How did you get introduced to Ubuntu? [Archive]

jf812

April 13th, 2010, 10:29 PM

Saw a distro called slax which i found that i could run off a USB so i started using it almost all the time but got a bit sick of KDE 3 and a few other things. Then someone mentioned ubuntu where i could install it to my HDD and even boot alongside windows!! So i installed 8.04 (latest at that time) and i got rid of it until i recently installed fedora 12 and scrapped windows altogether. Happy times

samalex

April 13th, 2010, 10:37 PM

For me about four years ago a friend of mine emailed me after attending NTLUG (North Texas LUG in Dallas, Tx) and seeing a presentation about Ubuntu. At that point I was running Slackware on my home server and OSX for my primary desktop and laptop, though I had just switched to OSX a couple of years prior from Linux.

After hearing this I checked the site, but at that point it was just another stone in the river of distros. Over the next year or so Ubuntu started bubbling up into the FOSS news more and more, so I eventually downloaded either version 5 or 6 (can't remember) and installed it on an old eMac (PowerPC Processor), but PPC support was pretty bad.

From there I tested it virtually off and on, and eventually moved my home server to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, which it still runs. I was VERY impressed with this, so last year when I decided to retire my iBook and move back to Linux I decided to run with Ubuntu, which now my primary system is a System76 laptop with Ubuntu 9.04. I'll upgrade to 10.04 LTS when it's out later this month given System76 has drivers available for my system.

Sam

Directive 4

April 13th, 2010, 10:42 PM

all the older kids at school where using it so i started to to fit in, now i'm hooked and homeless, wandering around all day looking for one more hit of buntu.
it started off free but then they jacked up the price, i have to steal car steros to get web cafe tokens. i wish i had stayed with windows.

Groucho Marxist

April 13th, 2010, 10:45 PM

My sister's high school newspaper editor gave me a 5.04 Hoary Hedgehog Live CD that I experimented with on an old computer. "The rest," as they say, "is history." :)

trig

April 13th, 2010, 10:46 PM

I have known Zerhache since i was 19. I am now 34. I was building a computer The disk was 7.04 (IBM 300) and i needed a system that was free, since i had recently injured my back and lost my job as a lead man at service spring corp. so he told me what to do the told me to start googling and if i had any questions ask after i looked. I got hooked on it. I joined the forum in 08. used xp durning the 8.04 and 8.10, because my wife complained too much. got 2 computers now im on my Linux box all the time.

tekkidd

April 13th, 2010, 10:51 PM

Really in the very begging i saw ubuntu in popular sciences' how 2.0 section. At that time it was ubuntu 8.04 LTS. So i downloaded it and installed it on my laptop via wubi. It was great minus the fact their was no wifi. Then around November of 09 i transferred to another high school where the whole network was running Debian. Their I argued with my IT over why windows is better than Linux and lost every time. So i got the point and did a dual boot after vista on my computer crashed. And from their on out i kinda stuck to it.

Frogs Hair

April 13th, 2010, 11:08 PM

I came across articles about Ubuntu on the web and decided to try Wubi based on a good review of 9.10 . Wubi worked great for me and not long after I burned a cd and watched an installation video on Youtube and here I am.

PC_load_letter

April 13th, 2010, 11:18 PM

My brother suggested that I try it, I had several frustrating experiences with Micosoft (the company and the products), so I installed Ubuntu Feisty, and as they say the rest is history :D

ceelo

April 13th, 2010, 11:28 PM

I had just started using uTorrent back in 2007 and I remember seeing an Ubuntu iso file in the screenshots on their website. The name sounded funny so I looked it up. LOL. I also had to do a class project involving Linux at the time, our professor told us to install Fedora (it's what he used). As I was looking up help on Linux these forums kept coming up at the top of my search results. The rest is history.

wojox

April 13th, 2010, 11:32 PM

Google > Distrowatch

Old_Grey_Wolf

April 14th, 2010, 12:57 AM

The Microsoft company made some business decisions I didn't like for my personal computer use.

I have been using computers long before there were "personal computers"; therefore, before there was a Microsoft or Apple. So, I knew other operating systems existed.

In my frustration with Microsoft's business decisions, I used Google to search for free operating systems. I tried several; including, Ubuntu. Ubuntu isn't the only disro I use. I will still use Microsoft products if they are the right tool for the job; however, for home personal computing I prefer FOSS. I do not have Cable or Satellite TV. I get my TV needs from the Internet or through an over-the-air digital TV box connected to my multi-media server. I dual boot with Windows 7 on the multi-media server because Netflix doesn't seem to work with Linux.

ubunterooster

April 14th, 2010, 01:27 AM

I was trying to make Vista have more speed using skin applications. In aug 08 someone who introduced himself as a "macbrat and an applehead" came over. During his attempt to get me to use mac, I mentioned the EULA. This put him into a state in which he tried to be condesending "to be consistent, you should be using Linux" [the last word being a hiss] When looking for a new skin application I found one called ubuntu. I stuck the CD in and totally freaked. The eula made sense, the setup made sense. But if it's not ms or apple what is it? It took a few weeks for me to figure out what it was.

Dayofswords

April 14th, 2010, 01:31 AM

i first heard of linux after i was wondering what server a game was using, didnt care about about it though, didnt even bother googling what linux was

then like 2 years later i got a domain name, i had to choose between linux of windows for my free hosting from godaddy. linux had more option of installable things(they have a list you can just click install to put on it, like a forum.) i was wondering what it was so i google'd and got the linux.org site

somehow go the distro list and saw like centos saw site, left

something something

ubuntu site, download, leaned how to burn a cd from iso

try

try

try

installed

pbpersson

April 14th, 2010, 02:02 AM

Back around 2000 I first tried Linux. I think I have always been curious about it because I get SO MANY Google returns when I search on technical issues.

I tried Corel, Red Hat, SUSE, and Mandriva through the years. None of them really worked that well for me but each time I learned more so Linux was less foreign to me.

Then a few years went by and I was telling people in my life - techie guys - that I was thinking of trying Linux again. two of them said I had to try Ubuntu. I installed Feisty Fawn and the rest is history. :)

pickboy87

April 14th, 2010, 02:08 AM

I don't remember exactly how I found out about Ubuntu. I know it was around 2006-7 when I decided to give Linux a shot again. I had trouble with openSUSE so I went and looked for a popular Linux distro. I found Ubuntu and used that for a couple years. Was a great start into Linux.

