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| Ten reasons to use Ubuntu |
When I tell people all of my personal computers run on Ubuntu Linux, most people know what I am talking about. Some of them then ask me: why? Aren’t the other existing systems any good. Well, the truth is, they are good and in some ways, they are very good. But there is more to an operation system, then it being technically good. As our world, or at least my world is becoming more and more dependent on computer and software for it’s every day functioning there are other reasons to consider when choosing the software you use to do your everyday stuff, like shopping and online banking.
So here are the 10 reasons why I use Ubuntu on all my personal computers:
- It’s free
Not only is Ubuntu Linux offered for download free of charge, but more importantly, the licenses the the software is distributed under, makes sure that the software will always remain free for everyone to use and share. This means no-one or no company can build upon the software and corner an essential piece of the product / market. - It’s open
The source code of almost all the software is available publicly. This means that everyone, with enough skills can see what a piece of software is actually doing. This means that Peer review of software is constantly happening. It also means that anyone can take the software and improve on it as they see fit. Both of these ppoint also means that it is difficult to make money of software by just selling it under a usage license. Many product are given for free, but additional services are offered by companies that have expertise with the software. This means that these companies are super customer focused and will not just push some unwanted software on you. - It has great support
There is a lot of free community support available, but if you are an organisation and you need professional support, then this is also available through Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu Brand, and many consultancy agencies. - It looks great
Ubuntu always made it a point to look great. I believe Ubuntu is delivered with a beautiful interface and graphics. Everything looks consistent as you would expect in an OS. - It is user friendly
Ubuntu is sometimes bashed by the Linux community for hiding many of the implementation of the system. I believe Ubuntu was the first Linux Distro that by default did not setup a root user, but instead would only allow administrator tasks to be performed by using the sudo (do superuser) command. I have always found this to be very convenient. I do not need a root user on my work station, nor does any other user, that just want to do his daily tasks. - It is fast
Linux is known for the fact that the system can be optimized to run fast on any given hardware. However, my experience is that also the of the shelf non-optimized versions of Ubuntu always gave new live to my older machines that had not been running Ubuntu Linux. So, it is fair to say that you can get the same results running Ubuntu, while it uses less hardware resources. - It is customizable
In the spirit of openness, Ubuntu is very tweak-able. There are many alternative desktop environments that can be installed, to give the system any look and feel that you might want. There are even people that make their system look like XP when they switched over to Lubuntu (a light version of Ubuntu). - It can do whatever you want it to do
You can do anything imaginable with Ubuntu. You can edit documents, work with spreadsheets, work with photos and and videos, login to remote (windows) machines. The only thing that limits your use of the system is your knowledge. And that is why this blog exists, to help you get the knowledge to do whatever you want. In this article on my new Dell Inspiron running Ubuntu I discuss some of the applications available to the Ubuntu user.
Do not leave your password here 🙂 - It is secure
Linux is very secure by the very design of the system. Of course if you put your password on a post-it next to your computer, then nothing can help you. But overall, Ubuntu linux is not (yet) troubled by things like virusses and malware to the extend that we see this in other operation systems. This means less maintenance is needed and less resources are needed for these maintenance tasks. - It is fun
Ubuntu linux put you in control again. This may be scary, but it sure as hell is a lot of fun.
So there you go: My 10 reasons for using Ubuntu and why I think you should use it as well.
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