Computing advice for the human being.

Contrary to what a lot of people have been led to believe, Windows (Microsoft) is not your only option for a computer operating system. Far from it. Now, I’m aware that a lot of people may have heard a lot of things about Linux both good and bad, but I would like to outline some of the plus points here.

I give this advice as an avid Linux user. Don’t get me wrong, I use and love Windows, but Linux can offer me things, for certain purposes, that Windows simply can’t. I won’t go through some of the more unusual things I use, Instead I’ll just cover the important things for every day users.

Read on to find out why you’ll be using Linux before you know it.

Why Linux?:

• It’s free. To download, and install, and use, free, not a penny.
• It’s open source (I’ll cover this in a separate post because it’s important in its own right).
• You don’t need an anti-virus. Linux is already super secure, some might even say it’s paranoid!
• All software for Linux is free (with some small exceptions).
• You can [usually] install any software you want with one click (maybe two or three otherwise).
• It can be fully customised to your taste (once you become a pro user like my mum now is).
• Linux can do just about everything you can normally do in Windows, sometimes it even does it better.

Which Linux?:

Now, if I already have you sold, you probably went and did a quick internet search for “Linux” and are now back here wondering “oh my god, why are there so many?”. Well, in short, because it’s so popular. But for beginners I can make only one recommendation, and trust me, I have used most of those Linux distributions out there, the one I am about to recommend is by far the most beginner friendly. Those of you that have heard of Linux before will know what I’m about to say before I say it:

“Ubuntu” by Canonical. For further reading visit their website http://www.ubuntu.com.

Ubuntu Linux is by far the easiest to use Linux operating system out there, not only that, but also one of my favourites, and is my chosen operating system for everyday use alongside Windows 7 (which I also recommend, but it will cost you a bit more than Ubuntu).

Different Linux “Distributions” (that’s what they’re called, Distributions) have a different “look”. This is because they use a different method of showing things on the screen. You can however change any of the distributions, including Ubuntu to look and act more like a Windows computer, or even an Apple Mac (My mum likes to use the “Dock” at the bottom like Mac’s have). The possibilities with Linux are endless.

Ok, now what?:

Well, installing a new operating system is no trivial task but feear not, Ubuntu offers a unique installation method through a special system beautifully named by them as “Wubi”.

Wubi offers the Windows users to install Ubuntu alongside windows just like installing any other program in Windows, simple. If you don’t like it and want to go back, you simply start-up windows and uninstall it Ubuntu from the Control Panel, like uninstalling any other program. What could be simpler?

Go visit the Ubuntu site and download Wubi from there. If you want a quick link to where you can find Wubi click HERE but please do some reading around the site too.

Install, reboot and enjoy. Don’t forget, Linux is “open source” this means if you don’t like somethig about it, you can normally change it. A quick search on the internet will normally reveal that quite a few other people have thought of the same thing.