A Letter from Linuxland -- Part 1
Tags: linux, hq, steve ballmer, windows genuine advantage
There are a million reasons to install Linux, and as many not to bother. The days when I actually enjoyed making a computer work through sheer force of will have gone: there's too much to do with the things these days to worry about making it happen. If you play a lot of games, then Linux isn't an option, but if you spend your days whooping through the Internet like a gibbon in the rainforest canopy, then open source will keep you happy. If like me you do a little of a lot of things, then going free is an intriguing idea that may be more trouble than its worth. You know where you are with Windows, even if it's not exactly where you want to be today. It's good enough.
Until now. I don't know exactly what bit of Microsoft corporate madness finally provoked the allergic reaction that swelled my anger gland. It could have been Windows Media Player offering to 'protect' my content with a smarmy message that smelled as bad as 'Crusher' Nobbs offering to 'protect' a pub. It might have been Windows Genuine Advantage slithering its way into my PC and lobbing my personal information back to Microsoft's HQ without telling me. It might have been waiting two minutes for my computer to start while a large and massively stupid lump of antivirus software declared itself the most important being in my world. Or it might have been another stonkingly arrogant statement from Steve Ballmer -- you know, the man who's proud that he bans his kids from owning iPods and using Google. There are many, many candidates for the last straw in the bale on this camel's back.
Whatever it was, it was suddenly too much. I realised fully what I've actually known for 20 years -- I wanted to use my computer on my terms. I wanted to be part of a community, not some battery hen kept in my own ordure and fed god knows what to lay golden licensing fees. I didn't want to be part of Microsoft's world, not even one where someone else pays for my software. I wanted to have fun. I wanted out.
There are two options for the escapee -- Macintosh and Linux. I like the Mac. OS X is an addictive shiny thing, the hardware is toothsome and if you can afford to join its gated enclave the lawns are well-mown, the security guys courteous and your fellow inmates stylish and bright. But I can't afford it. Truth to tell, I get a little scared by the evangelical chaps on the corner.
Which leaves Linux. If Microsoft is a battery farm and Apple a slightly creepy Californian cult HQ, Linux is Glastonbury. You can turn up in an old jalopy or a Roller, and you'll be welcome. There are a thousand things going on and all you need to do is sit down and take part. It's colourful, chaotic and works by no known rules. But work it does. All you have to do is say yes.
As to which Linux, well, the one that's getting all the rave reviews is Ubuntu. It couldn't be easier to try: download a live CD image from the Web or by BitTorrent, burn it, reboot and play.
So that's what I did. After 20 years of Microsoft, I threw out Windows at home and, more nervously, at work. I've still got Windows on some machines, but not those I use for my digital life. And I've got one laptop running a Vista beta. That'll make for some interesting comparisons.
Next instalment, I'll tell you what happened when I pressed Control, Alt and Delete for the last time on Bill and the CD light came on for the penguin. -Rupert Goodwins
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StomfiFri 8 September, 2006 1:58am
I suppose I was one of the lucky ones, whose computer experience reached its acme with an '84 Indy workstation. Even in those heady days, we considered this fast colour WIMP networked system equivalent to a starter motor and a key. The Microsoft and Wintel experience was such a large backward step that I avoided it until Linux came along on the i386.
As today's Wintel machines approach the speed and functionality of an '84 workstation (It was the multiple autonomous CPUs that gave it the speed), they have been around so long, we tend to think that the major development process is finished, and we shouldn't be tinkering to get them going.
This is just not true. The Wintel is a static timeslice from an arrested development process. The arrest was made by cornering all the development money. The only way a restart could be made is by FOSS.
In 15 years FOSS has developed their systems to the level of an '84 workstation and is still a moving target, so anyone who gets involved, must expect to tinker with their starter motor and key, and add the missing interface parts that make it a fully functional Model T computing system.
Anyone looking to Linux for a drop in replacement for a static Wintel timeslice is on a dead end road, not the proper highway.
Expect change with Linux. Expect things to be different. New vistas so to speak.
Sum Yung GaiFri 8 September, 2006 6:22am
Agreed, welcome to the Light Side of the Force. I have been "Windows Free Since 2003" both at home and at work (very much a "Microsoft shop"), and I haven't touched MS Office in three years. It's terrific. I use my computer on *my* terms, and on top of that, I'm considerably more productive at work! I use various distros, including Kubuntu (Ubuntu with KDE), Slackware, CentOS, and Yellow Dog Linux (I have a Power Mac). I find all of these to be very good, and I see no reason to go back to Windows.
David KastrupFri 8 September, 2006 9:05am
Frankly, I don't give much about public announcements with a fanfare. The people most vocal about how they absolutely quit smoking, turned vegetarian, turned away from sin and towards Jesus and whatever else are trying to convince others so that public feedback will force themselves to keep convinced about their goals.
A year later or so they'll be singing a different tune, either in public, or quite demurely. It is quite a ridiculous spectactle, except for one thing. It indeed makes some impression on public opinion about what would be nice.
And makes the public consider those who show such behavior simply as their own way of life, as zealots, and cheer and jeer when they don't follow to the letter what the public imagines to be their cause.
We really need no "I'll quite smoking and Windows" announcements and backpaddling. Those are just ridiculous. When somebody has not just announced some change, but settled in it, he might make for an interesting or boring story at some point of time.
But all those announcements...
AnonymousFri 8 September, 2006 6:11pm
You can always spot the freelancer - they're the ones who spin a single article out into four or five articles to get paid more. This is a particularly fine example of the "introductory sentence stretched out into an entire article" school; a sterling piece of writing which manages to spend several paragraphs saying and doing nothing important or useful at all. My hat is off to you, sir.
GordonFri 8 September, 2006 8:15pm
He's no freelancer. Rupert's been writing about technology for CNET's business IT site, ZDNet.co.uk, for about a million years.
He's just a bit slow in the head :-) Sorry Rupert, but he has a slight point in that previous comment.
Rupert on ZDNet: http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/rupertgoodwins/?s=h3
Keep up the cracking work.
Wiktor WandachowiczSun 10 September, 2006 11:33pm
For several years I tried to exemplify and verbalize my feelings about my switch to Linux. And here I've found them in your post, in simple yet colorful words. I can agree with almost every single word you've written. Except for 20 years - here I'd have to make it only 10 years in my case. But for the rest - wow.
In short: A big THANK YOU.
Johnny MacaroniWed 24 January, 2007 2:36am
I discovered Linux back in September myself as well. I've been using Ubuntu, but have also downloaded and played with 11 other distros, with varying success in hardware detection I'm dual-booting, (not quite ready to abandon Windows completely yet) and find it hard to keep track of my bookmarks and emails, as they get spread between the 2 operating systems! Anyway, I'd love to read your PART 2. When is it coming?
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Steve MansfieldWed 6 September, 2006 9:25pm
Welcome to the light side, Rupert. I've been using Linux as my main OS for a couple of years now - ever since XP took it upon itself to reformat a Jaz cartridge without consulting me first, and wiped out several hundred digital images. Can't say I'm sorry. Looking forward to hearing about your experiences.