On March 11 I decided to move away from using Microsoft Windows XP as my primary work operating system on my IBM-supplied Thinkpad T60p. I’ve offered progress reports on how I was getting along. Through all of this I kept a reduced Windows XP partition on the machine “just in case.”
I’ve booted this partition only three times in the last three months: once to get some application information, once to clean up the partition to reduce it to allow space for an Ubuntu installation, and once to upgrade my BlackBerry (and it turned out I didn’t need to do that at all).
Today I used gparted to delete the Windows and Ubuntu partitions. I’m reinstalling Ubuntu so that it and the internal IBM RHEL-based Open Client for Linux each have half of the disk. That is, I have a dual boot system where each option is a Linux distro. For various reasons I wanted a completely fresh Ubuntu install and I don’t mind setting it up again.
Later today I’m going to update the Open Client for Linux to the 2.2 level. I also plan to add some things to the Ubuntu side so I can get my IBM work done. With this I can go back and forth and see what I like and dislike about both, while being productive. I can also use a Mac for work things and will be experimenting more in that direction.
In summary:
- I am now completely *ix-based for work.
- The only Windows machines I have left in my house are in the attic and/or are broken.
- I feel more productive in my operating environments than ever before.
Unless you like the latest games, enjoy getting viruses or have very proprietary applications moving away from Windows is actually very easy. You just have to plan your switch and learn some new stuff.
I ditched Windows at home a few years ago and now only use Windows at work or within a virtual machine for legacy applications (one game) and some cross platform web testing. All my family were then converted and I’ve started on my friends now.
I couldn’t go back the other way, converting from Windows to Linux would cost an absolute fortune. I’d have to buy Windows XP/Vista Pro, Windows Server, Visual C, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat, some kind of Anti-virus software, it would cost thousands. I could use free and open source alternatives, but then I may as well stay on Linux where they are happier anyway! Once I spent my fortune I’d then spend the rest of my time grumbling about how irritating everything is, why there are no drivers, why I have to keep rebooting systems, why nothing quite works…
Microsoft has never been good, but it was once much cheaper than the competition and it did work after a fashion. Now it’s so much more expensive than any Linux based system and so much more inferior to any Linux/Unix system that it sticks out like a very expensive and sore thumb…!
Continuing good luck with your conversion…
I can only envy you.
At home I cannot switch to Linux because HD video playback isn’t yet in shape to be user-consumable. Mplayer as usually can’t sync audio and video, Xine is just slow or doesn’t support particular subtitle format. Multimedia experience overall (was and) is quite poor.
In office…. Well, in essence, our IT knows about *nix systems only “shutdown” command and where physically “Reset” button is located. Admin who can and does read man pages – …. have seen none in my company. E-mail? Exchange only. VPN? Windows-only. And this is state of affairs in the company whose core product is 100% *nix one.
At home I home my media server runs Debian and my aging irreplaceable /workstation/ PowerBook G4 12″ runs Ubuntu 8.04 – and they both handle their tasks perfectly. Main windows rig has more or less at all times VirtualBox with another copy of Ubuntu started.
Bravo!
Please, try Pardus 2008 and give us your opinion about that project:
http://www.pardus.org.tr/eng/
http://www.pardus.org.tr/eng/info.html
http://www.pardus.org.tr/eng/projects/index.html
http://worldforum.pardus-linux.nl/
Regards.
Cool :-) Did you set up a separate (or shared) /home, so they can share homes?
My employer provides me with a Windows XP based laptop. I migrated that in as a virtual machine into my personal laptop a number of months ago. It’s a safety net. If I need something in Windows I can load it up in the VM and retrieve it. I’ve found in the last four months that the two things I need it for are (a) Converting Visio Diagrams to another format and (b) an arcane HR function on my corporation’s Intranet that wouldn’t work without full authentication through the Windows stack (even with IE4Linux).
Meanwhile back on the Ubuntu side I’ve been creating documents including spreadsheets, presentations, word processing documents and project plans and sharing them with colleagues and customers across three continents. There are the occasional hiccups like tables in OpenOffice Presentations which don’t behave at all the same way when you send them to somebody with Powerpoint. But there are many, many more things that work just as you expect them to. The only proprietary item running is Cisco’s VPN client and that only on those rare occasions when I need to connect to the corporate Intranet from a remote location.
Could things be smoother? Sure. He’s my list: (1) Dial up networking is a pain. Think of broadband access on a major carrier’s network and having to drop to a prompt, become root and start up PPP because it just doesn’t work correctly from within Netman. And Netman doesn’t understand you are online so it tells all your applications (Evolution, Pidgin, Firefox) that you aren’t. (2) Tech support. Try sending screenshots to some guy at Ebay or CNN complaining about a Microsoft banner ad not displaying correctly and obscuring the navigation and listen to them parrot back instructions for how it should work in Windows. (3) Those aforementioned tables in OpenOffice. The rest I’m very happy with. I chose this solution so if media codecs don’t work correctly it’s because they aren’t available under a license I want to use. It probably wasn’t worth watching anyway.
