Two weeks with Ubuntu

So, you’ve probably heard about Linux. For the past two weeks, I’ve pretty much switched from using Microsoft® Windows® to using the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. The catalyst for the switch is the fact that over the next three years, our company is going to have to shell out more money than we’d like in order to keep licensing Microsoft products. So, in an effort to determine how likely it is that we can move away from Microsoft without causing huge disruption in our general daily workflow, I made the switch to Ubuntu at work.

So far, I really like it. I am a command line kind of guy, and part of the power of Linux is the ability to use the keyboard and the command line to get things done. I like it a lot.

Here are some things that made the switch easy for me:

• Dropbox. Hat tip to Mr. Kevin McKenzie who sent me an invite to Dropbox a few years ago. You get 2GB of free storage (plus an extra 250MB for using this link.
• Crossover. The guys at Codeweavers make a product called Crossover which allows you to run Windows programs in Linux. As much as I hated to do it, I had to have Outlook for a couple of days because the web based interface for Firefox is absolutely horrible, and Evolution (an Outlook wannabe) is just not quite ready for prime time in my mind. Crossover made the installation of Outlook a breeze. I also use it to run EverNote 2.2, which is still one of the best note taking apps I’ve found.
• Google Apps. Thank you Google (full disclosure: I am a shareholder.) for putting together the thoughtful and useful and easy to use web based email system that you did. I was able to forward all my email to a Google Apps account, and now I don’t have to use Outlook anymore. Yay!
• OpenOffice.org. This is a “clone” of Microsoft Office®. I’d say this was the hardest switch to make so far – I have a lot of muscle memory from Office, and there was so much I used to be able to do in Excel, that now I feel somewhat handicapped. I’m sure it’s like learning any new application, and will just take time to get comfortable with the new stuff, but it’s still hard.

There are some other apps that I’ve enjoyed using since I switched to Ubuntu: Gnome–Do is cool for searching and quick access to all kinds of stuff. (I’m trying to get in the habit of using it more, because it is so much easier than mousing to a menu). At home, I use GRAMPS for Genealogy, and that’s a cool little program. There is a Windows version of GRAMPS, too, I believe (it’s built in Python, so it should be cross platform).

Now, before any of my faithful readers decide that they want to make this switch, I have to warn you, this is not for everyone. Ubuntu is more of a community effort than a commercial effort, and if you’re not comfortable using Google for tech support, or you don’t like editing plain text files to change some settings, then you might not be a candidate for Linux. If you’re interested in doing more, than I suggest that you download a distribution, get some software to run a virtual machine (I like VirtualBox, and play around with the system for a few months. Even better, get one of the Live CDs that allows you to use the system on your computer (your hardware), and make sure you don’t have any strange compatibility issues. I’ve been using Ubuntu on and off on virtual machines for the better part of two years, so I was pretty comfortable with the whole idea.

Anyway, I’ve rambled enough to more than make up for my vacation time off. Hope you learned something new.