-jay-

April 14th, 2010, 02:13 AM

i 1st heard about linux thru a certain site then saw lots of people talking about ubuntu so i ordered the cds tryed it & fell inlove with ubuntu

MasterNetra

April 14th, 2010, 02:16 AM

I originally ran across Feisty Fawn back when I was hunting around and testing OS's i came across via google. It didn't work on my Desktop so I continued for a little while then gave up and went by to windows xp. Shortly after going to college i was re-introduced to Ubuntu this time to Hardy which did work on the desktop. At the time though I wasn't ready to fully embrace linux. Now I'm 100% and even got my sister in law using it.

dominiquec

April 14th, 2010, 02:29 AM

Way back in 2005. Had just bought an IBM Thinkpad with no operating system (http://www.villageidiotsavant.com/2005/07/thinkpad-r50e-model-1834ta6.html). Ran SuSE for a while, and was happy with it, but then it borked.

It so happened I toured my friend Miguel around the IBM office, and he had a spare CD of Ubuntu 5.04. I installed it on my Thinkpad. Have stuck with Ubuntu ever since.

witeshark17

April 14th, 2010, 03:39 AM

I switched to OS X in about 2004. When I needed (wanted) :KS a laptop, my parents said I could only get a "PC". So I cut a deal; I said I'd be happy with a Linux laptop. Along came Ubuntu. Love it! :guitar:

NightwishFan

April 14th, 2010, 03:56 AM

I was a part of a large Starcraft forum and participated in a "Show your desktop" type of thread. Someone on there was running this odd desktop called OpenSUSE. I began to use more open source software and finally I thought what if there are entire open source operating systems? (I was not a computer geek back then). I googled open source operating system and somehow came upon Distrowatch. I was going to try OpenSUSE but it said on there it was slow (which they need to change because it is not). The top one was Ubuntu so I tried 7.10, and found (among other things) that I liked how the desktop was named Gnome. Since I had a Nvidia card desktop effects did not work, when I installed the driver I was blown away.

Khakilang

April 14th, 2010, 04:06 AM

I heard about Linux in the 1990s and at time I was engross with Window 3.1 and all the point and click stuff I did not bother because I am tired of DOS command so I don't want to try another CLI thing. But lately I came across a seminar call MyGOSSCON (Malaysia Government Open Source Software Conference) change my mind. So I go out and buy a book call "Practical Guide To Ubuntu Linux". It come with an Ubuntu 8.10 CD and start using it until I upgrade to 9.10. Never look back.

witeshark17

April 14th, 2010, 05:24 AM

^_^ Nice one! :KS

mcoleman44

April 14th, 2010, 06:11 AM

I just got sick of windows telling me what to do. Not to mention all the Compiz youtube videos.:lolflag:

chessnerd

April 14th, 2010, 06:38 AM

The entire (condensed) story of my Linux usage from introduction to present day. (If you want to read it)

Late 2008: I took a Java Programming class in high school. Some people in that class talked about something called "Linux" and "Ubuntu" so I decided to check it out.

February 2009: I first tried Ubuntu on LiveCD on an old desktop that my dad gave to my sister, but my sister didn't want it because the Windows 2000 on it had only 16 color (not 16-bit, just 16) so she let me mess with it. Eventually, I installed Xubuntu Linux on there alongside Windows 2000.

Spring 2009: The experience taught me a ton about computers and, eventually, I not only fixed the Windows 2000 color issues (turns out the display driver was bad, before that, I didn't even know what a "driver" was), but I became the resident computer nerd for my entire family.

Summer 2009: In my first venture into the world of computer hardware, I combined another old computer with the machine running Xubuntu, giving it 384 MB RAM, a second HDD, and a new CD burner and DVD reader. Shortly thereafter I installed Ubuntu on it.

Fall 2009: I had switched Ubuntu for Xubuntu after realizing how slow it was and having issues (due to my tinkering of course). Later, I installed Ubuntu 9.04 on my laptop, but I still saw Linux as "just a hobby, won't be anything big" (might be a stolen quote...).

January 2010: My Linux usage began to edge up to my Windows usage. They became about 50/50 in late January.

Currently: I run Linux.

sxmaxchine

April 14th, 2010, 06:43 AM

my brother needed an os on his laptop so i installed ubuntu which came with on a pc user disk

Ozitraveller

April 14th, 2010, 06:44 AM

Heard about redhat and suse about 10 years ago. I install RH on an old box and it sucked then I found debian woody (I think, maybe potato even) much better. So I did that for a while then ubuntu started and I've pretty much been here ever since.

mobilediesel

April 14th, 2010, 08:32 AM

I first heard of Ubuntu on Lifehacker (http://lifehacker.com/383769/hardy-heron-makes-linux-worth-another-look). It looked pretty decent after having tried Redhat and Slackware in previous years. After downloading the LiveCD I was planning to dual-boot while I got used to Linux.

In the process of getting ready to reboot, Internet Explorer locked up my computer. When the LiveCD installer came up I was still angry with internet explorer so I told the installer to use the whole disk. I was calmed down by the time I got to my wife's computer so her system is a dual-boot. It's about every 5 or 6 weeks that she even boots into Windows now. I mark it on my calendar when she does and told her that when 3 months pass without booting windows, that partition is going away. :D

HansKisaragi

April 14th, 2010, 08:46 AM

I used Red Hat and Mandrake back in 2003-2004 when I went to school.

Then I came by Warty Warthog and instantly fell in love. :KS

Been switching back and forth ever since.

ardchoille42

April 14th, 2010, 08:48 AM

Years ago (2001?) I was already fed up with Windows when a friend told me about Debian GNU/Linux - I almost fell over when I found out it was free, Debian GNU/Linux had become my new best friend. I learned about Ubuntu in 2005, installed it and have been happily using Ubuntu ever since. I have learned more about computers and software in the short time I have been using Linux than all my years on other computers combined. Ubuntu ROCKS!

Spike-X

April 14th, 2010, 09:16 AM

I was calmed down by the time I got to my wife's computer so her system is a dual-boot.

Laffin'!

