You know, that thing that’s not Windows or Mac.

Most people use Windows and for good reason.  Windows PCs tend to be flexible, reasonably priced and most of the files 99% of people use work with 99% of the software on it.  Some people use Macs because they look shiny and they have the money to burn on them.  Then there’s the Linux crowd.  Bearded scoundrels they tended to be with their secretive world of command lines and Gnomes and swot all hardware compatibility.  “BUT”, they cried, “it’s a completely free and open operating system!”.  This caught my imagination and over time I’d dabble with the odd version of Linux – Fedora this, Red Hat that, Mandriva the other.  All very confusing.  All very off-putting to the casual user.  Then it all changed.

Ubuntu became the name of Linux with a friendly face.  Designed to be *gasp* user friendly and fairly intuitive!  That REALLY caught my imagination but alas… it was not to be.  Buggy and filled with crippling lack of hardware support I breathed a sigh of disappointment – oh woa was me while I reinstalled Windows.  Then it all changed.

Ubuntu is the name of Linux with a friendly face.  Well, Ubuntu 9.04 that is.  Thought it was time for my twice-yearly dabble in Linux on some older (slightly questionable) hardware.  The results… actually nothing short of awesome.  Installation was quick and painless, all my hardware was supported from the get-go (AMD Athlon 1800+, ATI graphics, Sound Blaster Live).  Even more impressive was the result of plugging in a D-Link Wifi dongle.  As I sat back down about to have a bash at figuring out drivers for it a polite notification informed me  that wireless networks were available.  Fan-smegging-tastic.  Connected to llamallamaduck (my home network – used to be called thegreatcornholio before I lobotomised the router) and off I went.

With the popularity of open source software now within a few minutes I was up and away using the the same software I used most of the time on my Windows (and to a less extent Mac) machines – Firefox 3, Pidgin (instant messaging), Abi Word, Open Office.  To make things even better there’s a magical little thing called Wine which does its best to run Windows software on Ubuntu (or Linux in general).  Photoshop CS2 and Spotify run pretty much flawlessly.

“So..”, I sense you mutter, “is this oobanthingamy worth me installing and using?”.  Really depends on your situation.  For very low level users it’s just as good as Windows.  For high-end users (that are not PC gamers) it’s also fine and dandy.  For the mid-range of people with some technical know-how but are just getting their feet wet it’s probably too big a change from Windows.  Is it worth uninstalling Windows for?  Not really.  If you have Windows and are happy with it why change?  If, on the other hand, you’ve been running illegal installs of Windows (how very naughty of you – and around 60% of the rest of the world ) and are wanting a legit solution then this is it.  Or, like me, if you have spare hardware kicking around or you’ve upgraded and moved your Windows licence to the newer machine it’s great too

In short – does everything you’d want your average computer to do and is free.  Good times.