The Reality About Switching to Linux

The experience of moving to Linux

Alan Pope made an interesting article about his experience in using Linux, particularly Ubuntu. Being a MEPIS Linux user, I found his article applicable to the Linux community in general. With all permissions granted from Alan, I have re-written the article to make it a general Linux experience. What's your experience?

01. People will ridicule you for using Linux

It's my hobby to download CD ISOs of different Linux distributions, I always have a readily burned copy in the pocket of my laptop bag ready to give away to someone interested, but always having negative feedbacks because Linux doesn't have great commercial support. Sometimes I demonstrate using my laptop only to be laughed at. But after demonstrating 3D effects such as Compiz and Beryl, then I get their attention. That's a good start. Some accepted the challenge to try, and the respect towards Linux starts there.

02. You'll feel a part of a rapidly growing community

With the huge number of people jumping on the Linux and Open Source bandwagon, the community of people willing to support and help out with Linux grows every day.

03. People will help you for no reason

I have a lot of Linux CDs, at some point I got a lot of FREE K/Ubuntu CDs and gave it away to customers at our internet cafe in the Philippines. One guy asked "Why are you doing this?" to which I replied "Because I want you to try Free software". I am not alone in this, many people around the world give up their own time to help others learn how to use Linux and get the best from it.

04. Fewer people will try to attack you

Technically it's mostly not people that attack, but often compromised Windows computers instructed by nasty people to do their bidding. Free Linux distributions ship with no externally accessible services enabled by default, and probably one of the best free firewalls available out of the box. That is combined with regular free updates to keep my system up to date. I rarely worry about the nasty people and compromised computers out there, and wont have to install 3rd party applications to secure my machine, and certainly wont lose sleep over it.

05. You'll be able to ignore most viruses

I don't run an AntiVirus program on any of my Linux box. There I said it. Arguably, due to the lower market share of Linux on the desktop, and the robust and well thought out security model on Linux, there are almost no viruses to speak of which could successfully compromise a well maintained Linux desktop. Viruses just don't exist in the same volumes as they do for Windows.

06. You'll have some compatibility problems

There are free office applications available immediately after a Linux distribution is installed which can read and write many popular office formats such as Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations. There may be some incompatibilities with complex documents incorporating rich content or documents which include complicated macros, but these are few and far between. Most often there may be slight formatting issues, but for the most part, documents open just fine.

07. The Internet will mostly be the same

Whether you browse the web, chat online, watch videos, download music or talk to friends the internet experience will be much the same as it is on Windows. The applications you use may have different names, and may look different or be missing some features, but for the most part, most people won't notice a difference.

08. You'll be continually amazed at the fit and finish

With projects such as Beryl and Compiz, Cairo and Tango, the look and feel of the Ubuntu desktop is getting better with every release. SimplyMEPIS has incorporated the 3D desktop on the 6.5 Beta 7 release, and is vastly more customisable in look and feel to either Windows or Mac OS X. With numerous Desktop Environments and Window Managers to choose from, many screensavers & themes and desktop tools & utilities, a Linux distribution can look every bit as good, if not better than, the competition.

09. You'll have a "damn it!" moments

Linux is not Windows or Mac OS X, things are different. Get used to that. Sometimes a hardware vendor won't ship a driver for their product, or a video card may not work as expected, or a popular application on Windows just isn't available for Linux. Things are getting better, many Linux distribution such as Ubuntu, MEPIS, and PCLOS has better hardware support out of the box than either Windows or Mac OS X, video drivers are constantly under improvement and applications are being written and ported all the time by the community. The "damn it!" moments are becoming less and less in my house.

10. You'll have some "ah-ha" moments

It's not difficult to be amazed how easy things are in Linux. For example to install an application there is often only one place one needs to go - the package manager. Generally it's a simple matter of choosing the software from a list. The package manager will download it, and any dependent packages or libraries and install it all. putting a handy icon in the menu for it. For removing packages it's just as easy as installing and can remove the dependent packages too.