I first got into it in '06, shortly after I built my previous computer. I was sick and effing tired of Windows by that point, and more than ready for something (hopefully) better. I'd been seeing a lot of articles on Digg about this 'Ubuntu' distro, So I figured I'd give that a try.

I now have a new computer, and Windows is nothing more than a distant bad memory (except at work, but there's not much I can do about that right now). This computer is Linux-only (Mint 8, but I'll probably dual-boot with Ubuntu 10.4 when it comes out), and so is my old one, which my kids now have.

I started off making that one dual-boot for them so they could run some Windows-only games, but just as I'd almost got it ready to go the motherboard died. After rebuilding it I could not be bothered going through the hassle of a: re-installing Windows, and b: trying to get my aging copy of XP authorised for a "new" computer, so that one is Linux-only as well. They have no complaints so far.

kaldor

April 14th, 2010, 02:18 PM

I first heard about Linux via gaming a few years ago. Reason being, most game servers in my experience are Linux-based. And whenever I click "Server Info" to check who's on a server in Quake-based games, it will say Client: Linux.

I finally tried it myself when somebody told me about Ubuntu. Lucky for him, I was about to download and burn Gentoo and try to replace Windows with it because I didn't know of any other distros :D

llawwehttam

April 14th, 2010, 02:19 PM

I started using linux 7 years ago when I got to high shool and they had it there. I liked it and prefered it to microsoft, played around with a lot of distros and really liked debian. Ubuntu came along, was based on debian, was nice and stable and I tried it. Been there ever since.

dannyboy79

April 14th, 2010, 02:39 PM

back in 2005, i was given a brezzy badger live cd from a friend. he told me about a magical place where you could run an OS from a CD and not change your current OS install (windows at the time) so that I could "test drive" it out. It only took about an hour before I went out and purchased computer components to build a linux box. bought all "works out of the box" hardware and off I went into the land of FREE software.
LOVE IT! I've even had the pleasure of being a technical review for mark sobels "A practical guide to ubuntu linux" and got paid for it from Prentise Hall (the publisher) I love linux so much, i've converted many a windows zombies into using ubuntu (the bad part is that I have to help them over the phone or x11vnc into their machines) because they aren't savy enough to use google and ubuntuforums and irc chat to get help. Oh well, it's worth it if I can help linux desktop gain market share.

adeypoop

April 20th, 2010, 11:05 PM

Don't remember the exact details, but I was already familiar with Linux and had been distro hopping a fair bit. My cousin kept going on about Ubuntu so I gave it a try. Initially I wasn't that keen though, I didn't really like the brown theme and the use of sudo instead of a su account plus i thought it was too much for 'noobs'.

Anyway cutting long story short, after yet more distro hopping I eventually came to the conclusion I should just pick a distro and stick with it. Linux is all about choice and there were LOTS of options to look at before I chose Ubuntu in the end.

I can't even remember exactly whey I chose Ubuntu, probably as it had the biggest communtiy and seemed well supported, also the initial things I hadn't liked about it I'd started getting used to.

.... and the rest is history!

MattTastic

April 20th, 2010, 11:18 PM

I was at a party sometime back, and a old friend of mine, Father Curly came up to me and introduced us and just ran out of the building.

xpod

April 20th, 2010, 11:31 PM

Stumble Upon.
I actually went from being a complete Neanderthal who didn`t even want computers and Internet in the house to Ubuntu Linux user all in the space of 4 months & one week.....the week being the time it took from discovering Ubuntu via SU to removing the Windows partition for ever more.

mcoleman44

April 20th, 2010, 11:31 PM

I was at a party sometime back, and a old friend of mine, Father Curly came up to me and introduced us and just ran out of the building.
Hmmm... interesting story. Was he tall or short?

scouser73

April 22nd, 2010, 12:45 AM

A mate at my old works said about Ubuntu and it being free, to which I thought if it was free then it can't be good; how very wrong I was.

steveneddy

April 22nd, 2010, 02:30 AM

I was already using Knoppix and trying other distros when a lady at work gave me the Ubuntu CD - her husband is a geek and she told him about me and he thought I would like it - so I tried it.

It was Warty and I have used every release of Ubuntu up to Intrepid.

I will use 10.04 when it is released.

Have been Windows free for five years+.

HDave

April 22nd, 2010, 04:04 AM

I saw a youtube video of compiz and the rotating cube...thought it was the coolest thing ever. Bored with Windows XP and already a Thunderbird & Firefox user I installed Gutsy on an external portable USB drive.

Never looked back and I don't dual boot anymore either!

|{urse

April 22nd, 2010, 04:11 AM

I literally woke up with both a hangover and an ubuntu cd stuck to my back and asked my (also a geek) roommate about it. So I blew fedora off my system, downloaded and burned a fresh iso of Edgy and was hooked.

Lol i woke up with ubuntu one morning after a night of heavy drinking.

chriskin

April 22nd, 2010, 04:26 AM

-hello, i'm christos
-hello, i'm ubuntu
-nice to meet you
-you too

or by seeing the screen of the computer next to me
title is kind of abstract

Irihapeti

April 22nd, 2010, 05:41 AM

Actually, I don't really remember.

I know that I came across the name "Ubuntu" from time to time during my online travels and eventually, gradually over a period of time, decided that it might be nice to try. One day, I was in my local supermarket and I saw it offered on a DVD with a computer magazine.

Two months later, Windows got pushed off my hard drive, never to return. (Well, not yet, anyway :) )

chriskin

April 22nd, 2010, 05:42 AM

Irihapeti

April 22nd, 2010, 05:54 AM

didn't you just say how you got introduced to it?(second paragraph?)
how can you not rememeber? :confused::confused:
:popcorn:

Yes, I guess you are right.

Sometimes I have trouble remembering where I've put my brain. :)

NightwishFan

April 22nd, 2010, 06:11 AM

I barely remember myself how I found out about Linux, but I know I learned about Ubuntu through Distrowatch.

Zlatan

April 22nd, 2010, 07:40 AM

I remember wanting to change how Windows XP looked like and I installed a Mac theme and it was really slow, long story short(not really, I just don't remember, lol)I found something Called Ubuntu and decided to burn a cd, my first cd didn't work so I tried it with another one and I stayed up all night just for it to finish downloading.

What's your story?