Good luck on your journey. I’m anonymous because my company isn’t enlightened enough to give me an option to do this officially.
Dummy00001 wrote:
> Mplayer as usually can’t sync audio and video, Xine is just slow or doesn’t support particular subtitle format. Multimedia experience overall (was and) is quite poor.
I tried Yoper on an old box and it was up and running and playing DVDs within 20 minutes. All from a single CD, no messing around with configuration or addons.
http://www.yoper.com/
> I tried Yoper on an old box and it was up and running and playing DVDs within 20 minutes. All from a single CD, no messing around with configuration or addons.
Most likely any main distro will handle the multimedia stuff just fine. I’ve done all my gaming and multimedia on linux for years – fedora, suse, ubuntu – it’s all good, just make sure the video drivers are set up. I couldn’t imagine going to ms windows for multimedia. Not that it couldn’t do it, I just have no reason to go there.
Dear AC,
IBM (Lotus) and ATT will each sell your employer a VPN solution that integrates smoothly with Windows and Linux. Being an IBMer, I’m supposed to sell you on the IBM one; but there are choices in the market.
For the banner ads, we could try persuading Microsoft and/or CNN of the benefits of open standards. “Implement it in W3C HTML, and test it with Firefox”. That way we could all understand what it is that they are trying to sell.
If you don’t need the recipient to be able to revise the presentations, try sending PDFs. Somewhat restricted in that you cannot do ‘multimedia’ or foils with moving parts. Should that be addressed in a future revision of the ISO standard ?
I converted to Linux (full time on personal systems) in May 2002, after experimenting with Linux during 2000, 20001. I currently use Mandriva Linux as I find that it requires almost no command line intervention, unlike Ubuntu (including 8.04), which I’ve tried every release of over the last few years.
In fact I am so impressed with Mandriva that I recommend it to new Linux users, and even install it for those who are intimidated by the very idea of installing a computer operating system.
I unfortunately still have to use Windows at work, where I find that in comparrison to Mandriva Linux, with a KDE desktop, Windows is slow and clunky and just painful to use. I fins that a Windows System with a 3+ Ghz CPU and 2 Gig of RAM chokes if I load more than half a dozen applications (Graphics editors, programming environment, Database tools), while I can have a twice as many applications (spread over 9 desktops), of that type open, plus a Virtual Machine, on a 1 Gig RAM Linux machine.
Couldn’t you run your IBM Open Client in VirtualBox? This would negate the dual-booting situation by running the two concurrently.
Hi, Bob.
I’ve been dipping into your blog on a semi-regular basis for a couple of years now. I thought that you were already 100% full time using Linux on the desktop and today’s blog was a surprise.
Personally, I’ve been using only Linux on the desktop at home for more than 4 years now and I’d be just as happy using Linux on the desktop at work if my employer gave me that choice.
Multimedia? Windows is crap at it, specifically Windows Media Player is awful. I used VLC Player on Windows XP while I was still running it, now I use VLC Player on Ubuntu and on OSX Leopard, and never have any problems.
Generally I recommend that people avoid Microsoft products. Most don’t of course. Many don’t know that anything else exists. And that’s too bad, because they are missing a variety of wonderful software.
–> Dear AC,
–> IBM (Lotus) and ATT will each sell your employer a VPN solution
VPN was already solved. I mentioned in my post that I have Cisco’s VPN solution working (and if not clear, correctly under Linux as well as the Windows VM). My networking complaint was the clunkiness of the dialup experience for my broadband card. I don’t fear the command line, it just is a desktop integration issue. I personally have 20 years of *nix experience on all the major platforms.
–> For the banner ads, we could try persuading…..
My mission in life. Information Technology Standards are about access, interoperability and preserving access to information for future generations. While the noise Microsoft is making around support for ODF is a positive sign, having observed them for many years it’s hard to take “We were wrong, ODF really won!” with any seriousness coming from them. Talk is cheap, but the leaders take decisive action and demonstrate their commitment to interoperability with shipping products.
–> If you don’t need the recipient to be able to revise….. …. or foils …..
Unfortunately I consult, and consulting is a collaborative process these days where our colleagues and our customers want to be able to provide input, their own slides, and fully participate. I always chuckle when I hear an IBM’er mention foils. I was introduced to the term in 1988 when I did some of my first consulting work for IBM. Do you guys still say “Hardfile?”
If your old computers are sitting around in the attic why don’t you send them to someone who will refurb them as Linux boxes and give them to low income families for their children to do school work on.
