Ubuntu will be my primary OS
I have settled on using Ubuntu as my primary operating system on both my personal laptop and my work machine(s). There were two three four driving forces behind the change.
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.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:15
But if you run VMWare with Windows runnging in it, then how have you saved the cost of a Windows license?
October 15th, 2007 at 11:51
I have not needed the VMWare solution for work. The Linux desktop means no MS Office suite (the OS license still comes with every PC). And to be honest, I think it is more a PR message … “we have XYZ thousand linux machines in use today”.
I’m sure I will find more “gotcha’s” like I just got an iTunes link thru email on the Ubuntu machine. It will be a bit bumpy but it’s already working about 95% now.
October 15th, 2007 at 15:30
Welcome aboard, with the advent of Ubuntu 7.10 I have left the Windows world on my home PC for about 4 weeks now. My biggest stumbling block was Quicken, which I use for accounts, but since I found that I can actually run it via wine, I figured why not make the jump. With compiz-fusion built in, and Avant Window Manager installed I have all the eye candy and bling I need to show off what Linux can do these days. I too am toying with putting Ubuntu on my parents PC as I am getting far too many malware/spyware windows is slowing down calls from them theses days.
October 15th, 2007 at 17:09
I too, have used Ubuntu for about three months at home. I am really pained when I have to reboot into Windows. I have selected Moneydance ($29) to replace Quicken. Not the best, but it seems to work and downloads from most banks and credit cards.
I have yet to get Quicken to work in Wine. If you are a web surfer, e-mailer, and need simple finances, look to Ubuntu. Even the beta release of 7.10 is stable on my Lenovo T61 laptop.