My PC was infected through email preview regardless NOD32, Lavasoft Adaware and Opera mail. And all my dissertation work was gone. Thank God I had backups but that was it. I asked my friends of linux and one of them reccomended Ubuntu Warty Warthdog. So I'm in Ubuntu since then:)

toupeiro

April 22nd, 2010, 07:49 AM

I was a pretty avid SuSE user and was curious how ubuntu could be easier.. I was interested in the "Linux for Human Beings" slogan they were touting. In my opinion, the integration, choice of default apps, ease of getting new apps, really was a cut above what SuSE had at the time. I jumped over and really never looked back until just a few months ago.

immoweichert

April 22nd, 2010, 09:20 AM

Got to frustrated running Vista on my newish PC (too many crashes) and couldn't afford to upgrade to Windows 7. I've heard quite a while ago that my brother in law had been into linux for a long time, so I thought I'll give it a try. I checked out a few distros on the web, I think I went for Ubuntu because I found the installation instructions very straight forward for a newbie.

ndefontenay

April 22nd, 2010, 09:34 AM

Offered a drink and said something nice.

v1ad

April 22nd, 2010, 09:39 AM

introduced to Ubuntu in my UNIX class.

pmlxuser

April 22nd, 2010, 10:03 AM

it was a CD, i used to use redhat last was 9, then a computer donation to the company i was working for come with some ubuntu 5.04 cds, tried one liked it, but problem was internet connection, let for some time and come back full time at 6.10.. by windows.... (not completely wife likes GH scrabble, so still use windows for this game - if its ported to linux then by windows...)

ladypcer

April 22nd, 2010, 10:56 AM

In July of 2005 I signed up for account at Ubuntu and ordered some free cds.
I never really clicked with it until these last couple of releases. Now 10.4 beta 2 is my main OS.

d3v1150m471c

April 22nd, 2010, 11:03 AM

boredom

shebaw

April 22nd, 2010, 11:30 AM

Ok before I begin, there is something I would like to clear up. I live in a 3rd world country, so on one hand my Internet is fu###d up, and on the other, I can install any new software that costs thousands of dollars for free since there is no one to regulate copyright related stuff. So almost any software for me is practically free.

Back in 2008, I was using dialup connection(Ya I know, your like wtf?!) and was checking out stuff on the net, stuff about Linux and Open Source. I just got redirected from some site to Ubuntu's page and I saw that I can order CDs for free. I didn't believe it was true so I just filled up the form and entered my PostBox number(It was new at that time). After 6 weeks or so, I went to the post office to check and I was blown away when I saw that they sent me copies of Ubuntu. I took it home and installed it via wubi and I was impressed, but not enough to make me stop using windows because there was no support for my graphic card, modem, and many other things. I couldn't download them since I wasn't able to connect to the Internet and even if I was able to connect to the net, my Internet connection was so slow. I just let it go. Then after 1 years and half(March, 2010), I just gave Ubuntu 9.10 another try. I downloaded it this time after moving forward to broadband connection. It supported almost all of my drivers except my graphics card. I couldn't believe that it detected my broadband wifi modem automatically(even windows 7 asked me to install drivers for it). I started using it 90 percent of the time till I screwed up my partitions and accidentally formatted my windows 7 installation. I didn't see any reason of installing windows 7 back, so now all my 500 gb hard disk is dedicated to Ubuntu and I've never been happier!!!

HDave

April 23rd, 2010, 01:54 AM

Macfunky

April 23rd, 2010, 02:13 AM

For me it was when I studied sound engineering when Vista came out. I heard it was dreadful for hardware support (which it was at the time. It's gotten better I agree).

At the same time I had a computer architecture module that I had to do for the course. My tutor was a Unix programmer and he gave me various Linux live discs. I had heard before that Linux was supposed to be great and very secure so I gave it a go. I tried out various distros before realising that Ubuntu seemed to have the best support for hardware.

I was surprised to find that it picked up my audio interface no problem and with a bit of messing with JACK I found it very stable and fell in love with Ardour. Since then I have found it can do anything that I want it to do. People rant and rave about Pro Tools, and while I am FAR from dissing it, I don't understand people who have "Pro Tools" thinking that people think that it's the be all and the end of. Pro Tools is great but what makes it so great is it's integration with the hardware. Pro Tools LE (which is what most people have) is not anything special. If you have a good hardware set up at home Ardour is more than enough and it bought me into using Linux

Redundant Username

April 23rd, 2010, 02:36 AM

In '07, I heard about Linux in a forum I frequented. I than began trying Live CDs on tons of distros. I didn't get around to installing Ubuntu till Wubi came out.

bshosey

April 23rd, 2010, 02:47 AM

About 4 years ago. I had an old Dell Inspiron 5000 ( i think ) I was running xandros and it did good but wireless was a pain. Then I found someone talking about ubuntu in a xandros forum. So I downloaded it and installed it. Wireless worked right out of the box well kinda had problems with WPA but figured it out. It was easier and better than xandros. I fell in love with ubuntu. The following years I have tried several other distros just to compare and I keep going back to ubuntu. Now I am windows free and just run ubuntu. Now if I can get ubuntu mid to work on my phone that would be cool!

Roasted

April 23rd, 2010, 03:07 AM

I built my first computer when I was working at a miniature golf course. I had all of this new hardware and when I got it all together, I realized I had no operating system. I had no idea what to do. I had no clue how I could get Windows besides buying it. But working at a miniature golf course with teenage car insurance rates, I was drained of any and all money. I ended up installing Ubuntu based on a recommendation from my Fedora-using cousin to at least get my computer online and functional to read email, etc.

Ubuntu was intended to be a temporary solution until I could save up my small paychecks and buy it. But as time went on, I began to learn more and more about Ubuntu. I realized it could do simple things. I could... burn CDs with it. Get on AIM. Get on firefox. Play music. Play videos. Etc.

