Siren Songs

I seem to have this desire to leave the Bill Gates Window's sphere to do some exploring every few months.

Linux has always fascinated me, but I've never had the hardware or time to really play with it. It has come along way since it first caught my attention - and one day it will lure me out I'm sure of it.

With all the licencing stuff going on in the world I know that there is no way I could afford to buy into Microsoft, Adobe or any other of those high end uberexpensive pieces of software. In the corner though there are other sources that many times get looked over.

Freeware has always gotten my attention - free helps but it's not a total lock for me. I don't mind trying out software and like generic drugs sometime this genre of software proves to be a surprising value.

Shareware it sounds fun but that whole pop-up "you gonna buy me now" stuff is irritating in the end it will find a way to either live peaceably on my computer or be removed from it :P

Adware, well it just scares me, and after a short period of time it will usually find its' code removed from my hard drive with all it's common pop-up friends - occasionally by violent means, as FDISK/GDISK doesn't scare me.

But Linux has been different, it has evolved and grown from the ubergeekdom of Unix to fill a niche that still has it's earlier power but has softened the edges to a point where it rivals Macintosh and Windows in its graphical smoothness.

The Linux community has worked hard and deserves credit for the many applications they have created that make the transition possible from one operating system to another possible.

But I'm still not quite there - - there are still some apps that I need to see if they will work with Linux, but as the code improves I figure it's just a matter of time until I leave the sphere of Windows behind.

Currently the top 3 versions of Linux that have caught my eye are:

Ubuntu - - I saw this a couple of years ago and they have made some impressive strides since then. New version set for release in mid April 2007.

LinuxMint - - Just the shear speed they update has caught my eye, not to mention the extra support for all those little things that I grown attached to in the Window's world.

Freespire - - Found this one just tonight, and once again those little support things really caught my attention. The whole idea of doing plug and forget for hardware saving the search for linux drivers just kind of warms the soul :)

One thing I have noticed is how Ubuntu has become a much stronger presence in the Linux world as even with so many different types of Linux out there many are basing their version on the Ubuntu code base.

As new versions come out I may have to track down some hardware to play with before I go racing after the siren song before me.