I think that if you are not a writer for a Linux Mag then maybe
you should be. You've written something that should be submitted to
PC World or PC Magazine.
I've used a lot of different operating systems and I used to
build and repair Windows machines as well as give classes on how to
use them.
In about 2004 I bought an iBook. I was amazed at how easy it
was to get things done. After about three years I sold the iBook
after my little girl scratched the screen. I was planning on getting
a Macbook but while I was saving up to buy one I put Ubuntu on an old
PIII. I was blown away at the performance and it's ease of use. I
told my wife that it was like a "poor man's" OS X.
I didn't mean that in the sense that it was inferior because I
think in some ways Ubuntu is superior to OS X. For instance, Ubuntu
is far more customizable. What I was referring to was both Ubuntu's
cost and the low cost of the hardware it can be run on.
I shelved my plans to buy a Macbook and bought an Acer laptop
for about half the cost of what a Macbook would have cost me. The
Acer was obviously built for Vista (the manual for it was full of
pictures of Vista), but ACer sold it with a non-gui version of Linux.
I installed Ubuntu 7.04 and was disappointed. Neither the web
cam nor the wifi worked. So I ended up installing Windows XP. When
7.10 came out my wifi was fixed. I'm now running Ubuntu 8.10 Beta on
my Acer and my tower.
The built in web cam on my Acer still doesn't work right. I
have bought a Canon ip1880 thinking it would work with Ubuntu but
found out I was wrong. So my wife and decide that if the final
version of 8.10 didn't fix the web cam and the printer problems we
would buy Vista. We like Vista better than XP.
A few nights ago I changed my mind. I told my wife that for
the price of Vista I could buy an external web cam and a printer that
worked with Ubuntu.
I like OS X but I have a problem with Apple. They have set up
OS X in such a way to make it difficult for basic users to customize
it. Also they made a big deal out of OS X being only $129 and
compared it to Vista's higher price but they keep the hardware
required to run OS X at a higher price.
Before Vista came out, I was very doubtful about Microsoft's
claims that Vista would be more secure and more stable. But after
trying it I was amazed that it was more secure and more stable. Also
I liked the look of it.
I think Ubuntu is great. Everything I could do in OS X I can
do in Ubuntu. I can make Ubuntu "mine". I can make it look exactly
the way I want it to look. I can decide what software I use and if I
got back into programming I could even change the programs.
I chose Ubuntu over any other Linux distro because it gave me
the same experience that I got from OS X. I chose to stay with it and
leave OS X and Windows behind because of what I believe. I believe
that software shouldn't cost huge prices and that you shouldn't have
to spend a lot of money for the hardware to run it on.
That's just my belief and my opinion. If people want to use
Windows or OS X that's their choice. It's all about freedom of
choice. That's why I choose to stay with Ubuntu.