It grew from there, and ultimately I realized I had no need for Windows. Since then, I've turned into a dual booter due to my gaming habits I developed later on in time. I've also expanded my Linux familiarity by playing with upwards of another 20+ distros for extended periods of time. But each time, I came back to Ubuntu. It's easy to use, yet I can do everything with it that I can with other distros.

plurworldinc

April 23rd, 2010, 03:32 AM

I can still remember mt first day with Ubuntu like it was yesterday. I was spending the day with my 10 year old daughter in New York City and we were waiting for the train to ride back home to Philadelphia. As we were waiting for our train ride home we decided to buy a few magazines for we would have something to do on the train. That day I bought my first Linux Format mag and was hooked on Linux from then on. The very next day I played around with the LiveCD while Vista sat in the background slowly destroying my computer with an endless supply of malware and viruses. By that point I just had enough and switched my laptop over and shortly after my entire family followed my lead.

newbie2

April 23rd, 2010, 09:58 AM

2 links made me 'do it' :

The European Commission, in its March 24, 2004 decision on Microsoft's business practices,[1] quotes, in paragraph 463, Microsoft general manager for C++ development Aaron Contorer as stating in a February 21, 1997 internal Microsoft memo drafted for Bill Gates:

"The Windows API is so broad, so deep, and so functional that most ISVs would be crazy not to use it. And it is so deeply embedded in the source code of many Windows apps that there is a huge switching cost to using a different operating system instead...

"It is this switching cost that has given the customers the patience to stick with Windows through all our mistakes, our buggy drivers, our high TCO, our lack of a sexy vision at times, and many other difficulties [...] Customers constantly evaluate other desktop platforms, [but] it would be so much work to move over that they hope we just improve Windows rather than force them to move.

"In short, without this exclusive franchise called the Windows API, we would have been dead a long time ago."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendor_lock-in

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Experience_ubuntu.ogg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/Experience_ubuntu.ogg/mid-Experience_ubuntu.ogg.jpg

xir_

April 23rd, 2010, 11:36 AM

all i remember was trying vista and an thinking. nope this is not good.

whistlerspa

April 23rd, 2010, 12:20 PM

I started with Red hat 5.0 moe years ago than I care to admit to. From there it was Mandrake 7.0 (as I got sick of Midnight Commander text interface). Linux has come a long way since then.

I first came across Ubuntu as 5.04 and installed it on my second box. Used it for a few weeks and then went back to Mandrake which was more user friendly then). Ubuntu has improved with each release and can now replace Windows in all but gaming and Photoshop for those that need it (although Artweaver and Wine now come close).

It's also faster to boot and load every equivalent aplication that I've tried.

cap10Ibraim

April 23rd, 2010, 02:04 PM

When Karmic 9.10 shipped I read an article about it on Ars Technica (By browsing the tech news)

darthchaosofrspw

July 25th, 2010, 12:25 AM

Was disappointed in Xandros 4.0 and heard about Ubuntu 6.06 LTS. Downloaded and installed it, and the rest is history. :)

slooksterpsv

July 25th, 2010, 12:31 AM

I was bored of Windows and couldn't find my FreeBSD CDs, so I looked around the internet for free operating systems. Initially I found Fedora, tried it out, it was ok, but then I found Ubuntu when it was just version 6.06 - installed it, loved it, downloaded the PowerPC Version of it, put it on my iBook G3 and iMac G3, used it and that.

Went back to Windows and went back and forth between Linux and Windows. Finally about 1 month ago, I partitioned my drives so Linux has a majority of the space, and I use Linux more too.

Anuovis

July 25th, 2010, 12:50 AM

I gravitated slowly towards Linux. Some of my friends in IT field have been using it for a long time and I just got curious. Then I spent some time asking around, reading about the philosophy behind it and comparisons to Windows, looking at oh-so-pretty screenshots of Linux desktops, listening to interviews with Stallman and Shuttleworth... I knew more about the social aspect of the Linux world than the actual technical things before starting. Well, I study social sciences anyway.

I have tried some Live CDs but my first real system was Ubuntu 9.04. I was surprised because it was not as hard to get into it as I expected. I guess it really matured nowadays, judging from other (not that pleasant) experiences I have heard over the years from other users.

Starks

July 25th, 2010, 01:09 AM

Digg and Reddit in late 2006.

I had a prior brief bad experiences with Red Hat and Knoppix around 2003, my first Linux forays.

Macskeeball

July 25th, 2010, 04:41 AM

When I was I small child, my dad used a PC running either MS-DOS or an early version of Windows (pre-Windows 95). My elementary school used Macs, and that was the first time I'd seen a GUI. I was in awe, and eventually we got a Mac of our own because of that. Later when I went from Mac OS Classic to Mac OS X, I got a book called Mac OS X: The Missing Manual. It had a chapter that introduced Unix and talked about how to use the Terminal, and referred me to an online tutorial for more.

I got into the Unix-side of OS X. I learned my way around the Terminal, tried Mac versions of open-source apps, and even tried X11-based apps and compiling from source. While doing this I read about Linux on various tech web sites and Mac forums. I found out about how it was free of charge and required no new hardware. I tried installing Yellow Dog Linux on a spare hard drive but failed. I learned that there were Live CDs that I could use to try it out, and my first working Linux was a Live CD of Kanotix, which I tried to use to fix a Windows PC at school (messed up boot.ini file). I started hearing about Ubuntu, and as new versions came out I would spend a few minutes playing around with the Live CD.

I got a Linksys WRT54G router and eventually put the Tomato firmware on it. My first Linux device. My neighbor got a new computer, and gave me his old 800MHz PIII Dell. I put Ubuntu Server on it, though I eventually settled on Debian. My first real computer that regularly ran Linux (24/7, but no GUI). My dad died, and I inherited his old beat up Sony Vaio. I put Xubuntu on it and used it as a backup Internet device whenever my PowerBook had problems.

Today I use a MacBook Pro, and for the first time I've got an Ubuntu install on my primary computer. Ubuntu is very, very nice. Not quite all the way there for me yet, but almost. There's a lot that impresses me about 10.04.

Goolie

July 25th, 2010, 04:52 AM

I was all alone in a world without an OS.

A blue screen and a sad visage. I set out on a glorious adventure to find myself a new world. I snuck off into the night from my castles windows. On that adventure I found many a new friends and learn many a new thing. I studied ancient texts, and modern texts. I found many scrolls pointing me to a new world. Scrolls that taught me about an open society. I found myself immersed in information. I found myself in what I proudly called the information age. I stumbled upon a giant 4 headed beast. It breathed flames and tore asunder the very rock upon which I stood. After my glorious slaying of the beast I found myself in a new world. Filled with Amazonian women who wanted my manliness.

