October 18, 2007, a brand of Linux was released which is called, “Ubuntu” (version 7.10, www.ubuntu.com).  Now for many of you this immediately generates two major questions.  The first is, “What is Linux?”  The follow up to that is, “What is Ubuntu, some African word?”

I will answer them in that order.  Linux is a computer operating system.  It was created, as a hobby, by a young college student named Linus Torvalds while attending the University of Helsinki in Finland in 1991.  The operating system that you are most likely acquainted with is Microsoft Windows XP or Vista.  Windows XP is found on the majority of computers today.  Linux is found on…well, not many.

Regarding the word Ubuntu, you were correct.   It is a Zulu word meaning “humanity towards others”.  It is (in the computer sense of the word) an operating system based off of Linux.  It differs from Linux in that it is more user-friendly.  This means that it has a nice user interface (looks good), is easy to use and closely resembles Microsoft Windows.

Oh, one very significant thing I forgot to mention.  Linux and more importantly, Ubuntu are free.  Yes, absolutely no cost.  Ubuntu also comes with many other free items that you must pay significantly for with other systems.  Ubuntu is sponsored by Mark Shuttleworth, a South African billionaire.

When you install Ubuntu you also get the Firefox browser, a quite useful email program named, “Evolution” It works quite well and has a lot of games for free.  Oh yes, I almost forgot to mention you get Open Office (OpenOffice.org) which is also free.  Open Office, in my opinion, compares very favorably to Microsoft Office (office.Microsoft.com).  That was hard for me to say as I am a staunch supporter of Microsoft but this just works – for free.

This week I took the plunge and installed the latest version of Ubuntu on an old notebook computer.  It isn’t just a little old.  This one would barely run Windows XP when it was new.  With Ubuntu it is running like an active young puppy.  Ubuntu doesn’t need all the power of the newer Windows machines.  If you have an older computer and aren’t totally tied to the MS systems you may want to try Ubuntu before you toss it out.   You will be surprised.  Once you download it and burn it to a CD (or order a CD) you can run it on your computer without installing it.  That way you can see if you like it before it is installed.   

This column was written and emailed to the DNR all using Ubuntu and did I mention it is free?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:28 pm and is filed under Columns. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.