Kubuntu, the first fully functional Linux for "normal people"

I have always been intrigued by Linux, because its free. For my work I support national parks services in developing countries and costs of equipment is a very important issue. So, if you can severely reduce the prices of LEGALLY functioning computers, that really helps. Linux was not worth anything until there was an office suite, and OpenOffice filled that gap a few years ago. OO 1.X did not quite do it, but now OO 2.X does everything a regular office suite user needs and it is very compatible with Bill Gates' stuff. So OO, as a multi operating system (platform) office suite, basically made Linux a useful operating system for regular users.

But all Linux distributions had a major flaw. One really needed to know a considerable amount of Linux gibberish to update and install packages. As a result, they were basically useless for Jo and Jane Doe and my national parks people.
A few years ago, Xandros (the linux split off from Corel) came along and sold a very easy to install Linux, that facilitated automatic installing and updating of software packages at a cost of something like $90 per complete license.
but it had 2 significant flaws:
1. It needed updating at least once a year to follow the new rapid developments in Linux land and I felt that paying something like $65 per year for staying up to speed was too much. We don't even pay Bill Gates that for his operating system.
2. The selection of programmes that were given for installing on your computer was very limited.
So my son in law Spencer Stirling, a mathematician and computer nerd (among other things For Linux stuff see his website www.spencerstirling.com with lots of instructions for Linux lovers, all developed and tested on the www.birdlist.org computers and servers) abandoned Xandros and installed another distribution. But with that, I could not install any programme update (I just don't want to learn Linux gibberish) and became fully dependent. So that would not work for Jo and Jane Doe nor my national parks people.

Then Spencer discovered Kubuntu Feisty Fawn (do those Linux nerds invent names!) and decided to give it a try on one of my computers. I am his test dude and let me tell you, I loved it. It gives the choice of hundreds of programmes to be installed/uninstalled/updated by a click of the button. I use a lot of software for my management, website and scientific work. There are only 2 things I can't do in Linux: my favourite GIS programme, ILWIS and Frontpage, but none of those are probably of any interest to Jo and Jane. With a bag full of foreign languages I also need a suite of accents, that needed some fiddling in Linux gibberish, but again, no issue for Jo and Jane, as they only speak and write the most primitive European language.
So, with the introduction Kubuntu, anybody familiar with computer basics, can download the completely free version of Kubuntu Feisty Fawn, image it on a CD and install it on their computer, after which they will be forever free from paid software licenses and updates.
Now, if you still need a few programmes to run under Bill Gates operating system, there is a completely free programme VMware (a virtual machine) that allows you to run Windows 98 and XP on your computer. Now that takes quite a bit of Linux gibberish to install, but if you are capable of doing that, you are in business. Spenser installed that on my computer, and boy......, it runs faster and crisper than the old regular version I had on the same computer previously. With lots of work in Frontpage 2000, I work my computer in Linux and XP simultaneously continuously, switching instantly merely by either pushing the button for XP of for Linux, that makes me swap to my XP or my Linux window.

So without license issues at stake for an operating system and software, Computers only need updating through part exchange of outdated or burnt out parts, thus costing a mere $100 per year on average. Who would ever had thought that in 1995, when I paid $2500 for a "state of the art" HP with a 15 inch screen, to be replaced every 2 years for about that price to follow the developments in software.



As Auditmypc host Jim shares so much of his knowledge and tools with us all, I thought I would share this experience with you all, so that you may benefit from this experience if you choose to.

You can read a bit more about some of our experiences at:
http://www.nature-worldwide.info/site/computer_wisdom.htm
Enjoy. Daan