:guitar:

v1ad

July 25th, 2010, 05:01 AM

used windows 4 5 years and tried linux here and there, but since i did not know all the commands to well or the system i went back, then in 2009 took a unix class, threw ubuntu on right away as a dual boot and now preparing it for my future programming classes.

jerenept

July 25th, 2010, 05:07 AM

PCWorld. I saw an article about Ubuntu 8.10 in PCWorld Magazine, and tried it out (Wubi).

Later installed it in Parallels Desktop, then it got a computer of its own (9.04)

got rid of Vista.... ran really slow on my computer (baseline Vista specs, designed for xp)

I am going to set up LinuxMCE on a spare computer. Can't Wait!!

mamamia88

July 25th, 2010, 05:41 AM

was researching linux to install on ps3 and most popular was ubuntu. sucked on ps3 but is awesome on my laptop

murderslastcrow

July 25th, 2010, 07:38 AM

My parents' Windows 98 computer we'd upgraded to XP had finally squeezed its last uber-slow ounce of breath out, and it wasn't gonna' keep going (only 112 MB of RAM, 600 Mhz processor).

So my parents got a new computer, and that old one just sat around for a while. So I went to Google and typed, "OS for old computers." The first few links were about Linux and Ubuntu. I found ShipIt and used it since I thought it would be cooler to get the official CDs than to burn one.

Four weeks later, I get the CDs and try them in the computer. I just barely got into the LiveCD's wallpaper before it just froze up completely. You see, Gnome runs great on anything with 256 MB or more. I wasn't aware of Xubuntu or any other DEs.

So, the CDs sat there. So technically I've been an Ubuntu user for four or so years, although I didn't try it fully until my Vista tablet PC just broke in every possible way. And this is from someone who's had tons of experience with Windows maintenance in all aspects. So, I got sick of it, installed Ubuntu over everything the first time (no dual booting, Vista was busted anyway).

The installation took about 25 minutes back then (about 15 today), but it was still amazing. The only issues I had then were with my tablet- the drivers needed to be installed with synaptic (evtouch). Suprisingly they weren't there by default until the next version, even though there was a package for it. Go figure.

So, aside from that, Ubuntu was like a dream come true. Been using it ever since, even got a lighter distro on that really old computer, and many of my friends and family have switched either from seeing me use it or from me informing them when it's obvious it would fit their needs perfectly.

cariboo

July 25th, 2010, 07:55 AM

A thread on Slashdot in 2004 about the release of Warty and the fact that you could get free CD's, at the time Canonical encouraged every one to order at least 25 CD's.

BlazeFire247

July 25th, 2010, 08:07 AM

I saw a screenshot of a desktop running Ubuntu with the clearlooks theme, then I started to search more about it. I thought at first that you'd have to buy it, so I looked for themes, and out of curiosity, I went to the website and didn't really know about the CD burning thing. I found a way to install Ubuntu using Wubi.

Ony

July 25th, 2010, 08:52 AM

Hey, All

I just happen to find Ubuntu by chance over heard some people talking about how good it was, so I did some checking and asked around a bit. Then someone told me, just to download it that you do not have to pay, for it ? So I did and I have to say so far it was the best thing of done in sometime. I know Windows will not be hearing from me again.

Oh by the way did I happen to mention that on top of this great software being free, it also has one of the best support forums I've ever seen before. All of you keep up the great work you all do here on these forums and this software.

cheapie

July 25th, 2010, 10:14 AM

When I was about 5, my dad said "Have you heard of this thing called Linux? You type in what you want to do in it." Obviously, he was talking about the terminal. A few years later (when I was 11), I heard that it was more stable. I searched for "Linux" on Google and learned about the whole "Distributions" thing. The web page that I read mentioned Red Hat a lot, so I tried to download that, but ended up completely confused. I looked around some more and found Ubuntu. Ubuntu (Version 8.10) was a lot simpler to download, but when I went to burn it to a CD, the drive wouldn't detect my CD-RW because it was so scratched. I searched for about another hour and finally found Wubi, and got it set up and running in about an hour. (Most of that was downloading the ISO) I quickly learned most of it and beta-tested Jaunty for about a month. Now I'm running my own version of Maverick AMD64. Now to go back to bugging AMD/ATI about FGLRX's incompatibility with Maverick's X Server version...

neoaddict

July 25th, 2010, 08:48 PM

Heard about Ubuntu from a friend and then proceeded to download 5.10.

kajankow

July 26th, 2010, 12:11 AM

I needed it for school. Still run Windows for my family and friends if they need to use my computer but I'm starting to boot more to Ubuntu.

druku88

July 26th, 2010, 05:39 AM

Hi All, this is my first post,
I started on Red Hat way back after hearing/reading good things about Linux. Also tried Mandrake for a year. Been working with Windows Servers the last 5 years, but have thought i'd have a bit of a play with Ubuntu. Looks the goods so far ;)

nmaster

July 26th, 2010, 05:55 AM

i was looking to get away from vista and then i read a review of ubuntu 9.04 on cnet. i tried wubi for a few months and then decided to go with ubuntu full time.

Dustin2128

July 26th, 2010, 06:37 AM

Heh, I've been using it so long (I use my computer a lot more than I did before), I can hardly remember ever using anything else. I'm pretty sure I heard about it by reading about it in popsci in '06 or '07. I saw a couple beryl videos in late '07, got interested and played around with feisty or gusty in a vm for a couple of months and then waited for 8.04 to come out for a full install. After I installed 8.04 I completely abandoned the windows platform, seeing as I didn't have any killer app I had to use it for. Well chrome at first but I was familiar with firefox, and it was of course later developed for linux.

puca mor

July 26th, 2010, 07:14 AM

I got sick of my netbook being so slow trying to run windows 7... (samsung n150) - it was unbelievably slow. I was originally looking for ways to speed it up using windows.

It had been about 4 years since last i tried a linux distro - knoppix... to be honest, back then it had scared me too much.

I came across UNE.. installed it. I was so pleased with Netbook Edition, the next day i installed Ubuntu on my desktop too. No more windows :)

ZarathustraDK

July 26th, 2010, 07:58 AM

My Windows-box died on me, and for some reason went into a reboot-loop when I tried reinstalling.

