Why I switched from Windows to Linux as my operating system of choice

For those of you who know me, I’m hybrid person, being very analytical and technical via the left-brain and very creative, intuitive via the right-brain; so this article probably won’t come as any surprise to you. This blog is about spirituality, connectedness to all, esoteric and metaphysical subjects; but for this article, some of those things still apply even though I’m writing about a technical subject for once: Why I switched from Windows to Linux as my operating system of choice on my home computers.

I’m sure you may (or may not) have heard or read about Linux and all of it’s good and bad points from someone you know or from an article somewhere; and while many of those points are valid in whole or in part; I’m not going to go into a technical breakdown and analysis of them here. I’ll lightly touch on them, bringing out the basics for anyone not aware of them, and I invite you to research Linux further and make up your own mind about it. Realize that not everything you read about any given subject is the absolute truth or even accurate for anyone but the writer, so take everything written or said, with a grain of salt. This includes what I say and write as well. Everything is opinion, and this is mine. So let’s get on with it already, shall we?

As the title of this article states: “Why I switched from Windows to Linux as my operating system of choice on my home computers”, so why did I switch?

Well, the sort description is simply this: I got tried of always having to maintain, troubleshoot and fix my Windows operating system on my computer. There is also nothing that I want or need to do on my computer that requires me to use Windows. I can create, print, edit and save all sorts of documents and images on my computer just fine in Linux. I can email, surf the web, and even play games, all just fine in safer and more secure environment over which I have both the ability and the capability of total control over my PC’s software and hardware. Those are the primary technical reasons for my switch over from Windows to Linux; but there are also some philosophical reasons as well.

Trusted Computing, Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Free Software

I strongly disagree with Trusted Computing, which is where PC manufactures instruct your PC’s hardware to operate in certain ways vs. how you want it to operate. Without getting overly technical, that’s the crux of it. Again, I suggest you research anything that strikes your interest in this article.

Another area of contention for me is DRM, or Digital Rights Management. If I legally purchased a CD or DVD of music or video, I should be able to use that on any computer I own as well as make one backup of it in case the original gets damaged or lost. I do not condone software and/or video piracy, but this is yet another reason why I choose Linux over Windows because while there are some commercial software programs for Linux, the vast majority of them are 100% free…just like Linux itself is free. For any program offered for Windows, there is a free alternative that is available in Linux. You may like a certain Windows program (or need it), and it may run just fine in WINE (a Linux-based program that lets you run some Windows programs in Linux)

Vendor-Lock-In

There also isn’t the vendor-lock-in like with Microsoft/Windows and Apple, Inc/Mac OS X. Take for example music which I previously mentioned… if you are using iTunes with an iPod, you’re locked into that system by Apple, Inc because you can’t just transfer your music to any mp3 player and your music catalog is locked-in to iTunes and Apple, Inc, be it with our without an iPod. This is merely but one small example of vendor-lock-in, and something I encourage everyone to avoid at all costs. There are other portable music players out there, some of which will even play other file types other than mp3, wma, etc. These file types, mp3, wma, avi, mpeg, and many others, are what is known as “proprietary” file types. This means that the creators of those file types can determine what, where, and how those file types are used. Maybe one day you won’t be able to play mp3s on a certain brand of portable music player because the creators of it want you to only use THEIR file type, thus making it so your music files will only play on THEIR portable music player. I prefer to use open file types, meaning, files that will work anywhere, on any system, any music player, computer, etc. When things are open and free like this, they offer not only a way to avoid vendor-lock-in, but extreme portability so you can use your files, be in documents, images, music, wherever and whenever you want to, how you want to, and when you want to. It’s your data, so should you control it and say how it’s used? The same is true for your music player or computer… you own it, so why shouldn’t you have the final say on things when it comes to using it? If you have vendor-lock-in and proprietary systems, it controls you instead of you controlling it. If you have free and open systems, then you are without those (and other) limitations as well.

While a regular PC running Windows will give you more options as far as what to which software and hardware you can use with it verses a Macintosh, (which is even more restive than a Windows-based PC because it uses very proprietary software and hardware), a Windows-based PC is nowhere near as free as a PC running an free and open system like Linux. If you want to use a Mac for doing high-end video, audio or graphics creation and editing, I recommend Macs for that; just as I recommend a Windows-based for heavy duty gaming because of Windows’ excellence in that area.

(Yes, Linux can do gaming in some ways better than Windows: but Windows-based PCs doing more gaming in general than Linux-based PCs do, but this isn’t because Linux *CAN’T* do gaming, but rather that Windows-based systems are what the vast majority of game manufacturers write games for.)

In Conclusion

It’s all a matter of choice; but the choices you make should always be informed ones. I encourage you to do the proper research and look at not just both sides of the coin, but the edge, the 3rd side of it as well. Look at all of the good and the bad, the positive and the negative, the pluses and the minuses of using any particular system be it a car, TV or a computer operating system like Windows, Mac OS X or Linux; and then choose what best suites your needs.

Copyright © 2010 Ron Schreiner All Rights Reserved