Linux: My Getaway Vacation

For the Emperor, there were the Jedi.

For the Nothing, there were Sebastian and the Child-Like Emperess.

For the Evil Empire of Microsoft, there is a penguin. His name is Tux. He and his frozen tundra friends would like to show you something, a little thing called "quality".

Microsoft has long dominated the industry of the PC -- even lending a hand to Apple, and providing Macintosh ports of Microsoft Office -- with its Windows Operating Systems, Internet Information Server, and countless other programs. Microsoft products, to me at least, exemplify the easy way out... no thinking required, they try to say. The problem is that people then think they don't really need to think, and soon everything becomes an impossible task. Now, I'm not saying that I don't use Microsoft products. I must admit, I have Windows 95, and I use a PC on a regular basis.

"For the Evil Empire of Microsoft, there is a penguin. His name is Tux. He and his frozen tundra friends would like to show you something, a little thing called 'quality'."

But I have a getaway vacation at my fingertips. "With Linux as my Savior, there is nothing I shall want." There's something in me -- perhaps it is second nature to a programmer -- that screams for a more variant command line atmosphere, a well thought out windows system, and easily accessible and understandable manuals. Windows, to me, is a big clunky car on three cinder blocks. Linux is a HumVee with 4 spare tires.. for those "just in case" emergencies.

More and more people are migrating towards a Linux state of mind. And the best part is that more and more younger people, like myself, are learning the Unix environment. Colleges are filled with smart hackers with Linux loaded on other-wise "useless" PCs. (NOTE: for those of you who get the chills when the word "hacker" reaches your ears, please check the Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing) These young programmers are learning how to manage and work with the Linux operating system. They will be the next generation of entrepreneurs, who make programs for companies that want to be different -- and, in being different, be better, be noticed, be successful. Microsoft can only go so far before people start realizing that its products attract flies.

"Windows, to me, is a big clunky car on three cinder blocks."

For me, Linux is not only a relief, an escape from Microsoft, but it is my preferred environment. More and more programs in Windows that have been ported from Unix or Linux are crappy; they try to emulate the real thing, and the results are sad.

If you're into big flashy GUIs, difficult to understand manuals, blue screens of death, and an aura of fakeness, by all means, use Windows. If, on the other hand, you can stomach a powerful command line, many windows systems to choose from -- KDE, Enlightenment, AfterStep, fvwm... -- and if you and the Colonel (yes, that's a Linux pun... get used to it) get along well, perhaps it's time to change.