The release of
Ubuntu 8.10, also known as Intrepid Ibex, last October 30 marks another milestone, and probably a more ambitious bid at unseating the most common desktop operating system. Although I have been using Linux for more than just a few years, I still get a little bit panicky when something goes wrong. Thank science, the open source community is all a-bustling with information, a willingness to help, and a number of how-to documents, which makes paying for support a last-resort option for people who bother to RTFM. Ibex has improved a lot of its core features, and I am no longer complaining about sound and needing to reboot just to get it to work from one application to another. Definitely puts a smile on my face.
I have been longing for some time now to switch permanently from a Microsoft world to a Linux environment, even if its only at home since I still need to use Windows at the office. A few years ago, it would have been very difficult, if not impossible, since most of the applications I use are Windows-only apps, and their Open Source counterparts simply suck, both in form and function. However, in recent months, there have been a lot of breakthroughs in the Open Source community. Most Windows-only apps either have a Linux version, or their Open Source counterparts have been improved dramatically.
Take for instance, instant messaging. It was a
Yahoo! Messenger world for me, until Gaim decided it is time to shed the AIM connotation and adapt a more generic, Open Source friendly name and made it easier to use and more pleasing to the eyes.
Pidgin, Gaim's new name, took Yahoo! Messenger's place on my desktop, even when I am using Windows. What made me switch was the tabbed chatting feature, wherein you only use one window to chat with a number of friends using multiple tabs. It saves screen real estate, and most of the emoticons use the same hotkeys, although it doesn't use the same emoticons. I can live with that. Besides, it's not the emoticons that's important in a conversation.
The browser is a no-brainer, since I already use
Firefox, and Google's Chrome browser is not nearly enough reason to stay with Windows since they will be releasing a Linux version of it. But still, Firefox is my weapon of choice on any platform. Their extensions transcend the boundaries of platform limitations, and that's what makes me a loyal fan. Although if and when
Opera gives in and provides native support to CSS-based rounded corners, it would definitely be a very close second to my most favorite browser. But Firefox 3.1 promises to be a lot faster than it is right now, which makes switching to another browser a very difficult decision.
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Microsoft's productivity suite, MS Office, is definitely the best productivity suite...for Windows. However, it is slow to load and definitely bloated with features that will most likely be ignored by the common person. Sun's Open Source productivity suite,
OpenOffice.org, is lighter and faster, and uglier, but with it is starting to look better and more compatible with every iteration. However, it is also becoming bloated just to simply support formats of the MS Office type. Enter ThinkFree and its Mobile Netbook edition that is very light and fast and fully supports other suites' formats. It isn't free though, and is not open source, but a lot cheaper and Linux-friendly. I'm lucky enough to be given a free version of ThinkFree Mobile Netbook edition just by participating in their survey. So far, I'm liking it and it has most of the features of MS Office. OpenOffice.org is great and all, but I feel more at home using
ThinkFree's Mobile Netbook edition as its features and usability is more familiar.
iTunes is, or was, also one of the reasons I keep using Windows, for without it, my iPod is useless. Well, not entirely useless since I can use it as an external hard drive in Linux. But with
Floola, I can manage my iPod media files and copy media files to AND FROM my iPod. I can even play music AND video files directly from my iPod. An unexpected, but welcome, benefit of using Floola is that MobileMe or Safari will no longer be forced on me whenever there's an Apple Software Update, because there is no Apple Software Update. Yay, indeed.
The only thing that would make me go back and use Windows is if I would need to make or edit something in Adobe Flash. But since I try to steer clear of tasks involving Flash, Windows is simply taking up space on my hard drive. At home, that is. Adobe's AIR platform also has a working beta for Linux, making it possible for me to use
twhirl. Firefox's Flash plugin lets me watch Youtube videos, it works beautifully after installation.
I have been spending more and more time using Intrepid Ibex, because I simply cannot find any reason to use Windows, and no reason not to use Ibex. I can do what I need, and want, to do in Ibex what I used to do in Windows.
Multiple desktops and a rotating cube to switch from one to another is simply an icing on the cake. A very tasty icing.
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