This seems little to do with Politics, the Environment, or liberal Values, but it does impact “Sustainable Living”.
Very soon now Microsoft’s new Operating System Vista will be shoved in your face, at what can only be considered an outrageous price, no doubt.
The whole network of Capitalist Greed, and Control will kick in to high gear. Small Businesses, everywhere, will be forced to “upgrade”, in order to not lose their valuable data, and hard fought battle of
maintaining control over a sea of information.
I’ve spent the past few days engrossed in a reacquaintance with the open source Linux software. I remember those all night sessions, way back, learning to install Windows, guess what…Never say NEVER, again! It will take nothing short of complete immersion to lick this thing. Sure, there’s a learning curve. Nobody likes to grind through all that, but it’s for a
good cause. Democracy!
More after the fold. Disclaimer: Crossposted at
my blog (that nobody sees)and aggregated at the Carolina Blog Network
That’s right, it’s all about the Politics baby! While the rich get richer, and the Government controls more and more of our daily life, there are alternatives.
People aren’t turning to sustainable living, because it’s easier. These people are realists. We can’t go on raping Gaia. We can’t continue to destroy the ever dwindling resources available to us . Yes, Virginia,
there is Global Warming!
This may not seem to be on the same page as Environmental Reform, but it is the very same principle, and after all, that’s what Liberals, and Progressives are supposed to be all about. Standing up for the
Little Guy is the KEY Democratic Meme. Oh, sure, it’s been forgotten, shoved aside, while we infight, and discuss third parties, but it is the Everything we stand for.
FREE, assembled by a consortium of anyone, the Linux
movement continues to grow. There are dozens of flavors, from the Commercially backed Red Hat, and Novell
distributions, to the more niche driven alternatives like Video Linux.
A few years back, only the “guru geeks” would be able to install Linux. People had already been converted away from the Dos Command Window, lured by one click ease (and the Dumbing down of America, I might add). But things are MUCH, MUCH, more different now. If you can download a file from the internet,and burn to a CD, you can install Linux to your PC, and be surfing in Minutes!!
Although everyone seems to have their druthers, the Current desktop favorite seems to be Ubuntu.
Within 15 minutes of a download, and burn, I have a fully functional Laptop, able to attach to my Router, and DSL Modem, and using the familiar Firefox Browser, able to surf the internets, publish to my blogs, work my spreadsheets, and write documents. Using Open Office, I have a complete office suite, compatible with Microsnerd’s Word, and Excel.
Now the hard parts… You have to relearn already known how-tos (some sentence!). Yep, even how to install your new downloads to the system. Finding things on the hard drive is not even close to what you are used to. But there are Download
Managers, and Application Install managers, there are Forums to learn from, and discuss the latest thing driving you crazy. Double YEP!, You will be a NEWBIE, asking dumb newbie questions, slapping your
head, saying DOH!. BUT….
You’ll never help pay for Bill Gate’s personal toilet paper again. You’ll be able to be the “Smart One” in conversations. You can do everything on the computer, that you could before, and more. That $250, you would spend on the next MS product, could be put to better use, on your favorite candidate, protecting you from the big ISPs,and Tech Giants, who want to take control of Your PC, Internet Use, and your wallet (sound
familiar…just like the Republican controlled Congress, isn’t it).
Open Source Software…
Open Source Politics.
Oh! Don’t forget, speaking of sustainable Agriculture…
THEY
ARE SELLING YOUR LAND OFF
You make a pursuasive case. My technical advisor (junior in high school son) keeps telling me I need to do this. Guess I’ll have to see if he can fit me into his busy schedule, LOL.
My concern is what happens when I have to send documents in MSWord to clients? Is there a conversion utility I can have on my end, so I don’t have to dump those issues onto my clients?
In Open Office, you can save your documents as Word Docs.
I’m 57..if I can..you can…nevermind the kids helping…they’re too smart already…lol
As a hard-core techie, I’ve been hip to the linux gig for quite a few years now. I still have to run a computer with WinBloze XPee on it, but I also have a two computers that run gentoo linux exclusively. My notebook is dual-boot, I can choose linux or XP when I turn it on.
As the years have gone by, linux has become much, much easier to install and manage. If you DO need some help, there are linux user groups in practically every city and on every college campus. They are ALWAYS ready to help a newbie. Just google “linux users group” plus the name of your city. Linux users are positively evangelical and jump at the chance to convert someone off of MS products.
I recommend that new users get some help and set up their computers with a dual-boot configuration. Use linux and learn it, but if you get stuck and positively have to do something RIGHT NOW, you can rely on the familiar Windoze to get it done. When you have learned enough to be comfortable with it, you can go to linux completely, delete the windoze from your hard drive and assign all that new free space to your linux system.
Thank you for your input, and recommendations. I left outthat part semi-intentionally. Having to back up your current OS, and repartition is a daunting task (albeit, relatively easy). I agree with your advice, but…if anyone has an spare computer, I would advise a fresh clean install. No muss, no fuss. After you have played with it for awhile, you could then go to your main pc, and install , as you suggest, as a dual boot machine.
But to be honest…most people do little than email, and surf…IF that is all you do…GO FOR IT…blow the MS away, and Install Linux. Email. and surfing will be back with you in minutes.
Thanks for this diary. I’m certainly not a tech guru and I’ve been happily using Ubuntu Linux since last spring. I run a ridiculous amount of stuff at the same time on an older P3 laptop with 384MB memory. I even got my wireless card working. No way would I be able to buy all the free software that I run, and I’ve enjoyed gaining a better understanding of what’s going on in my computer. And I’m just paranoid enough to like having more control over what’s on my machine.
It just keeps getting better, and better as you get familiar…more control,like you say, hell, it even seems like there are more programs to download and use, than Windows.
Without getting “Linux-happy”, I’m still standing by the original diary content. That old crappy windows machine…don’t spend thousands on a new machine…install linux, save money, save the environment, and your old machine will become just as snappy as it can be. Then use Firefox to log into booman, and support your Open Source Politics.