Those who know me, know I like Open Source Software (OSS). If there's a open source program that's just as good or better than a closed source program, I take and use it. The advantages? Well, they're often free - yes, you can download a copy and don't ever need to pay - they're free - in the sense of freedom of speech and not "free beer" - and they just work.

I've already rarely been using Windows on my desktop computer. It's installed for the games, and that's about it. A lot of things can be done in Linux. Until recently I used SuSE 9.1, but about a week ago I made the switch to Gentoo. And what a wonderful distro it is. Since everything is compiled (built, i.e. turning the source code into an actual working program) on the computer you use it on, things can be optimized a lot and so it's fast. That was not the case with SuSE, but it is now. And, you only install what you really need. With SuSE I found I had a lot of stuff installed I never used, plus the mix of RPM and source installs messed things up. No longer. Have a look at my new desktop (click to enlarge):

Yes, it's a 1600x1200 screen. True size. I like things big... or small, really.

So what's all there? Here's a list of the preferred programs I use for several tasks:
Operating System: Gentoo 2005.0 x86
Background Servers/daemons: Apache (with PHP4), MySQL, OpenSSH (SSH), ProFTPD (FTP), Unrealircd (IRC), DHCP (for connecting my laptop to a mini-LAN of 2 computers), Vixie-Cron (Cron jobs), LIRCD (Remote control of my TV card), krfb (VNC server on KDE, Desktop Sharing)

X (graphical) server: X.Org 6.8.2
Desktop Manager: KDE 3.4.0

File manager: Konqueror/Krusader
FTP: Krusader
Graphics editing: The GIMP
Image viewer: Kuickshow
Office: OpenOffice.org 1.1.4
Coding: Kate
Text editor in consoles: VIM
Chatting: GAIM, Skype, KVIRC
Web browser: Mozilla Firefox
X Terminal: Konsole
SSH: KSSH
E-Mail: Mozilla Thunderbird
Audio players: XMMS, Kaboodle
Video players: Xine, MPlayer
Network status monitor: KNemo (see tray)
Clipboard manager: Klippy
RSS readers: KNewsTicker (at the top), Akregator (has tray icon)
Hex Editor: KHexEdit
CD/DVD burning: K3B
UML Designing: Umbrello
Audio editor: Audacity
File sharing: Azureus
Desktop background: TuxMachine (from kde-look I think)
Icon set: Slick
KDE Style: Plastik
KDE Color scheme: Plastik
Screensaver: Euphoria (with the "Random" mode setting)
Screen resolution: 1600x1200

And all of that is running on:

Processor: AMD Athlon64 3400+ (Yes, I installed the x86 version as I don't really need 64-bit stuff yet... plus not everything works then)
RAM: 1024 MB
Mainboard: MSI K8N Neo Platinum, with nForce3 chipset, onboard 1GB card etc, onboard sound
HDD: Maxtor Diamond 10+ 200 GB
CD-Rom: AOpen 16x/40x DVD drive (I think something like that, it's old)
DVD-Recorder: NEC ND2500 (dual-layer)
Floppy: Yes, but don't ask me what brand or so... it's ancient (1999)
Graphics card: nVidia GeForce 6600GT (LeadTek), using the vesa framebuffer driver for consoles and nVidia drivers for X
TV Capture card: Hauppauge WinTV-PVR350
Network cards: Sitecom gigabit card (Realtek 8169 chipset) connected to the net
Monitor: Philips Brilliance 107P5
Mouse: Logitech MX500
Keyboard: Logitech Deluxe Access Keyboard
Headset: Labtec something...
Printer: HP Deskjet 5150

Of course that's not all... all the currently installed software - and I shouldn't need too much more I reckon - takes up about 4Gb of space on my hard disk, which leaves plenty for documents and other stuff.

Everything runs great and smoothly, even though it took me a while to set it all up. It's so great, I decided to install Gentoo on my laptop too, which until now had just Windows due to the lack of space, and I needed Windows too much for Uni. I've now reserved some space for Gentoo there, and it's compiling a lot as I'm typing this. Soon, it'll be similar to my desktop.

So yeah, open source is great. I can customise the computer the way I want it, not the way some big-ass company says I want it.

Want to have a try with Linux? Well, for newbies Gentoo might be a little too complicated. Userfriendly distributions (distros, editions) of Linux are Mandrake or SuSE (or Fedora Core, but that's ugly IMO). They have so-called "Live-CDs" too, which is basically the entire thing on a single CD. It doesn't have as much software or options as an installed system, but it does work. All you need to do is boot the system from a CD. A famous live-cd is Knoppix. Very easy to use as rescue-CD too :-)

It may take a bit of effort to find what you need to download, burn etc., but there's plenty of documentation on the internet. It isn't all too hard anymore. Depending on your hardware, not everything might work out-of-the-box, but usually you can find ways to get things working through Google.

If you're reading this: go and try out Linux if you haven't already. Give it a go and try using it for a while. You can always switch back to Windows, and a dual-boot setup (which means you have both Windows and Linux on the same computer, even the same HDD, you just pick what you want from a menu at startup) is done fairly easily. It's a great toy, and makes life easier in many ways (slightly more complicated in others, but that doesn't stop me)

And if Linux a step too far: a few of the software packages mentioned above (OpenOffice, Firefox, Thunderbird, GAIM, Skype, Gimp, Audacity, Azureus) are all available for Windows too. You can try them in there, and see what it's all about before making the big step.

Enjoy!