I confess, I am actually looking forward to Windows 7. When Vista came out, I jumped ship to Ubuntu. I was tired of boring, clumsy old XP, and Vista’s system requirements were ridiculous. But Microsoft has apparently dialed back the system requirements, so that most circa-2007 computers should have no problem running it.

That alone makes me interested, but one look at the interface shows that Microsoft is once again taking the best elements from other operating systems. The new taskbar is a near copy of Apple’s OSX Dock, and the new, easy-to-use wi-fi network manager is also a near-copy of Ubuntu’s network manager applet.

I don’t have any problem with that, and I really am looking forward to seeing if Windows 7 lives up to the hype. (Although Vista won’t be hard to improve on.)

New versions of Ubuntu are released twice a year, and the second release of 2008 comes out today! (Watch the countdown at right to find out when the actual release is available.)

Since 8.04 was a stable, long-term service release, 8.10 includes a number of improvements. One of Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth’s goals is developing a user experience that matches Apple’s within two years. To that end, Canonical, the company that spearheads the Ubuntu program, has hired a handful of developers to coordinate Ubuntu development with the “upstream” projects it relies on.

Intrepid Ibex is the first step to an even better OS. Unlike Windows and OSX, Ubuntu move—and improves—quickly.

If you have not tried a Linux distro before, give Intrepid Ibex a try. It is released on LiveCDs. Just download the file and burn it to a CD. If you put it in your CD drive and restart, you can try Ubuntu without affecting anything on your computer. It just runs from the CD. (Be forewarned, running from a CD is slower than if you actually install Ubuntu, which is usually as fast or faster than Windows.)

Get it while its hot! (Or wait a couple of days, as the Canonical servers get hit pretty hard with any new release.)

I have been using Ubuntu Linux exclusively for nearly a year now, with one abortive attempt to return to Windows. For me, the transition has been smooth. But to date, I have not exposed anyone new to Ubuntu.

But recently, I hired a law clerk to help me with a few projects, so I bought a new desktop computer for her. I went with a Dell computer with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed, and when my law clerk showed up on day one, I just showed her how to log in, where to find my client folders on the network, and not much else.

After a week using Ubuntu, she has not come to me with any problems or asked me how to do anything. I am sure it helps that most of my practice management software is online, but she had no issues getting up to speed with OpenOffice.org, the Evince PDF viewer, or anything else.

She says it feels like a mix of Windows and OSX, which is pretty much what I think about the default Ubuntu interface.

So for those who might want to try Ubuntu, give it a shot. It is easy to get oriented, and it just works. Plus, you can download a LiveCD and try Ubuntu without installing it or affecting your hard drive.

Mike Kavis switched to Linux to prove that people can be productive at work without using Microsoft products. One year later, he has proved the point.

I have been Microsoft free* for a couple of months now, as well, using Ubuntu GNU/Linux as my primary operating system, with OpenOffice.org as my office suite. I have not used Microsoft Office in almost a year.

Why do I prefer Ubuntu? Primarily, because it is lighter and faster, more reliable, and more configurable. It has encouraged me to focus on open standards and programs that work equally well on Windows and Mac OSX, so that I can move my data freely between all platforms. It also saves me money, especially on upgrades, although I do believe in contributing to the software projects from which I benefit.

I actually like Windows XP just fine, and always have. But my laptop has a 60GB hard drive, so Vista’s 20+GB install size was a dealbreaker for me. I think Microsoft really went the wrong direction with Vista, but I will not rule out a return to Windows if version 7 turns out to be lighter and faster, instead of bigger and slower.

*I do run Windows XP using VirtualBox (kind of like Parallels or VMWare Fusion for a Mac) so that I can use Adobe Acrobat, since there is still not a good Linux alternative. I also prefer the Windows-only scanner utility for my Fujitsu ScanSnap, since Fujitsu still refuses to support Linux.

My beloved ThinkPad died of USB-controller-induced vomiting last Thursday. One minute it was suspended, the next I tried to plug in a USB mouse and it went out like a light. It was four years old, though, so it has had a good life: coffee shops, courtrooms, the front porch . . .

The problem seems to be related to the Intel chipset, not the IBM/Lenovo hardware, so I fearlessly ordered a brand new ThinkPad T61. This time, I went with full-disk encryption so that my entire hard drive will be safe if I lose the computer.

Also, Lenovo offers Linux, so I bought a laptop with SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10. I’ll be throwing Ubuntu on there, as well, but I am looking forward to trying SUSE, as well. No more Windows for me!

Even though my old T43 was out of warranty, this seems to be related to a known defect, so I have some hope that Lenovo will replace the motherboard so I can squeeze some more life out of that laptop. In the past, I have experienced incredible customer service from Lenovo, so I have high hopes.

Version 8.04 of my favorite Linux operating system, Ubuntu, is a big deal. It is a collection of small changes that add up to a big improvement. It is also a long-term service edition, meaning Canonical will support version 8.04 for twice as long as its regular releases.

7.10 was a big leap. 8.04 is a small one, but a ton of small improvements have really come together to make 8.04 well worth downloading. If you want to try it, download a LiveCD and try Ubuntu without installing it. If you like it, it is easy to set up a dual-boot with Windows, although, like me, you will soon start thinking about wiping Windows off your computer entirely.

I am still using 7.10 on my laptop—my main work computer—until the early kinks are worked out. But I am using 8.04 on another computer (and have since the beta came out), and I do not expect too many kinks. Everything seems to Just Work.

I scored a refurbished Gateway computer from Woot last week, which I intend to use as a server. I was kind of excited, because although I intended to wipe the drive and install Ubuntu (Windows Vista is nowhere near stable enough to be a good server), it came with Windows Vista Home Premium. Since I have only used Vista at Best Buy and CostCo, I was pretty excited to give it a thorough try.

I clicked my agreement to numerous things I paid no attention to and Vista took a deep breath, and 15 minutes after hitting the power switch, I was up and running. Only a few more EULAs to agree to, and off we go–where?

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After just over two weeks using only Ubuntu Linux for all my day-to-day computing needs, I am back to Windows. I don’t know what happened for sure, only that ATI does a terrible job of writing Linux drivers for their graphics cards. As I mentioned before, there is only one thing that does not work properly in Linux: dual monitors, which I use when I am at work.

So, for the time being, I am stuck using Windows again when I am at the office, and Ubuntu Linux everywhere else. It’s too bad. Now, when I use Windows, I really resent it for the long start-up and shut-down times, the bogged-down performance, and the behavioral quirks.

The upside is that the next version of Ubuntu will be out within the month, and promises improved built-in monitor management. Whether this will make up for ATI’s shortcomings remains to be seen. In the meantime, I will try not to buy a new laptop just so I can have a graphics card that works properly.

AMD/ATI just released an updated driver, v8.3. And they put out a Linux version, which enabled me (finally!) to use my dual-monitor setup in Ubuntu Linux. And so, today I began an experiment in seeing how long I can go without booting into Windows.

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Hopefully by now I have convinced you of the value of open-source software. If you still are not sure what’s what, Jimmy Atkinson of WHDb has a great post on the top 50 proprietary programs and their open-source alternatives. There are many other alternatives on both sides, but this post is a great entre if you want to start trying new things.

Are there things you can do with proprietary software that you cannot do on open-source software? Yup, but the reverse is also true. There is some open-source software that simply blows away the proprietary competition.