One prominent place I know of is http://www.lobby4linux.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&Itemid=53
It’s an old link but he runs a blog and you can contact him thru this link
http://linuxlock.blogspot.com/
There are others who get reported on in the various forums but I can’t find their links.
Just a thought.
That’s great to hear, Bob, that you are Microsoft-free. As you’ve said before: you’ve earned it after running an MS OS in some form for two decades. I fully made the switch last October and haven’t looked back. There was only one program I missed from Windows, NewsLeecher, and recently WINE was able to get it to work under Linux fine. So I can’t go back, woohoo!
A secondary market for Personal Computers is springing up at rethink.ebay.com . Even if you don’t have one to sell … or want to buy … it’s interesting for the list of businesses who are putting their names to the initiative; and for those who are missing.
There’s an established secondary market in the Automobile world. If the Automobile market were like the Personal Computer market, the Fords and Toyotas of this world would all be proclaiming “Supplied with Microsoft tires” and “Intel gasoline inside”.
But it wouldn’t say much about the secondary market. It’s different there.
Congratulations you’re on digg’s Upcoming: Hot In All Topics section. Unfortunately there are a lot of people recommending that this not make the front page since they think its not news worthy. They’re probably right.
Cheers for the choice!
@diggdude: I agree with you, but also note that the point of my blogging about it was not to get any particular placement on digg.
@Amenditman: Very good idea, I’ll take a look at doing that when I have a chance.
@Anon: As the link mentions, I’ve been weaning myself from WIndows for some time. Originally my goal was to get completely away from it by the end of 2007, but that slipped because there were some IBM-critical apps that I still needed at that time on WIndows. With the Open Client, I no longer need them.
@Rob King: I do plan to look at virtualization on the box over the next few months.
@David: No shared /home yet, but good idea for the future.
(@ anonymus coward 1: Visio files can be used with dia (kivio too?), it’s available in ubuntu’s (and all other) repositories, just two clicks for you to install )
i switched 2 years ago, half a year ago i ditched the last vmware image of xp.
it took me some time to understand how things work in linux, meanwhile there NOTHING left i can not do in linux.
Not to mention things windows can not give you (chroot,ssh,apt-get,….. and tons of high quality software)
Congrats on taking that last step Bob! It’s nice to know in some small way between the two of us these last few days of June the number of IBMers not using windows will remain constant. (You’ve just increased it by one, and my departure from the company at the end of the month will decrease it by one.)
On the shared /home front, I would strongly discourage that if you’re using lotus notes on both distros. Most of the Notes on Linux solutions put way too much stuff in the home directory and all too often I’ve found that the C4EB (er, open client now) and the LUD solutions for notes weren’t compatible. Meaning that upgrading notes on one distro broke it on the other. All too often when I had a shared /home between the two I was left with no functioning notes installation. After a coupe instances of scrambling to get it fixed I split my /home’s back out and used the shared partition as /data, which my home dir pointed into for a lot of things with symlinks.
I cannot agree with the proposition that (in general) windows is better at multimedia that windows. I constantly battle to play video files on windows. On ubuntu linux I play the file and totem downloads the the correct codec, a far cry from windows media player and its brain dead attempts on very common codecs.
I acknowledge that linux is playing catch up on some more advanced codecs, and indeed Dummy00001’s comments were directed at HD playback – although he doesn’t say what codecs or formats he is havinfg problems with.
There are some aspects of h.264 encoding (in particular PAFF interlacing) and HE-AAC audio that aren’t well handled on linus yet. However these will be ironed out in due course. Open source does a pretty good job of keeping up in these areas.
For anything that doesn’t use those tricky bits, I find the ability of linux to just play the media without mucking about to be refreshingly simple.
RE: banner ads. I don’t assume anyone wishes to actually view them… Adblock solves most problems, but there’s also the “Nuke Anything Enhanced” Firefox extension, which allows to remove any desired part of the page…
Welcome back, Bob, and congratulations on becoming Windows-free.
Today I was reminded of almost the only reason I have to boot up a Windows box these days: to file my Australian taxes electronically. The e-tax program our gov’t provides runs only on Windows. If I had the ambition, I might try running it in an emulator, but I have to admit it’s easier for me to just boot Windows.
Congratulations on breaking free! This year is the tenth anniversary of my kicking Windows out of our house and not letting it back in. It is hard to escape completely work. In my previous job I used Linux for everything except a once a month conference call where I needed Lotus, it sounds like IBM has since fixed that. In my current job I use Linux for everything except for some development tools and I hope to do some of that on Linux eventually.
I also wanted to mention that I had trouble with video on Linux too. I have recently installed vlc on Kubuntu and so far it has played everything I have thrown at it with no configuration at all. I was even blown away that it would play .wmv files without any fooling around on my part.