Windows Users Anonymous

Hello, my name is Nicole, and I'm a recovering Windows user.

 I would never refer to myself as a computer expert.  Intermediate user maybe, or slightly above n00b...most of the time.  I was becoming bored with Windows, not because I had learned everything about it, but because I felt that I had learned all that I wanted to know about Windows.  Once you've got the preferences set up the way you'd like them, there really isn't much else you can do to really make it your own.  There are many applications you can install, but like a used car, you're stuck "as is".  I often needed several different types of the same app (ex. 3 different movie players) to enjoy the various files I had in my library, which really started to bog down my speed and fill up my hard drive.

However, like the masses plugged into the matrix unaware, I simply continued to plod along, not really satisfied but not confident enough to upgrade my system.  Then one day, I got to talking with Steven about Linux.  Of course, I had heard of Linux, but always assumed it was for users much more experienced than I.  After explaining how Linux is not only more user friendly, more customizable, but much more secure than Windows, he convinced me to load Ubuntu, a noob version of Linux onto my system in a dual-boot format, allowing me to keep Windows as well.  He was pretty confident I wouldn't go back even given the choice, but change is scary, so this was a way to ease me into it.

Now, as I've stated above, I've never thought of myself as an expert, but I know just enough about computers to get myself in trouble.  So please, learn from my mistake and before you do anything, take the time to back up your system!  Sounds like a no-brainer, and it is.  I had sent my laptop away for repairs the month previous (thanks to a Vista Service Pack upgrade, ugh) and had backed everything up then, so I wasn't as diligent as I should have been, and decided I could probably risk it.  Yeah, not hard to see where this is going, is it?  Although the installation process is very user friendly, and they walk you through each step, I wasn't paying as close attention as I should have been (yay multitasking!).  When it came time to decide how to partition my hard drive I inadvertently chose to overwrite Windows, rather than set it up as a dual-boot.  That's right, everything, gone.

So after a brief moment of nauseousness, and some reassurance that at most, I had lost a month's worth of data, I decided there was no other option but to plunge ahead into Ubuntu.

I have to say, Steven was right.  Even if I had the chance to go back to Windows, (and technically, I still have that old backup) I wouldn't.  Everything you need to get started with Ubuntu is transparently available, from the simplified toolbars to the various applications you start out with.  Open Office, Linux's sleek response to Microsoft's various word/data processing applications has no problem opening any of my old files and is intuitively easy to use.  Quite the improvement over the frustration encountered when I would try to edit a document at home as well as at work, using different version of Windows.  The Preferences tab allows you to tweak everything about your system so that it is *exactly* the way you want it.  Curious about what other types of applications you can play with?  Check out the Synaptic Package Manager under the Administration tab, a "store" where you can browse hundreds of applications accompanied by both a short description and a more detailed one (just highlight your choice).  I haven't even been using Ubuntu a week, and already I've downloaded and installed approximately 400 of them.  Oh, and the best part about installing new apps?  No reboot necessary.  That's right, just start using it!  Some of my current favorite apps, which I'll talk about later are music player Amarok, instant messenger aMSN, and of course, the many, many games available.  What makes these apps so amazing?  So much better than anything Microsoft has to offer?  Why, the fact that they are open-source, of course!  If you know how to do some programming, not only can you modify any app to do anything you like, you're encouraged to!  If you're like me, and have no programming experience at all, every app I've come across has a help menu that gives you sites or email addresses to report bugs or to offer recommendations/requests specific to that app.  Plus, there are many, many online forums full of users that can answer questions, make recommendations, and generally help you troubleshoot any app, on any version of Linux you're running.  From Linux Forums to Ubuntu support and everything in between.  Just Google the name of the app you're curious about and the word "help" and you'll have no problem finding someone to get you where you want to go.

So yes, I am a recovering Windows addict, but one day at a time, my computer just keeps getting better :)

Nicole