I have reached the stade of frustration with Microsoft Windows that I have decided to make the switch to Linux. My Linux flavor of choice is Ubuntu Linux. Why would I do this? Why Linux and not Apple Mac OS x? Two very good questions with many answers. Let’s start with the latter one first.

Although Apple makes a great product, it just didn’t make sense for me. My primary desktop is a new Dell Dimension 9200 with 4Gb of RAM and a Quad Core CPU. I bought this system about 6 months ago. I can’t justify in my mind (or to my wife) why I should or need to purchase another new system. I also use an Intel based notebook frequently enough to need a stable OS, but infrequently enough to not justify buying a new Apple MacBook. If things were different, I would seriously consider Apple.

Why Linux? The real question is "Why not Microsoft Windows?". Well…here’s why. Years ago, when younger and more forgiving (naive), Microsoft Windows was perfectly fine. Sure it was insecure, but I didn’t mind constantly patching and cleaning and re-installing. Yes, it was buggy…but I didn’t mind the constant patching and cleaning and re-installing…(notice a trend here?). It was good for games, had an entire universe of software available and it was what I used at school and work. However, I have grown older, crustier and a lot less tolerant.

I no longer want to re-install every couple months. I no longer want to worry about whether I have the ultra-latest patches, drivers or system upgrades. I don’t want to have to worry so much about viruses or spyware, trojans, worms, malware, or any other "disease" that likes the Windows platform.

Why Ubuntu Linux? This is a matter of personal choice. I have dabbled with several Linuxes (Linuxii?) and have found Ubuntu the most to my liking. It is based on Debian Linux, which is arguably one of the most stable and secure distros. It still uses Debian (.deb) package management which I have found more reliable than Red Hat Package Management (.rpm) packages. Ubuntu has then taken this base and made it really easy to install and comparability with new hardware is second to none. Finally, it comes default with the Gnome graphical environment which, as is my belief, runs faster and smoother than KDE, especially over time where I find KDE starts to slow down.

Yes, I know you can make any Linux distribution into this, but Ubuntu does it out of the box, and don’t forget I have grown older, crustier and less tolerant. I just want things to work.

Yep…this is my decision. Going to be easy? Nope. some things I have not yet figured out, like using a firewire digital video cam to live cast on uStream.tv. Easy enough in Windows…not sure how to do so in Linux. If you know, please do drop me a line. For the most part, however, it should be ok. I already use Firefox and Thunderbird. I gave up on Frontpage and other WYSIWYG web dev tools and do it "old school" via text editor, and I don’t really play games anymore on the PC (That’s what the PS3 and Wii are for).

Wish me luck!

Tags: Linux, Ubuntu, Ubuntu Linux, Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, Dell, Debian, Redhat, PS3, Wii, switch to Linux