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Linux & Open Source Software: A new beginning

May 05 2007

Linux & Open Source Software: A new beginning

Written by Venkat Mangudi

Sunday, 06 May 2007

Money, its a crime.

Share it fairly but don't take a slice of my pie.

Money, so they say

Is the root of all evil today.

But if you ask for a raise its no surprise that they're

Giving none away.

--- Money by Pink Floyd

Microsoft is like your Walmart. Value for money, or is it really the case?

Windoze is ubiquitous with almost every desktop and laptop operating system. But wait, that is stale news. More and more personal computers are switching to free operating systems, mostly Linux. Linus Torvalds dream is slowly being realized, but in a completely organic way. There were speculations some years ago that Linux would completely replace Windoze. But then the Internet bubble burst and people fell out of the castles built in the clouds, out of thin air.

Now however, a lot of us have wizened up. Linux is not for geeks anymore. The world looks at Linux with a lot of respect now. And rightly so.

Linux is used by nearly 2/3rds of the Webservers

according to the research done by mon.itor.us. I run Ubuntu on an IBM thinkpad. Nope, not a dual boot. Windoze was "booted" out completely, if I can take the liberty to pun.

ubuntulogo Ubuntu is a Debian variant and is the realization of Mark Shuttleworth's dream. You can download it from their website or if you are really lazy to download and burn, you can ask them to send you free CDs. They will ship it to you at no cost. That's right, it is shipped from the Netherlands (last time I checked) and they ship at, get this, at zip-nil-nada cost to you. And they ship as many CDs as you want.

What is so cool about Ubuntu, you ask? Well, the folks at Ubuntu.com have a better answer than I do, but my personal review is that it is easy to try, install and use as well as manage updates. Gone are those days that you need to know Unix to run Linux. This baby installs itself, updates itself (with your permission), and is capable of running those windoze programs that do not have an equivalent in Ubuntu. So why are you still paying for that copy of Windoze?

I can browse, read office documents, send email, play movies, rip DVDs (there, I said it), run webservers and open source enterprise applications (more on this in the next article), run windoze programs, create graphics ala Photoshop, use Instant Messaging software & Skype and much more without paying a single paise, dime, penny or whatever your fancy currency may be. Free as in completely, utterly free so I don't have to go ask for a raise to meet the rising costs of upgrading my software and hardware and software and hardware... that is the problem. I do not know when to stop this spiraling chicken and egg story...

Did I mention that there are tons of people out there who will help you solve your smallest of problems, free of cost? They will help you install, troubleshoot installation, troubleshoot a particular feature, install other related software, just about everything. There are tons of how-to articles out there that give you a step by step assistance in all of these. Google is your best friend to find these if you cannot find it on http://www.ubuntuforums.org.

Why does anyone do anything?

I don't know, I was really drunk at the time!

I was just telling him, he couldn't get into number 2. he was asking

Why he wasn't coming up on freely, after I was yelling and

Screaming and telling him why he wasn't coming up on freely.

It came as a heavy blow, but we sorted the matter out.

... Yep, still the same song/band.

Till next time, Venkat out....

PS: Check out these great links that will save you the trouble of comparing Windoze and Ubuntu/Other variants of linux. And yes, if you really need my help... I will help you install Ubuntu for a good cup of Kalmane coffee. ;-)