Hello, my name is AY@tes and I have a problem. I have recently scummed to an addiction to free software. Normally this would be met with a multitude of lawsuits from companies alleging that I have obtained their software illegally. This is not the case. What I am referring to specifically is OpenSource software, the kind of software that is totally free of charge.
I'm not stating that I am completely against all things Microsoft Windows related as many of the openSource software have been ported to Windows as well. As a certified Microsoft Professional, you would think that my motives and desires would be lead toward all things Windows related. I should devote an entire entry to spouting the benefits of using their software, ... lets not and pretend we didn't as no one would want to read it.
I do not mind paying for the software the I use if I am going to benefit from using it. Then again, as a employed person with a job and a plethora of background education you would also think that I would want to be frugal with my money and save it for the things that are important, such as making payments on my Student loan and getting a new LCD television. As I am a certified professional, if I get caught with any pirated software (read: “obtained from a friend software”) then I can loose my certification and not be eligible for any future certifications which would hurt my ability to gain work experience.
There are lots of benefits to switching to an OSS (OpenSource Software) solution, but it can be time consuming to set up initially. Although, once you have a computer configured with the setup and configuration that you need then the system is extremely stable and reliable.
Many people don't realize that most of the websites they connect to daily, and the search engines they use are completely Linux based. Why is this? Because its stable and reliable. Its as simple as that.
I would like to ensure that my employable status remains for as long as humanly possible, so I am going to begin my transition away from proprietary software in the coming weeks. [That an using free software is cool.] Although it will be a long and difficult process to say the least.
This will entail a great many things that I will have to sacrifice. The first and foremost will be the use of my Adobe Lightroom software for organizing and managing my photography. I can go back to using Google's Picasa but I have tasted the brilliance that they are offering and I don't know that I can part with it. My only other option would be to buy a Mac laptop which isn't in the affordability range right now.
Migrating away from iTunes I had thought would be particularly hard, but there is a great alternative for Linux (Banshee) that works great with iPods and will even import your library as well. So that saves me hundreds of hours for re-rating the songs, I like it when things are that much easier.
You can do a search online and find hundreds or thousands of open source software which function as great alternatives to all of the software that you pay hundreds of dollars for. There may not be as many of the features in the OpenSource version, but 90% of the daily functions you will require will be there.
I also read recently that a small company had switched to using OpenOffice for their office computers, which were 60 in total, not a lot by any means. They had called Microsoft and asked for a quote on getting the latest version of Office, which is 2007. Can you guess the cost of putting the software on all of their computers? It was $15,000 can you believe that? I can.
Here is a great article about how Linux can be great for use with a Small Business:
http://www.itwire.com/content/view/15298/1023/
With all of that said, (and said in a very scattered and diluted manner, I should work on my writing if I ever want to get better, that can happen another day as I really don't want to mess with it right now. Its late and I need to get back to working.) it will be a long and difficult process but with the many headaches that users are having with Vista I can see many more people having to install Linux on their computers in an attempt to have something that functions.
[Again, I'm making an attempt to keep from bitching out Windows as it could last for days.]
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