The new logo uses a green accent so that precipitated some style sheet changes for the site as well to remove some of the blue elements.

I’m including a screen clip for posterity because I don’t know how long this look with persist <grin> I am no 100% satisfied with the results but it is close. I think the font needs to change but I’ve been through 8 or 10 different ones and none have been right. I didn’t try the Ubuntu font yet so perhaps that will do the trick !

First, I needed a non-Windows solution for my parents. Windows is just too susceptible to viruses, malware00% , spyware, adware, and Internet gunk. A Mac was not an option only because the nearest Apple store is 20 miles into the city and my parents don’t feel comfortable driving in the city any more.

Next, I needed more control over my work PC. I am 100% mobile these days which means I no longer have corporate IT to help me with things. That’s OK as I am pretty self sufficient. However, corporate still insists on their own version of what we have fondly come to know as corporate virus-ware. This is the stuff that “keeps your machine updated the way the company wants”. That’s all well and good until it either decided to reboot your machine while you are at a customer site, or insists you don’t have the corporate email or text messaging software installed and won’t let you use your machine until you install it. (It gets really funny when the IT helpdesk contacts you over instant messaging to help you with the fact the the virus-ware insists you don’t have instant messaging - but then insists you install it !) It turns out all of the automated virus-ware the company uses is Windows only. Since I can’t get them to buy me a Mac, and I am free to use Linux (because it means the company reduced its Windows headcount by 1) I chose Linux.

The third reason is that I have fiddled and twiddled enough with Ubuntu to make a user experience I really like and actually miss when I must use my Windows machines. Now, I realize it should not take fiddling, twiddling, and dittling. I also have been following the Ubuntu 7.10 release which has done a great job at incorporating all the things I really want. I’m holding off my mass migration until it releases in a few days.

The fourth factor is Linux is much more efficient and Windows has become bloated. I think a Pentium3 700Mhz laptop with 768MB and a 40GB disk should be find for running email, a browser, an a couple helper utilities. Windows has grown (along with all of the spy/mal/ad stuff) to be very slow. Ubuntu is very happy and zippy with that hardware.

Caveat: I wholly admit that Ubuntu is not everything I need. I will still have one or two programs running in VMware images. With VMWare Player and VMWare Converter being free tools, it makes it easy and fast to have an image or two for those rare occurrences each month.