This is a brief follow-up to my piece from a couple of weeks ago where I jokingly suggested that everyone should move away from Windows to Linux. I found this blog entry where a Windows user has been trying Ubuntu Linux for a couple of weeks.
His findings make interesting reading. He’s had a bit of trouble with hardware compatibility but in general he’s very happy with how it’s all gone.
In the end I’ve been very impressed with Ubuntu. After two weeks of banging under the hood and using it as often as I can, it has shown itself to be stable, fast and customizable. Hardware support is solid and application support is good. It is a tweakers paradise. I can work at work and and home. If I had to I could use it as my day-to-day system and not have many regrets. I’m still not as comfortable with it as I am in Windows, but I’m getting there. I may not be a convert yet, but I am a fan.
Update: Another article on the same subject. In this case CareGroup CIO John Halamka tried Ubuntu for a month on his laptop. He liked it enough to stay with it after the experiment finished.
“A balanced approach of Windows for the niche business application user, Macs for the graphic artists/researchers, SUSE for enterprise kiosks/thin clients, and Ubuntu for power users seems like the sweet spot for 2008,” says Halamka. “I’ll continue to watch the marketplace evolve and report on my progress. For now, the only devices I’ll be carrying are a Dell D420 with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn and a BlackBerry 8707H e-mail device.