Day 2 of 30 days with Ubuntu

I have created (yet) another blog, 30 days with Ubuntu. Two days ago, I reformatted my laptop (and lost all my photos which I cleverly forgot to backup) and installed the newest version of Ubuntu, version 10.04 which was released just a week ago. I will be using Ubuntu for 30 days, and as I go, every day I will may write my experience with Ubuntu, on things such as how usable it actually is, whether it can really eliminate my dependency on Windows, etc.

Do take a look at 30 days with Ubuntu if you are interested or considering to try a Linux operating system.

If you don't know what Ubuntu is...

Ubuntu is an operating system which is free and open source, based on Linux. "Free" here is defined as "freedom" (coincidentally, Ubuntu is also "free" as in "costless"), and "open source" means that anyone is able to modify the program. In other words, anyone which is interested in helping to develop and improve the program/operating system is free to do so, by reporting bugs or writing code to fix a problem or introduce a new feature.

There is an entire philosophy behind open source software, but to cut things short, here are two major reasons why you might want to consider using Ubuntu (or any other open source operating system):

1. Ubuntu can be freely redistributed, meaning you can download it and install it on as many computers for as many times as you like. There is no copyright law which prevents you from doing so, as it is licensed this way.
2. Ubuntu works differently from Windows - in other words it is not affected by viruses, worms and trojan horses which attack Windows.

Point 2 however also implies that Ubuntu cannot run programs made for Windows, unless a Linux version of it exists (e.g. Firefox). This rules out nearly all computer games, as well as proprietary software such as Adobe Photoshop. There are, however, open source equivalents which have similar functionality to these proprietary applications. Also, by using special software, you may be able to run some, if not, most Windows programs in Ubuntu. If you're not convinced, see Microsoft Office 2007 running in Ubuntu.