Ron Schenone

"Free At Last" – Must Read Article For Those Looking At Linux

Posted by on Mar 20, 2007 | 8 Comments

During my Googling around the Internet, I found this article from David Bond who describes himself as “Editor – Silver Valley Mining Journal, Reporter, mining issues for national publications, Award – winning journalist.” And he has written a article tracing his exploits from a Microsoft user back in the days of DOS up to his current use of Ubuntu, in which he describes himself as ‘Free At Last”

David takes us through the evolution of Microsoft’s many operating systems he has used and also back into the days of old, when Radio Shack still sold computers and 128k was a bunch of memory. But as he tells his story there is one underlying fact that keeps surfacing as he writes.

Paying Microsoft year after year for a new operating system and new software. Even when the user is happy with the old OS, they are forced into the next best and greatest. So David describes how he got off the Redmond merry-go-round and joined the happy campers at Ubuntu. He also takes you through his learning experience with Firefox and Open Office.

Overall, this article is not unique. It is just one man expressing the frustration that many are starting to feel about Microsoft.

You can read his exploits here.

Comments welcome.

[tags]microsoft, linux, ubuntu, firefox, open office, [/tags]

  • http://fractalbeanstalk.blogspot.com/ Tim Hodkinson

    I like to read about the old days when people got excited over stuff like this: “our Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 laptop, which to this day remains our favourite computer…. ran on four penlight batteries and had an eight-line LCD screen.”

    He raises another interesting point about Microsoft: their basic Office Suite eats up more of your money than their OS does. You can get a copy of Xp (or Vista basic) for around $100, which isn’t so bad, as some Linux distros sell for a little less than that. But I was shocked to discover that if you want the latest version of Word or the whole MS Office suite, you have to pay close to a thousand dollars! I thought they were giving it away free with most computers. You can get the student edition for $200, but that’s still twice the price of the OS.

    Maybe a good reason to switch to Linux is the free applications

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hi Tim,
    If one looks at the cost of MS Vista Ultimate and Office 2007 full version the price can top out at $1400. And this price doesn’t include the cost of other softwares that may ned to be upgraded to run under Vista.

    So the cheapest part of the PC could end up being the PC itself.

    I myself will be looking at two Linux distro’s mid-year. Freespire and Kubuntu both which will support Click-n-Run from Linspire.

    Thanks for the comments, Ron

  • http://www.best-registrycleaner.net Best Registry Cleaner

    The Registry Editor does have a Find tool that you can use to search for a subkey or value.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001415754520 Will Hutchison

    wow the government sucks. who knew?

  • http://robertglenfogarty.com/ Robert Glen Fogarty

    Hah! Indeed, Will. It does turn out to be a shocker.

  • Alex

    Two thousand years ago the Roman Senate gave the people their sects (religions) and their games (the smokescreens) to occupy them while the Senate did what they wanted to do — in secret. Times haven’t changed.

  • http://twitter.com/sobercool Eric T.

    Hahaha! Too good to be free! The price may look expensive at a first glance, but then you consider all the points you’ve highlighted and other disabilities that time will reveal to us about iTunes the price may be worthy for something you will pay just once instead of a regular-fee service.

  • http://www.delicious.com/wilhelminarussell Ruth Lopez

    Just wanted to say what a great web-site you have. I’m just starting out in this hobby and your site has been a great resource.