don't need to lose the security of Linus's blanket, (for those in the know, pun intended), you can install Ubuntu inside Windows using the Wubi Installer.

http://wubi-installer.org/

This will allow you to try out Ubuntu without losing Windows, plus giving you the option of easily uninstalling it in the unlikely event of you not loving Ubuntu. Most people I know end up uninstalling Windows. (Though many eventually do as I have done and settle on having a dual-boot Ubuntu/Windows set up)

Ubuntu isn't the best thing since sliced bread, but it does at least give an option to choose an operating system that isn't Windows. It's not perfect, no operating system is. But many of you are using Linux already without being aware of it. Many of the servers running the World Wide Web use a Linux operating system, mainly because of its stability and reliability. If that's not enough, does the fact that Linux is basically a version of Unix tell you anything? Unix can be installed on a desktop, but usually you'll find it in a mainframe. It's been around for years, and will continue to be around, as it is just good at what it does.

Linux has a future ahead, and as more and more people realise that Linux is increasingly user friendly, and when major organisations start to consider their IT costs in this recession hit world, more and more of them will make the change. Some already have, the French National Assembly, the French Education Department and the Gendarmerie National (French national police) have all made the change to Linux, the national police making savings of US$700,000 a year. Guess what operating system they changed from?

Unlike Windows, you are encouraged to get involved, and as a result there is a healthy support community who will do their best to help you when you get stuck.

So, what are you waiting for? Try it, you might like it, and if you don't, and you've done the best thing for Windows users and installed through Wubi, just uninstall using the Add/Remove facility in your Control Panel. Simple. But, you will love it.

There are few viruses or other nasties written for Linux, which logically is odd, as anyone with a bit of knowledge could easily do that. But not many have. As Linux becomes more popular, this may change, but for the moment, it's very secure. If you do decide to try Ubuntu, please do enable the anti-virus as you wouldn't want to inadvertently spread a virus to a Windows user, now would you?  And, yes, the anti-virus on Ubuntu is free too...