jacobroecker
December 13th, 2008, 06:30 AM
I've been using linux for a few months now, but have tried it on and off for several years. This time the switch was successful. So successful in fact, that I've begun recommending it to many of my friends.
There's a lot of comments by the Linux community about Windows, and how Linux is better. I'm still green enough to see both sides of the coin. Without Microsoft's efforts and GUIs many of my relatives would have never used a computer. It would make it more difficult to stay in contact. Life would be a bit harder.
I might get blacklisted for saying this but, thank you to Microsoft. I know I'm too new to predict that the software giant's days are numbered. I will watch with curiosity to see if other people who have made the prediction are correct. I am also watching to see if those who profess that there is no competition have some merit as well.
Ubuntu's popularity has lead to a lot of 'cleaning up' of things those of us from the MS world take for granted. It's nice to be able to install apps using deb files from websites. It's nice to have a synaptic package manager to help sort them out. It's nice to have my computer stop acting like it's underpowered. My machine is way more responsive on Ubuntu then on anything else! That alone has me sold.
Then I discovered Edubuntu and introduced it to my kids. My daughter loves math more than she did before. My son loves the matching games. They don't really understand they're being educated, they're just having fun. The pricetag for such things was a phenomenal FREE! For someone struggling to get out of debt this was great news!
I would like to say "thank you" to everyone involved, but I don't think I can say it enough.
I'm a consumer and so there's not much I can contribute beyond reporting the minor bugs without understanding the proper bug format. Because of how much it sped up my machine, and the digital divide (is it still safe to use that term or is it dated now) in the area I figured I could spread Linux around and help others at the same time.
I've started a program here in Oklahoma to put computers in homes that otherwise wouldn't have them. Because Ubuntu is a low footprint OS I can run Edubuntu on older machines just fine. Community members donate their machines to my daughter's school. I clean them up, load Edubuntu and give them back to the school to get placed in a home.
I call the project "reprise (http://reprise.trailbrain.com)" and had the idea while listening to Beethoven's 9th. If anyone's looking to do something similar in their area I'd love to help them get started.
Right now I hope this contributes to the community. It's about all I can do.
BTW is there a ubuntu version that will run on a machine previously running win98? xubuntu 8.4(alt) was too large :-( I've got 2 machines that I could send out by Christmas if there's something comparable.
There's a lot of comments by the Linux community about Windows, and how Linux is better. I'm still green enough to see both sides of the coin. Without Microsoft's efforts and GUIs many of my relatives would have never used a computer. It would make it more difficult to stay in contact. Life would be a bit harder.
I might get blacklisted for saying this but, thank you to Microsoft. I know I'm too new to predict that the software giant's days are numbered. I will watch with curiosity to see if other people who have made the prediction are correct. I am also watching to see if those who profess that there is no competition have some merit as well.
Ubuntu's popularity has lead to a lot of 'cleaning up' of things those of us from the MS world take for granted. It's nice to be able to install apps using deb files from websites. It's nice to have a synaptic package manager to help sort them out. It's nice to have my computer stop acting like it's underpowered. My machine is way more responsive on Ubuntu then on anything else! That alone has me sold.
Then I discovered Edubuntu and introduced it to my kids. My daughter loves math more than she did before. My son loves the matching games. They don't really understand they're being educated, they're just having fun. The pricetag for such things was a phenomenal FREE! For someone struggling to get out of debt this was great news!
I would like to say "thank you" to everyone involved, but I don't think I can say it enough.
I'm a consumer and so there's not much I can contribute beyond reporting the minor bugs without understanding the proper bug format. Because of how much it sped up my machine, and the digital divide (is it still safe to use that term or is it dated now) in the area I figured I could spread Linux around and help others at the same time.
I've started a program here in Oklahoma to put computers in homes that otherwise wouldn't have them. Because Ubuntu is a low footprint OS I can run Edubuntu on older machines just fine. Community members donate their machines to my daughter's school. I clean them up, load Edubuntu and give them back to the school to get placed in a home.
I call the project "reprise (http://reprise.trailbrain.com)" and had the idea while listening to Beethoven's 9th. If anyone's looking to do something similar in their area I'd love to help them get started.
Right now I hope this contributes to the community. It's about all I can do.
BTW is there a ubuntu version that will run on a machine previously running win98? xubuntu 8.4(alt) was too large :-( I've got 2 machines that I could send out by Christmas if there's something comparable.