Then I tried out Ubuntu, reason being the philosophy of the distro sounded appealing. Never looked back, but did have my share of gaming withdrawal symptoms. Then I managed to get WoW running and, well, a couple of months down the drain on that account, making me stick to games you could pick up and put down without feeling like you're neglecting anything.

BambinoBz

July 26th, 2010, 08:25 AM

I was on IRC and someone told me about it, I've always wanted to try it so I used Wubi for a bit then one day after installing a Windows Update my computer went on a infinite loop (nice work guys! - crashing your own OS) so I said "screw it" I ended up booting into ubuntu backed up my windows and ubuntu stuff then I proceeded to install 10.04. I've never looked back since. I still have to use Windows on my desktop to run iTune (my iPhone needs it).

I love not having to worry about viruses.

WarrenSH

July 26th, 2010, 08:46 AM

I was in grade 9/freshmen year of high school (US Schooling). I was always looking for ways to learn more about computers & how they worked. I can recall putting Macromedia Flash on about 8 or more a drive disks at the time from www.downloads.com aka www.cnet.com now :o Yes back in the golden days when owning a zip drive = money or something like that. 56k dail up & AOL.com where the hottest tools of the trade unless you had 128K ISDN or money.

If I can recall the first Linux distro that got me hooked to wanting more was called Knoppix (http://www.knoppix.net/) it was a live cd. The thing that turned me on was the ASCII animated video/program/terminal thing that made my eyes pop out!

I think Naspster (http://www.napster.com/index.html?tsacr=GO4910743238&affiliate_id=118&referral_id=Napster&gclid=CMKLyYvZiKMCFQxubAodaHhxZA&refcd=go019798s_napster&promo_id=napster&darwin_ttl=1280130337&darwin=s0410A&regflow_id=s0410A&naps_app_id=0) just came out & being able to download mp3's for free was a hot topic. To later find out that this was illegal and more drama + blah blah blah happed.

Hmm.... where was I? Oh yes...

So at this time I was using maybe Windows 98 SE living with Mom & Dad. Using a live CD to explore the world of Linux/Unix/BSD/etc. I never had a clue about what I was doing but I was hooked. I do not recall what happened but I came home from school & Mom was mad because the computer was "fried/lost/no good/did not boot/****ed/ etc" Mom & Dad got a new PC & I was stuck with a brick. Some how I got the computer to come back to a working state using random DOS/UNIX/BASH commands I dunno WTF went on maybe Aline's fixed it dunno.

I later got my hands on the newer PC Mon&Dad got and now Windows XP was out some how I did a dual boot with a Distro I can not recall & whihin a few months-year I got my hands on Ubuntu.

I have been using dual boot with a Distro & Windows for over 4-6 years now.

I guess what keeps me coming back to Ubuntu is how easy it is to use & how large the community is for helping.

Cheers :popcorn:

wkhasintha

July 26th, 2010, 02:27 PM

We are supposed to learn linux in our orientation program for my degree in CS. thus I ordered a CD and installed before even uni starts.

Timmer1240

July 27th, 2010, 05:32 AM

Played around with live cds for a few years knoppix slax linspire to name a few.Then heard about wubi installed that way really fell in love with it and thats right after I duel booted xp and win 7 well I liked it so much now Im triple booted I use Ubuntu most all the time now would like to wipe the drive do a fresh install of win7 and install lucid and forget about xp maybe at the end of the year.Right now still using Karmic and its running awesome I like it better than windows!

doorknob60

July 27th, 2010, 06:10 AM

I somehow stumbled upon (maybe even with stumbleupon) I think it was Freespire (or some other pretty crappy distro like that), and then I was interested and Googled to see if this one USB Gamepad I had was supported. I found a forum post say "it didn't work but then I switched to Ubuntu and it worked perfect", so I decided to see what this "Ubuntu" thing was. That's where it all started.

Before this, I sorta knew what Linux was, but I thought it was just this hacky OS that wasn't suitable for everyday use, and I didn't really know where to start (linux.org wasn't very helpful, since it listed so many different distros). But when I found Ubuntu, I realized it could be much more than than just a secondary OS to mess around with.

Cloudkookoo

July 27th, 2010, 07:53 AM

I was introduced to linux when I was about 14-15 because I watched alot of techtv. Leo Laporte and Kevin Rose were big supporters of linux and that got me interested. Though, like I said I was 14 or 15, so the concept of burning an iso (if that's how it was done back then) or interpreting a black screen with white text was beyond me. I'm 19 now and have been using ubuntu exclusively for well over a year.

WarrenSH

July 31st, 2010, 06:55 AM

Bump for wanting to hear more!

andymorton

July 31st, 2010, 12:15 PM

About three years ago I was complaining to someone about Windows Vista and how much I dislike Microsoft as a company. She asked me if I'd thought about trying Linux.
I'd heard of it but I didn't really know anything about it. I went home, did some Googling and discovered Ubuntu. I have to say that when I first installed it I wasn't impressed. Not because there was anything wrong with it, just because I was so used to Windows and Ubuntu seemed very alien to me. However, I stuck with it and now I wouldn't want to use anything else.

andy

desnaike

August 1st, 2010, 08:06 PM

In 2005, I decided Win 2000 did not meet my needs and XP's price + activation a little to much for my taste. So a google search later and a Shippit CD in mail and I was an Ubuntu user ever since.

MethodOne

August 8th, 2010, 10:40 PM

I found out about Ubuntu in 2005 when I was reading a blog post about someone switching to Ubuntu. The first release I used was Hoary Hedgehog.

BigCityCat

August 9th, 2010, 03:06 AM

Searching for free software and then there was a good explanation for how to install dual boot.

warfacegod

September 13th, 2010, 06:27 PM

By getting so utterly fed up with Windows that I typed "free operating system" into Google.

foxxxy

September 13th, 2010, 06:31 PM

Was playing an online game and oversaw somebody talking about an OS called Ubuntu, I wanted to try something different so I downloaded and burned to a disk, installed it, and haven't looked back.

Denis Krajnc

September 13th, 2010, 07:49 PM

Friend suggested me to try it.
It's builded for me.

