A Year of Linux

Well, it’s been almost a year since I migrated to Linux. I’d experimented with Linux in the past, but I’d always gone back to Windows fairly soon after!

So, how has the year gone? What are the good and the bad points?

Well, I don’t really have time to do more than a quick review. If you want some good and bad points, just browse through the Linux category of this blog 🙂 But I guess if I had to summarise my experiences with Linux so far, it would have to be: “Pleasantly surprised.” I always thought of Linux as being a vastly different country to Windows… and in some ways it is. But, as I have discovered, it’s different in a good way. It’s far more powerful – yes, you have to use the command line at times; but at the same time I do think using the command-line can be far more productive than a graphical environment (in certain situations – in fact, perhaps a lot of situations).

I’ve managed to get everything up and running on Linux which I had on Windows, and in fact migrating my email across was the most painless process ever – Thunderbird basically just picked up my email settings straight from the files I’d copied from Windows! I’ve managed to setup a DVD player, an audio recorder, development tools (Eclipse etc)… it’s a fully functioning system. But what really impressed me was the vast amount of software which is available for Linux — with a distribution like Ubuntu which has a large package repository, the chances are you’ll be able to find a piece of software compiled for your distribution without any problems.

I have also lost my fear of compiling stuff… it really is a painless process, provided that you have all the required libraries. If you don’t — well, that could be a problem. But you don’t have to do it too often anyway 🙂

Anyway, I’d better stop rambling. But what I wanted to say is: would I ever go back to Windows? Never. I’m experienced the power of the Open-Source side, and I have to say I am a convert!

All for now…