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'R.D.D.'

Penguin Power .. Life after Windows

Ok, most of you know by now this interesting fact [from reading my monthly rants]: I am pretty cheap. I wouldn't dream of paying for something I could get for free [like the information you are reading on this website]. I love a bargain. And my humble observation is that most software out there is overpriced [how do you spell 'understatement'?]. The current [bug ridden] Microsoft offering is for Windows XP .. some $300 for the Home and $450 plus tax for the Pro single user versions [in Canadian funds as quoted via Office Depot website]. Compare this to the Linux offering .. Red Hat Fedora Core 2 version starts at $0 [freely downloadable on four CD's] for any number of installations desired. So, let me do the math .. uh, that's a 100% saving per user right there.

Of course, the boys in Redmond are fighting back by - marketing. Yeah, that will save us all some money. Is Linux cheaper? To acquire, yes. But, they say, what about OTHER factors like user retraining [assuming they were all already fully trained on some type of Windows PC], or the cost of converting documents between Microsoft Office [don't even ASK how much THAT program costs - $580 for the standard and $715 for the Pro version .. plus $27 for the 'Office XP for Dummies' manual] versus the free OpenOffice suite [which reads Office formatted documents directly and provides almost all the same functionality]? I wonder how much could be saved by not having to continually patch and undo the continual virus and spy-ware attacks that plague Windows XP users but which mysteriously never seem to impact my Linux machines [oh yeah, don't forget to buy Norton Antivirus for another $100 .. per user .. per year]. The score is -$1292 or so per workstation to $0 so far. Of course, with a new computer you also get the operating system and often the office suite thrown in with the hardware purchase, so by spending up to a thousand bucks you can save a couple of hundred. Again - Hmm. Just try asking to buy any major brand name computer WITHOUT the XP operating system and see if you can get any kind of a deal. My thoughts? Why should I pay for extra features that I never intend to use?

What about the CHILDREN? Little Bobby's fancy computer game won't run under a Linux-only system. Horrors. I guess the X-Box is broken. I have news for you .. usually that new game wouldn't run on your old Windows 95/98 PC either. I actually see this as a FEATURE of having a Linux-only system. The kids can't install tons of useless programs on my work computer. No Kaaza? Tough. They can access the internet, word-process and print to their hearts content. They MAY have to learn a slightly different system. Ouch. The worst criticism of Linux is that is isn't very Windows-like. Just keep an open [source] mind. Once you get over the 'this is not like the first program I ever learned' syndrome, you will do fine. The next worst criticism is that there are too many options and choices to make. Should you select Redhat, SUSE/Novell, or some other flavor of Linux to start with? Should you download and burn your own CD's or purchase a retail version CD? Should you use the Gnome or the KDE desktop to run programs? Should you use Netscape or Mozilla or Konquerer or Lynx or something else to browse the internet? Should you use OpenOffice Writer, KWord, VIM or some other program to word process. Oh no, too many choices. HmmHmm. I ended up using Fedora Linux with the KDE desktop, Mozilla for internet, OpenOffice for word processing and spreadsheets, and learned Quanta for web site development. My kids have spent hours exploring the new wonders and games pre-loaded onto the Linux system. They got used to it. You can too, and you can save BIG BUCKs in the process.

Now that I have you convinced that Linux is all you need, you will be asking, "Now what?". How do you go about getting Linux installed and working on your computer. If you are adventurous, head to fedora.redhat.com/download for information on free Fedora Core 2 downloads. And if you need hardware [without the XP overhead], check out www.linare.com where Linux based PC options [no monitor] start at $199US. What do you have to lose?

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