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This is an introduction. It gets kinda wordy but if you want to skip it just go to the bottom or you can see my blog for a condensed step-by-step version that comes with pictures and some even come with video.

Click here for videos that I made and some that I have linked to (you should also search for more on youtube.com.

Top 10 reasons to switch to LINUX.

What is Open Source?

Open Source is a set of principles and practices that promote access to the design and production of goods and knowledge. The term is most commonly applied to the source code of software that is available to the general public with relaxed or non-existent intellectual property restrictions. This allows users to create software content through incremental individual effort or through collaboration. For more information on this subject see this link .



Open Source in my pocket

If you would like to try open source applications that you can install on a removable media, then Portable Apps is the place to go. You can carry your documents around with you along with the programs that are needed to open them.
It gives you a menu system that you can use on any Microsoft Windows computer without the hassel of reinstalling the program on each computer. All you need is a jump drive large enough for both the applications that you want and the files that you wish to keep on your removable media. With the basic package all you need is about 512Mb of storage space. But I recommend at least having a 1Gb jump drive that you can buy at most office supply stores for about $20. The great thing about using a jump drive is that it keeps all of your files in a location that you can keep with you and won't have to worry about recovering those files should your computer ever crash.

Putting it on Windows

Open source applications are, of course, available for Windows. If you want to try others that you can install on your Windows computer here is a list:

These are free to install on to how ever many computers that you would like.

Going beyond Windows

Most people probably have never heard the term LINUX or even know that there is a free and secure Operating System available for download. If you are a general computer user you are probably wondering 'Why would I need anything but Windows?' Or you may be saying, 'I have no experience with installing an operating system.'

Well I am here to inform you that LINUX is freely available to download and install on to your computer and also to redistribute. The best version currently available is Ubuntu Linux. It provides free updates and upgrades to the newest version available. It can be installed inside of Windows like a program or it can remove Windows and transfer your files over into it. (If you install it inside of Windows you can transfer this into being the only system with LVMP.) Also available with this distribution of Linux is a listing of over 25,000+ applications freely available for install. If you are currently on dialup connection or none at all, you can order a cd either freely or pay for it. This is such a great operating system that Dell computers has decided to starting selling their computers with it already installed as an option. This is especially useful for those of you who have heard of the deadline for XP and if you are'nt satisfied with Vista.

You are probably wondering if you did switch to Linux whether or not your Windows programs that you have already paid for and have grown accustomed to are able to be installed on this operating system. Well that is possible through a program called WINE. "WINE is a tranlation layer (a program loader) capable of running Windows applications on Linux and other POSIX compatible operating systems." Instructions on installing WINE on your version of Linux is fully described on their web site.

Linux is in a world of its own. It gives the users the freedom to choose what is on their computers. It gives them the freedom to view the code that makes the programs that they use and alter it to better suit their needs and to check for viruses. (Which makes getting viruses or anything else like that a thing of the past. But there still are programs that help to make sure they stay in the past.) Linux is developed by the world wide community freely and is supported freely. Linux gives its users to make the entire desktop environment (the graphical interface that you use to do everything that is displayed on sceen) reflect your personality or business. You can even share and exchange those themes and changes freely. A great site for this is Gnome-look.org.