I am what I am because of who we all are.

I don’t know what made me look into it. I think I was just faffing about on Wikipedia (yes, I know, I am such a geek. I like to link hop on Wikipedia) when I came across the page on Ubuntu. I just read about it and for some reason got intrigued. I’m not one for changing my work environment – I’ve been running Windows on computers since I was… god, 14, maybe … and I have no idea why I downloaded the LiveCD install for 11.04.

But I’ve found myself using Ubuntu more than Windows over the last month.

On my laptop, Windows is unwieldy. It’s a lump that chugs along at a snails pace, and this is even when I’m booting up from Hibernate. However, I stick with it for Photoshop and Dreamweaver, which are two of my tools of choice when I’m working outside of work. But Ubuntu has offered an alternative for basically everything else I do.

I want to go on the internet? Compared to the 30-60 seconds it seems to take Windows to find and connect to my wireless router, Ubuntu does it within 10.

Microsoft Office? Don’t need it when Libre Office, a free and open-source alternative is built in at install.

Email? Twitter? Programming? Check, check, and check for the main languages I’m trying to (re)teach myself.

The only things I’ve not found with Ubuntu that I pretty much need Windows for are Photoshop and Dreamweaver. GIMP, while functional, is just too cumbersome and unrefined compared to PS, which is why it’s an industry standard. And quite frankly, there’s not one piece of software in the Ubuntu depositories that meet the level of polish that Dreamweaver can give me.

So, does that mean I’m quitting Ubuntu and not giving it a chance? Nope. I had a flatmate at university who tried, and I mean tried, to get me using Linux. I’m betting he’ll get a laugh that I’m willing to use it now. The main reason I’m liking Ubuntu is because of a piece of software called Wubi, which lets me run Natty (Narwhal, the code for version 11.04) as a service in Vista. OK, it may be a proper dual-boot, but for all intents and purposes it is. I can keep the vast majority of my Windows install which keeps me able to run Photoshop and Dreamweaver (and keep iTunes going to keep my iPhone and iPod up to date) and use Ubuntu for … well … just about everything else.

Which is just peachy, if I’m honest with you.