In February 2007, I noted I was about ready to make the switch from Windows to Linux. There were some hesitations: I had a sizable monetary investment in Windows software. I wasn't sure Ubuntu--Edgy Eft at the time--would adequately support the workload.
In my computer maintenance classroom, I had the students load 20 PII 450 MHz computers with a clean install of Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) then later upgrade to 7.04 (Fiesty Fawn). I was fully prepared to have them wipe the drives and reinstall Windows should the experiment fail.
The result was fairly impressive. The transition from Windows 98 and Windows XP was all but transparent to the students. They found the Gnome interface intuitive and easy to use, the network easy to connect to, and access to the various flavors of servers and printers in the school easy to find. In fact, they found the capabilities of Linux exceeded the capabilities of Windows, and there were more ways to look at a network in Linux than there are in Windows.
The complaints: No 'jiggles' in Pidgeon. Can't load Google Chrome. Google Earth didn't run very well. No Windows games. Ubuntu is far less forgiving than WinXP at being shutdown with the powerbutton.
At home, I made the transition as well. There were some minor nightmares in the learning curve, but as a rule all went well. The Ubuntu Forum on usenet is a great place for newbies to find help and advice.
Once I found the equivalent applications lists on the web, I was pretty much done. I depended on ACDSee and PhotoShop a good bit, and found GQView and GIMP excellent replacements. I'm not going to say GIMP is as powerful as PhotoShop, but as a general purpose tool, it is great.
I also depended greatly on Microsoft Office--Word, Powerpoint, Excel--and was wowed by the ease of transitioning to Open Office.org. I'm not sure I would have been able to make the switch without those three elements.
Two weeks ago, I powered up my old Win XP box looking for files. I had not powered it up since July! Which is to say I haven't needed XP in 6 months. I was quickly reminded how fast Ubuntu loads compared to WinXP.
Ubuntu is an excellent alternative to Windows. I put my 11 year old daughter on it and she found it easy and intuitive. OK, she's not administering the system, but she's not really able to break it either.
At the office, I bravely upgraded to the Alpha Release of Jaunty Jackalope. There have been no problems to speak of, none major. When April rolls around, I'm sure I'll be upgrading the classroom to 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope).
Comment to Canonical: Keep up the great work people!
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