Why do i use Ubuntu..?

I’ve been using Ubuntu and Ubuntu based operating systems for about three months, and using it exclusively for about three weeks. I’m happier with my operating system now then I have ever been from using Windows. Why did I make the change though?

About a year ago, I frequented a video gaming board that I still frequent today. On this board was a topic about iPods and alternatives. On the board was an open source evangelist. He spoke negatively about DRM, Apple, iPods, Microsoft, and everything else closed source. I made my post asking why he was so up in arms against iPods. At the time I saw no problem in using an iPod, using iTunes, buying from the iTunes store, and using Windows. He told me that using these severely limit one’s freedom. Freedom to do whatever they want with an operating system, and not be restrained by copyright or other limits that were put in place to make money.

So this intrigued me. I had only ever used Windows before so I wasn’t too familiar with other operating systems or how they worked. I downloaded the Ubuntu distribution that was available at the time and partitioned my computer. Needless to say I was impressed but just couldn’t make the complete switch. Most of my music was DRMed and I HAD to be able to listen to my music. So, iTunes was literally a shackle on me from switching to Ubuntu and ultimately stop supporting Apple.

Over that year I went on a crusade of sorts to un DRM my music. The only legal way of doing this is to burn it onto a CD and rip it onto the computer. Alas, I lost sound quality with this. Was it worth it? Yes. By the time of 3 months ago most of my music was DRM free. The music I had left that wasn’t DRMed, which made up about 200 hundred songs, I wasn’t fond of anymore. I deleted the songs. Two hundred dollars down the drain, yes. Still completely worth it.

By this time I had my own laptop aside from a desktop. I downloaded the latest Ubuntu distro and installed it aside Windows Vista. I didn’t have much patience at the time to configure anything with school and other worries, so I used Windows for most of the time. I did try out several operating systems; Fedora, openSUSE, Mandriva, Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, DSL (Damn Small Linux), Puppy Linux, and a couple of others. Ubuntu was the clear winner. When summer vacation came around I took the plunge into Ubuntu. After configuring everything I had a great operating system. The tasks that were unfamiliar to me such as using the terminal (which was very intimidating at the time) are a breeze now.

So, why do I use Ubuntu? Ubuntu to me is the best Linux distribution for me. It is free as in philosophy and free as in beer. It has a large selection of free, quality software. It doesn’t limit me in any aspect. It even supported my now deceased iPod very well. No longer do I need Windows at all. Just about everything I can do in Windows I can do in Ubuntu (with the exception of many video games).But is Linux for everyone? Of course not. Some operating systems are just not some peoples’ cup of tea. That’s just how it is. Are many Linux distros viable alternatives to Windows and Mac OS? Yes, absolutely!