11. Keyboard shortcuts will drive you nuts

Some keyboards have extra keys with pretty little pictures on them. Most work, some may not, but might in the future. For those that do work it's possible to configure them to do many common tasks like open email, start the calculator, turn the volume up and down or even put a picture of a teddy bear on the screen if that's what you want.

12. You'll regret your purchase - of Windows, but you'll get over it

Most computers these days come with Windows pre-installed, and paid for. Once Linux is installed, either by dual-booting or completely removing Windows, you will regret that money you paid for Windows. It didn't take me long to remove Windows completely from the first computer I dual-booted. Maybe you could call up your hardware vendor and try and get a refund. Maybe you could put that money towards a new toy for yourself, or even donate it to a good cause.

13. You'll be amazed at how much there is to modify

If you want to. Some people use the system as it is, out of the box. Others like to tweak their system to make it look "just so". With Linux you can do either. The system is installed, ready to go, but has many hundreds of options for tweaking this, optimizing that, tuning the other, to allow you to tailor your computer to work the way you want it to. Pretty much everything is fair game for modification in Linux, which can make Windows and Mac OS X look positively rigid in the flexibility.

14. You'll actually rarely have to reboot

With fantastic stability and tools like suspend and hibernate, I can go for very long periods without actually needing to reboot my Linux computers. Even after installing additional software or updating existing packages, it's rare that a physical reboot is required. There's almost nothing that actually requires a reboot of the computer. If an update does require a reboot of course it will notify me, but I can usually safely dismiss and ignore it for days with no adverse effects.

15. There's so much stuff for Linux

Linux has many thousands of applications and utilities available to install for free, immediately after installation. You might want to use your PC as a server, maybe as a telephony system, how about a webcam-based security system or a print server, maybe an internet kiosk or perhaps a child's first computer. Maybe you want to learn how to write programs, or research your family tree. Whatever it is you want to do with your Linux computer, chances are there is set of packages you can install and configure to do it, and chances are it's free too.

16. You'll spend less money than with Windows

Linux is free. It can be downloaded for free and burned to disc for the cost of a blank CD-R. The applictions in the repository are also free to download. Everyone has the freedom to make copies of Linux software and give away or even sell the copies to other people. You are allowed to modify the software if you want, and use it in pretty much whatever way you want. The freedom you get with Linux isn't just about money, but it certainly helps that it's free of cost.

17. You'll generally be able to re-use old hardware

Some Linux distributions like Ubuntu and MEPIS needs about 256MB of RAM and a 500MHz CPU but can run in less and runs better in more. There are alternatives for computers with slow processors or low amounts of memory. Many people don't discard old computers, but re-use them for other purposes, or hand them down to other members of the family. With Linux the useful life of a computer can be much longer than originally envisaged. Of course it's fine to wipe and reinstall Linux to sell on a computer if you want to make some cash out of your old hardware.

18. Random strangers will stop to talk about Linux

I have been stopped on more than one occasion and been asked about Linux. People come over to look at my laptop, they want to see what Linux looks like. The best bit is I can dig in my bag and give them a free CD so they can try it for themselves.

19. You'll get more things done

Linux has so much great software which is easily installable and quick to pick up that people are often amazed how quickly and easily they transition over from other platforms.

20. The hardware manufacturer is largely irrelevant

Linux can be installed on many different hardware platforms. From big-name laptop hardware like Dell and Apple, to independent store beige-boxes, to home-made desktop computers and enterprise servers, Linux can be installed on most computers around today.

21. Everyone is griping about market share

Linux works for me, it works for a lot of other people too. So it's not the number one desktop platform measured by number of installs, but for me it's the number one desktop in my house and business.

22. You'll play pretty well on a Windows network

I can print to Windows shared printers, access files on Windows file shares and of course open Microsoft Office documents under Linux.

Related Article:
Basic Things to Know When Switching to a Linux Desktop

Special thanks to Alan Pope for the reference.