MegaLoler

September 13th, 2010, 09:27 PM

I wondered one day if there were other OS's than Windows and Mac OS X, so I googled "Operating Systems" Then i found linux. I was thinking "so can you install other operating systems on computers?" Then I decided to install linux on my mac mini. I found out that there were different distros of linux. I downloaded knoppix, but I couldnt get it to work. So i gave up for a year... then I came back to the idea, and look at linux distros again and found Ubuntu. I saw that there was a ppc version, downloaded that, and tried to boot it up in my external ccd rom drive. tha t didnt work and I didnt know anything about open firmware, so after a while i tried it in my internal drive and it worked. that was Jaunty. For a long while, I used it, then got bored of t and switched back to mac os x. but after a while i remembered that it was still on my computer so I tried it again, and stuck with it more. here I am after about a year.

bug67

September 13th, 2010, 09:32 PM

About, I dunno, 10, 15 years ago, a coworker haded me a Knoppix live CD and told me to check it out. I booted into it and thought it was pretty cool. I didn't install it or anything. That's how I was first introduced to Linux. I didn't even know Knoppix was Linux then.

Skip forward. I was bored one day and did a Google search for "Free OS." I don't know what piqued my curiosity specifically. I had already made the move from Windows to Mac. I guess I was just curious. Ubuntu came up as the first Google hit. The rest, as they say, is history.

limestone

September 13th, 2010, 09:44 PM

Long time ago, can't remember.

Arvie

September 13th, 2010, 09:57 PM

Bought an Asus eeepc 900 which had Xandros on it. Worked OK, but I found it too limiting. Read about Eeebuntu on eeepc users forum, took the plunge and installed it. Just out of curiosity tried Intrepid and liked it. Apart from brief flings with Lubuntu and Linux Mint, have stayed with Ubuntu ever since. Am currently using Maverick Beta.

MatrixCrypt

September 14th, 2010, 01:28 AM

I got fed up by Windows then changed to OpenSUSE, liked that one so much, then I started experimenting with different distros and I stuck with Ubuntu till this day.

libssd

September 14th, 2010, 01:36 AM

My introduction to desktop Linux was Linpus on an Acer Aspire One. Linpus worked well on limited resources, but support was horrible, and the entire Linpus approach was closed, which was antithetical to the FOSS spirit. Several people had suggested that I stop wasting my time with Linpus, and try Ubuntu. I started with 9.04, and it was love at first sight, despite some minor hardware problems. Briefly 9.10, then 10.04. I know that many people have had hardware problems with Ubuntu, especially 10.04, but for me it has always been rock solid.

drawkcab

September 14th, 2010, 01:56 AM

My Windows 98ME desktop was getting destroyed back in the early '00s when viruses and malware were everywhere. I tried to secure everything but the OS was just a sieve no matter what I did.

So, a friend on irc suggested I try Linux and I decided to go with this new distro called Ubuntu, Warty Warthog.

I've used Xandros on my eeepc and Linpus on my Acer Revo. They are both awful.

drawkcab

September 14th, 2010, 01:58 AM

lobralleo

September 14th, 2010, 02:19 AM

My first contact with a Unix-like system dates back to about ten years ago in university, where the labs were almost uniquely equipped with HP-Unix machines.
After that, I worked at my master thesis on a Unix machine and was wondering how to port easily all my custom software to my home PC; my supervisor suggested Linux as a sort of alternative to Unix, so I downloaded my first Mandrake Linux CDs and started delving into Linux.
After a few years experimenting with Mandrake, Red Hat (and then Fedora), SUSE and others, I noticed the "new kid on the block" and read interesting reviews on it, so I decided to give it a try, ending up with Ubuntu as my everyday distro.

Qualia

September 14th, 2010, 06:41 AM

My laptop at the time had a nasty virus on it, rendering it unusable, and all other free antivirus software I could find was useless and couldn't even detect the damn thing. At this point I was tired with Windows(I had a nasty experience with a Toshiba laptop that gave me bluescreens a few seconds after starting up) so I looked around to getting a new computer, or replacing the hard drive on the laptop. But I didn't want windows machines, and Macs(although I like them) were too expensive.

Then after reading a favoirte webcomic of mine, I saw xkcd mention something called "linux". I looked that up, and intially became torn between Fedora 12 and Ubuntu 9.10. Ubuntu seemed simpler to use for me, and was easier to use command-line wise, so I stuck with Ubuntu, and have been with it since.

julio_cortez

September 14th, 2010, 12:15 PM

I've always used Windows since 3.11, apart from a couple of courses in uni where I had to use Linux (I don't even remember the distro, I only remember that it had a KDE environment) but I didn't like it that much.

Then during the last winter my "main" PC broke up and I had to use my old PC that had become slow and needed a format, so a colleague of mine talked me about the chance to try Ubuntu.
I started with Kubuntu (as I was already a little familiar with KDE) and installed it also on my brand new machine that has more or less 6 months now. I eventually moved over to Ubuntu just little more than a month ago.

mr_luksom

September 18th, 2010, 02:32 PM

my laptop kept getting slower and slower under xp. Too many viruses - and I dont even surf pron. One day, ai just said stuff it, and googled "easy Linux" and there was some site spruiking ubuntu.

If it wasn't for my iPhone, I would have ditched windows on my other machine as well.

abs_kkk

September 20th, 2010, 02:26 PM

i found it in google. XD

pme 72

September 25th, 2010, 08:59 PM

Back in 2007 I was looking for a way to use an older IBM Aptiva 500mhz pc in my living room to record LPs to CDs. A Google search turned up Audacity and some research on Amazon Books turned up Ubuntu for Non Geeks by Rickford Grant. I installed Feisty on the IBM and Gutsy as a dual boot with XP on my Compaq desktop. Still have not digitalized any of the LPs. Recycled the Aptiva. The Compaq is happily running Lucid.

cpmman

September 25th, 2010, 09:21 PM

As a happy cp/m user on Intertec Superbrains I took little notice of micro computers apart from using them for banking etc. until I retired from mainframe/mini computer work in 2002. As the price/performance improved I bought an eMachine to play with and found the supplied operating system to be sadly lacking in disc performance and security when connected via modem to the internet. My research led me to Ubuntu eventually and I tried various versions until 9.10 actually provided a reasonably stable platform. With 10.04 I thoroughly enjoyed testing from Alpha 1 and clean installed to replace my 9.10.

I have copied my 10.04 to an external disc and upgraded to 10.10 Beta with success after testing Wubi in W7 and Vbox versions so will be upgrading on my main installation once 10.10 is Final.