Hello World! Meet Ubuntu

I thought it'd be appropriate to start this blog with a little introduction about myself and of course, the focus of the blog, Ubuntu.

I've been primarily a Windows user for most of my life, but have been playing off and on with Linux for years. Roughly about 5 years ago, I made my first attempt to actually 'use' Linux, with the SuSe distro. At the time, I was running on my old HP n5270 laptop, and was confounded by almost a complete lack of hardware support. The fact that I never could get my ethernet or modem loaded pretty much put the nail in the coffin for Linux at the time, and I went back to Windows.

As Windows has progressed, there seems to have been a greater and greater move towards user-friendliness at the cost of 'user-ability'. I don't whether or not I'm the first to use that term, but I'm coining it here regardless. Usability is (or should) be the focus of every good designer/programmer; it's designing with an eye on the end-user and their wants and needs. Microsoft in particular seems to have a bad habit of incorporating usability by sacrificing options. In other words, things become easy-to-use, simply because there becomes only one way to do it. 'User-ability', to me, is a concept of usability that gives the power to the user. The end-user is given the freedom to do what they want to do, how they want to do it, and this doesn't have to come at the cost of usability, as the Ubuntu distro shows. So, when I got my new Gateway CX2724, I decided to give Linux another go. In my search for a good distro, I came across Ubuntu, and the rest is history.

What's so special about Ubuntu? In effect, it's everything and it's nothing. In other words, there's really not much that's special about Ubuntu in terms of what it is or what it does. What makes it special is what it is and what it does in relation to other distros out there.

First, it's free. While nearly all Linux distros are Open Source, not all are actually freely available to the public. Many of the major distributions have moved towards serving the enterprise community. Many of these still release publicly available versions, but usually with concessions. Either the code is not updated as frequently, or certain features are disabled, etc. Ubuntu just is. Whether you want to use it at the enterprise level or just on your own personal computer, it's all the same.

Second, Ubuntu maintains a hands-off approach to your computer and what you want to do with it. Initially, I was slightly interested in the trying out Fedora Core, the public-available descendant of the famous (infamous?) Red Hat. What killed it for me was Fedora includes no support for the mp3 format, and rather pushes (forces?) ogg. Now, it's not that I have a problem with ogg vorbis, or even that I have a great love for mp3, but I don't want my OS telling me which I'm allowed to use and which I'm not.

Third, Ubuntu isn't afraid to be what it is: a Linux distro. The Linux community as a whole has worked hard at chipping away some of Microsoft's market share, and they've made great strides. Right now, Linspire has OEM agreements with some computer manufacturers such that you can get a brand new computer that boots up with Linspire instead of Windows when you pull it out of the box. That's inspiring, but it comes at a price. As all too often happens when going to war against a foe, we tend to become that which we hate. Linspire (or its publicly-available incarnation, Freespire), in particular, is probably one of the most user-friendly distros out, but by becoming that, it has also become too 'Windowsy' for my tastes. Ubuntu is Linux; it uses Gnome (or KDE in its Kubuntu incarnation). It doesn't try to be a Windows clone, and I like that.

So, for these reasons and others, I chose Ubuntu. My first install was 6.06 TLS or Dapper Drake. Later I moved up to 6.10 or Edgy Eft, which is what I'm using now. I liked Dapper but I really like Edgy. I'm not sure exactly why I like Edgy so much more, but such it is. The standard disclaimer though is that Dapper is older and better supported, so if you're the cautious type stick with Dapper. If you've got a little risk-taking streak in you (personally, I don't feel like you need much of one), then try out Edgy. Whichever you chose, you can download the CDs or the DVD over at Ubuntu's site.

Well, that's it for now. I intend mostly for this blog to chronicle my experiences with Ubuntu. I'm not a Linux expert, so for those of you who are, try not to be over-critical of me. But I feel that since I'm not an expert, I can provide a critical perspective to others who aren't quite sure about this whole Linux thing, and that's what Ubuntu love is all about.