Leaving the Comfort of Windows

"The Matrix Has You"!

Ever feel like you are not in control of your own life? I do.

I think that is even more true in today's world where corporations determine what television programs we see and try to influence our buying habits. The government determines what news we hear, and how much we pay in taxes. The companies we work for determine whether or not we will have a job tomorrow given the current state of the economy. We are caught up in a self-perpetuating machine where if we don't take a stand for ourselves we will undoubtedly live and die as designed by other people.

While I have very little control over a lot of these things, I have decided to take a stand against the one corporate entity that has most of the world under it's thumb and forces the masses to buy their inferior product time and time again!!! Microsoft! Ya Bill I am taking about you!

Now don't get me wrong... I can appreciate the vision of Bill Gates as an entrepreneur and the huge amount of work that went into create a company such as Microsoft, but I can criticize him on the poor follow through of most of the products that it produces.

I could go on and on about why I think Microsoft sucks, but honestly I don't have that much time or desire. I would just like to throw this out to the universe.... "Microsoft, you are no longer my master!"

Now with all the hype around the Mac, I was ready to jump in until I saw the hefty price tag of $1500-$3000 for most if not all of the models out there. Upon a little more research, I found that a majority of the hardware was exactly the same as could be purchased on a PC with Windows installed. So that means that the Mac OS is the driving factor of the price. I talked to a few of my buddies who have Macs and they say the "work-flow is unreal"! I still don't know what the hell that means, but I am sure that it is not worth an extra $1000 to me.

Since I hate Windows (and all Microsoft products in general) and Macs are still way out of my price range that means that I am heading down the road of a Linux Distro. The great thing about Linux is that is completely open-source, which means if I wanted all the programming files for the entire operating system I can download them and create my own kick ass version. There is also a HUGE community around Linux, and it is this community that continually improves the source code so that it has far fewer issues than Windows.

The downside to Linux is that I have heard that it uses the command prompt A LOT. Most Windows users have never seen the command prompt, they just use the GUI (graphical user interface) to run their application. The command prompt is simply a little blinking cursor where you type commands into by hand. Don't know the command then you need to look it up or you are out of luck.

While I am sure that Linux is the right direction for me and will let me "stick it to the man", there is going to be huge learning curve and a lot of troubles going forward. This blog is designed to document that journey, and hopefully in the process convince more people to give Linux a try and break free of Microsoft.