Many years ago I first tried Linux on some old PCs that were donated.  It was fun, and as a hobbyist, I enjoyed the challenge of getting everything to work; to be honest, however, I seldom succeeded.  Then, quite a few years later, I took another look and found much progress.  Unfortunately, my desire for Linux to become widely used was unrealistic as it still required a person with good technical savvy and acumen – or at least a certain amount of confidence – to install and use Linux.  News spread about how growing amounts of people, especially corporations, were finding how much more stable and secure Linux was; this occurred around the same time that people were becoming increasingly disappointed and disenchanted with Microsoft after its release of Windows Vista.

While serving in New Orleans, I met others who were not only experimenting with Linux, but were using it as their primary operating system.  Meanwhile, my dissatisfaction with Windows was exacerbating, particularly due to constant worry about whether or not I was protected enough against viruses and spyware.  In fact, my protection was eating up all my resource, yet I still didn’t feel secure.

So, I took the leap of faith and switched over to Linux, hoping that it would enable me to accomplish all that I needed to do.  I did mess around with dual boot (utilizing both Windows XP and various Linux distributions on the same machine), and I still had my share of challenges getting everything to work, but before long I was proudly promoting the benefits of Open Source* with my computer running Debian Linux.  During my time in New Orleans, we tried many different distributions, especially in the computer labs which we were establishing. With donated computers, it was a way around the expensive license fees required if we were to install legitimate versions of Windows.  Linux was very stable, very easy to use once installed, and a great way to introduce others to Open Source. We found that Ubuntu and Xubuntu were the most uncomplicated for end users to operate, and in effort to better understand and help them, I switched to Ubuntu on my own laptop.

After leaving New Orleans, I offered that laptop to J, which is part of the reason that he got excited about computers and now is pursuing a career in web design.  So this journey uncovers another great reason to use Linux:  it gives more of a hands-on experience, which may lead to discovery of  previously unknown natural talents.

We have both just upgraded our systems to Ubuntu Lucid Lynx, and I must say that it is now certainly more advantageous to use Ubuntu than it is to use Windows:  easier to install, safer and more secure, and a heck of a lot more fun as there is no limit to the amount of customization you can do.

So with the attractive price tag of FREE, why doesn’t everybody switch?  If you still find that you have programs that need to be run in Windows, you may have to tinker with Wine (a Windows emulator that allows you to run programs in Linux) VirtualBox, (creating a virtual version of Windows that runs inside Linux), or using dual boot (utilizing both operating systems side-by-side so that one can choose which to use upon start-up).  All of these options add a level of complexity that some may wish to avoid.  Some may feel like they have more support if using Windows, but often that support comes at the tradeoff of a high price tag.  Now that so many people are using Linux, the support abounds, and there are hundreds of forums, many of which are very “newbie” friendly.  I think the primary reason more people haven’t yet switched is because they have never tried and are thwarted by fear of the unknown.

Is it time for you to make the move to Open Source Linux?  We highly recommend Ubuntu Lucid Lynx.

for the first timer if you have a newer machine, although there are a lot of other distributions from which to choose.  If you are ready to make the move but are unsure of yourself, we would be happy to offer any advice and welcome any questions.  Please just let us know.

*Open Source is a concept of sharing intellectual properties without concern for compensation. Lowthian Design Works uses many open source applications, including this blog, published in WordPress, and open source content management system.

Thanks Amy Tyson for proofreading this post.