With that said, I saw excerpts from this post from here: http://i.imgur.com/jqIcv.jpg and just had to find the original author. Really well said sir! I’ll likely be doing a news article about this post in the not too distant future.

Take care!
daemox´s last post ..Sick Beard Install- Setup- &amp Configuration Guide for Ubuntu &amp Linux Mint!

It is REALLY NICE to have other options.

I, too, use Linux because … it’s FUN. It has made the computer fun again. In my 30 years of using computers, I have tried to have fun with them. Sure, it was fun in the beginning: VIC20, Commodore 64, CoCo, and a couple others. Then came the numbing, the PC and DOS, and the hard climb that was Windows, from the first versions right up to XP (the last version I would ever purchase, and subsequently give away). Finally, out of sheer frustration and curiousity, I made the move to Linux. Oh what a ride! You mean I can DO that? I can do that HOW many ways? ..and it’s OK? Really? Yippee!

It just makes me giddy when I think about how smoothly my systems operate now, and have for years on end, uninterrupted, no viruses, no fuss, and virtually no drivers to load myself. I haven’t seen a blue screen in my home for years. Linux has freed me from “the before”. I am now in the year 5 A.L. (After Linux). The blue in my windows is … real sky! (Not just a picture of sky)

When someone asks me, “Where is your Start button?” I just smile, giggle inside, and tell them: “I don’t suffer anymore. I don’t use that. You don’t have to use that either. I use Linux. You can use Linux too.” In fact: I use Linux for my servers. I use Linux for my desktops. I use Linux for my laptops. I use Linux for my routers. I use Linux for my home theatre. I even use Linux for my phones. Yes, my phones! Tee hee.

Just recently, I felt like the “King of Fun Times” when my wife said, with a voice of bold confidence: “I loaded Linux! I’m a Linux Girl!” I was so proud! She even played Freecell on the same computer WHILE loading it.

Oh, what fun and laughter there is, even when something goes horribly wrong. Last month I had a motherboard burn out. Yes, years ago I would have cringed, and worried about the downtime. I would have felt despair at the inevitable blue screen that reminds us of how the EULA has confined us, trapped inside a HAL locked with WGA. I’m still trying to understand how they justify that “A” part. I breathed a sigh of relief, and laughed out loud, for I am no longer a prisoner of duress. I said “Wheeeee!” and pulled out the faulty motherboard, put in the replacement, and booted up as easily as I had crashed. It was as if nothing had changed. “Woohoo!” My only downtime was the 5 minute trip to a local retailer to bring home the new board, and the 15 minutes it took to change it. I wasn’t even down for a single, complete hour. I didn’t have to reload my operating system. I didn’t have to type in my activation key … AGAIN. I didn’t have to brute about retrying activation only to see that it won’t work because it doesn’t recognize my network card automatically. I didn’t have to place a desperate phone call and listen to them say how much faster it is to activate over the internet when I couldn’t get there in the first place. And I certainly didn’t have to convince anyone that I wasn’t a software pirate. It just worked. Ahhhhh. Hey, I even saved money; since I didn’t have to buy Windows the last time, I used that budget money for the new board, and I’m ahead.

Oh! The joy! “sudo apt-get install vice” … and if I just happen to feel like it today “sudo apt-get dist-upgrade” … not to mention I can surf while doing it. La la la!

I have only used Linux, realistically, for about 5 years. It’s all Mark’s fault. When he told me that my file server could have a web server, mail server, DHCP server, DNS server, FTP server, and still do all the things it did before, and that it was all included without having to buy extra add-ons, and it would run for months or years at a time WITHOUT needing a restart, then I had to ask him to prove it and show me. That son-of-a-gun did too, he sure showed me. Finally, when “uptime” showed me 741 consecutive days, I sighed and powered off … to change a worn-out cooling fan. He was right. Grrrr.

I press the power button and wait a horrifying, unacceptable 25 whole seconds before I’m e-cursing Mark on Thunderbird for ever introducing me to Linux. Sarcasm? Why, yes, it is. When I’m done with my workstation for the day, I press the power button again, and laugh as I count down: 4, 3, 2, 1 … oh it’s off. Huh. 4 seconds? Huh. Perhaps I missed something? Nope, it’s off. Look at that! It shut down immediately after I told it to. Awww, but I miss getting stuck at “Please wait while your computer shuts down … installing update 1 of 34 …”. I like waiting for half an hour of updates when I want my computer to power off so I can leave, while my wife honks the horn because she’s tired of waiting in the car, getting hungry because I’m supposed to be out there taking her out for supper, all because I pressed “Shut Down” … not.

How many of my customers now have Linux servers? I stopped counting. How many of my customers have saved thousands in software purchases, licensing, and maintenance costs compared to previous years? I stopped counting.

And, happily, in answer to “Anonymous”
- I didn’t have to tweak config files to get up and running; it loaded with a few clicks
- I don’t own a Windows system, dual-boot OR stand-alone; quite thankfully
- when I posted this joyful note, I certainly DID so from a Linux box, didn’t you?
Why are you still suffering?

As I post tonight, having read all the comments of other happy Linux users, I smile and give a virtual wave. It’s comforting to know how many of us there are. It’s reassuring to know that the only windows in this house are made of glass.

I think I’ll fire up Rhythmbox and do the dance of joy.