For me PC has equaled Microsoft since I sometime in late eighties/early nineties booted my fathers “portable” Panasonic into MS-DOS the first time. I also remember well the huge speed difference between 10 and 12 MHz 286s :) Anyways, the closest to Linux I ever came was the fact that Mr. Torvalds was born in same city as me. That is, until last couple of weeks. A “heated discussion” with Vista on my laptop lead me on a trip to Ubuntuland. Here’s a collection of thoughts:
Installation was a breeze. Truth be told, this is the first time I’ve installed any operating system and I was a bit scared. I found a perfect solution for me: Wubi. As easy as installing any software on your machine!
A big difference between Windows and Linux world is the startup position. Windows installs with all bells and whistles turned on and Linux with them turned off. With Vista I’ve spent hours and hours trying to turn off services which slow me down and with Ubuntu I’ve spent the same hours installing services I need. Linux-way wins: It’s a lot more rewarding learning about processes you’ll need than learning about processes you’ll not need!
Linux has a DIY feel to it. I’ve never really wanted to install custom themes etc. to my Windows, but that was one of the first things I did with Ubuntu.
Terminal is your friend. I really like the fact that you learn from the beginning that most of the stuff can be done either in the terminal or with the GUI.
I really miss VIsual Studio, C# and Resharper while booted in Linux. Haven’t dared to try to run Mono yet.
Unpolished diamond? There are whole lot of things in Ubuntu (or with apps installed on it) still that need a bit of work. Couple of most annoying things: Firefox always starts in Offline mode (I’m using 3g phone as modem). No sound in Youtube videos for me.
Conclusion. I want to play with a Mac as well. I think OSs will and should become more specialized, one size just does not fit all. I actually like it now that I can boot into different world depending on my feeling/needs.
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