Why aren't you running Linux?

[darxus]

It's a sincere question. I'm curious what I can do to help reduce dependence on closed operating systems.

And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with not running Linux, I understand it's not best for everybody. I'm just curious about making it best for more people.

Ubuntu is the most user friendly Linux distribution. It's also the one I use for both desktops and servers. You can download and burn a CD image, and boot into it off the CD without installing, to try it out without installing it. It is very slow that way, because CD drives are slower than hard drives, and everything in the image needs to be decompressed as it's read.

cathijosephine did the install herself when Windows etc. got too slow on her computer.

http://www.ubuntu.com/ (CD image link is right at the top - download.)

Let me know if you would like me to burn an install CD for you or look over your shoulder while you install.

Freeing up hard drive space under Windows and then repartitioning it for Linux will probably be the hardest part.

Comments

[beowabbit]

I am running Linux, but I am going to be a typical self-centered geek and answer for other people. :-)

(1) Inertia. When you buy a computer, it probably comes with Windows on it. Installing Linux takes effort. Not many Intel Mac users have Windows or linux on their machines. (To be fair, that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, gratuitious pun intended, since if you buy a Mac you are already venturing slightly outide the path of least resistance in order to have a Mac, but inertia is part of it, and I’m sure plenty of people who buy a Linux-based netbook thinking they were getting Windows and actively wanting Windows go ahead and leave it running Linux out of inertia.) If I had been the Department of Justice back in the era of the Microsoft antitrust trial, I might have argued against bundling OSes with computers, on the theory that there should be a level playing field and customers should be able/required to choose for themselves.

(2) Network effects. If your mom, your accountant, your boss, and all the people in the online forum where you hang out are running Word and Excel on Windows, then you’ll have an easier time collaborating with them and getting help if you’re running Word and Excel on Windows, too. The extreme form of this is when you are required for some reason or another to use a specific piece of software which is not available for Linux. For instance, in the early days of ecommerce, lots of ecommerce sites (and banks and things like that) required Internet Explorer. (And for a year or so, the parent organization for my doctor wouldn’t let me send him email if I wasn’t using Internet Explorer — that was much more recent!)

(And of course, Microsoft does its best to maximize both of these effects.)