We asked the devoted Linux users, the dual-Windows-and-Linux-booters, and the newer converts to the open-source operating system last week why they made the switch to Linux, and received over 330 responses as of this posting.

Over the years I think I helped to influence few people here and there to actually start experimenting with linux. I count that as a personal success. I’m sure I was not the primary influence in most cases, but I’m glad I could help people to start tinker with the new OS. Note that I didn’t say switch. I do have an issue with this whole switch mentality. People say “I have switched to Linux” or “I have switched to Mac” and I can’t help but roll my eyes.

It seems appropriate for my first blog entry to be about the computer that I program on at home. I switched my desktop OS recently.

A long time ago, back when i was still a common windows user, i was very serious in online gaming. In particularly a game called Star Wars Jedi Academy. Now I have long since switched to linux, which of course will not run the game natively. But just recently i wanted to get back on and play the game, and i had nothing better to do. I decided to try the first and most obvious thing, wine.

One of the people who switched to Ubuntu Linux recently, phoned me asking what kind of antivirus they should have installed. Quite frankly, I’ve never given that a thought. I’ve used Ubuntu for some time and have never had any virus issues, ever. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not suggesting that Linux is impervious to a computer virus, rather I’m suggesting that (currently) it’s not an issue. As a matter of fact, I did a bit of research and found out that there are viruses, worms and malware that effect our Linux based systems.

A vendor of high-end test and measurement equipment for the semiconductor fabrication market has switched to Linux. Keithley Instruments said its S600 Series Parametric Test Systems are more stable and have a longer service life, now that their embedded control computer runs Linux instead of Solaris.

"Can I game on it" is a frequently asked question we hear from Windows users toying with the idea of trying Linux for the first time. Well, the simple answer is yes!

It may seem a bit ridiculous to some, but on more than one occasion I have been asked to help address a Windows hardware issue by assisting with Linux. The "hardware" problems these people faced were quickly reconciled either by placing Linux on an existing secondary partition of the hard disk, or by using a Linux Live-CD.

Linux? That's only for geeks, right? Like its forerunner Unix it conjures up visions of terminal windows and cryptic commands. I've used Windows for decades now, and I switched to the Mac a couple of years ago. I've also watched Linux grow up, but always considered it marginal; not something the average person would use on their desktop or laptop. Until a couple of weeks ago that is.