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What is Linux?
One of the main reasons Linux isn't a major player in the operating system market is because people simply don't know there is an alternative to Windows. If you were to go to the store today and purchase a new computer odds are it will have Windows Vista or Windows XP pre-installed on it. So here I am in my attempt to shed some light on what Linux is all about in Layman's terms. Now I'm no expert on the subject, but I think I can do a pretty good job of giving you the gist of it. If you want a possibly more in-depth description check out the Wikipedia article on the subject.
To begin with, as I stated earlier, Linux is an operating system. What this means is if you had Linux installed and turned your computer on, your computer would boot up into Linux, not Windows. If you were to install Linux, though, you would need to pick the distribution you would want. These distributions all have Linux at their core, but come bundeled with different programs and applications to make your life easier. Don't worry you can still install/uninstall whatever you want just like you could in Windows. Personally I use Ubuntu as my flavor of Linux. Ubuntu is very user friendly and very similar to the look and feel of Windows to make for an easy transition. Heres a screen shot of what you would see after instillation:
As you can see there is a panel on the top and bottom of the screen (which can be added, moved, deleted and customized) with a desktop in the middle. You can also add shortcuts to your desktop, change the wallpaper, and add all sorts of eye-candy. What you are seeing is called the Gnome desktop environment, which is one of the major desktop environments and comes installed with Ubuntu by default. Another option would be to install KDE, which pretty much just gives you a different look for your desktop.
As you can see so far things aren't looking too scary are they. The one downside to switching over to Linux is that your programs and applications designed for Windows will probably no longer work. No need to fear just yet, though, because Linux has alternatives for nearly every major program you can think of, including Microsoft Office. Best of all, most of these applications can be installed for free. Yes you heard me right. FREEEEE. If for some reason you can't live without using a certain program designed for Windows then you could always give WINE a shot. Technically WINE is not a Windows Emulator, but you can think of it as one, and its getting better and better as time goes on.
Well thats pretty much all I have to say about that for now. Soon I'll probably be writing a guide on how to get started with Ubuntu. If your up for it you should really give Linux a shot. Oh and I almost forgot to mention... Many distibutions of LInux are also FREE (yes including Ubuntu), just like the software. Now how could you pass that up.
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