Fun With Linux

Recently my friend Fran and I have gotten into Linux. Besides the fact that has probably elevated my geek status even further, I have to say that it really shouldn't. Why? Because I feel that Linux is ready for the desktop. There's a certain feeling you get when you use an operating system. Its a feeling of comfort. Usually you don't get that feeling right away because you don't know what certain things are going to do. I installed Suse Novell Linux with Gnome on a Virtual PC and let me tell you, I feel as if I could use it to work with everyday.

First of all, the installation was a piece of cake, detecting everything perfectly, resizing Windows partitions to make room, providing access to data on the Windows drive, etc. Gnome also has an incredible look and feel, as well as a very intuitive interface. The software has really come of age since I last tried Linux (around Redhat 8.0). There is OpenOffice, Firefox, Evolution as well as some other amazing software.

Probably the one piece of software that has surprised me the most is Mono. I have really been doing a lot of .NET develop recently and this project really amazes me. I was able to install this and run it to create a simple Hello World application in no time. Another little amazing feature I just found was the ability to use the Gnome Terminal Server Client to log in and administer a Windows Server! Amazing.

So, call me a geek, but I would have almost no trouble using this on a daily basis. It would take some time to get everything situated and find replacements for my core apps, but otherwise. Awesome work.