Free Software

Anyone that receives my postings through their email or reads them on a semi-regular basis knows that I do my very best to encourage Christian and Lost Man alike to keep their software legal on their computers.* There are two groups of people that I do my best to keep them up to date and legal... Highschoolers and my group, the Elders.* To keep your unit legal and currant is actually simple and it´s free!

Seven years ago a wealthy South African Gentleman, Mark Shuttleworth was fed up with the sorry software that Micro Soft sells to the world and then tries to fix the junk they have sold to us.* I got on board with his System, some years ago, and have been virus, worm, trojan and root kit free since that time.* I ran the system for the first two years, testing it, without anti-virus and firewall software and received none of the trouble that is normal with Windoze.

There is, of course, among the better than 30,000 free packages anti-virus software and firewall software and I now keep ClamAV and Firestarter on my unit now for that added measure of peace of mind.* There are two features of Ubuntu/Linux that endear it to IT and user alike.* Where Windoze must be Defragged on no less than a once a month basis to keep the file system in reasonable condition for booting and running programs, Ubuntu writes the file in a contiguous manor and never needs that maintenance performed and the other is the lack of a registry.

If a Windoze user does not do weekly cleaning of the Registry the machine will over a period of time crawl to a creep that causes perfectly good computers to be trashed.* Yes, there are a few perfectly good and very useful Registry cleaners out there and ¨if¨ they are used, Religiously, they will keep the registry straightened out and clean, the problem is, they must be run once a week and you must not forget to run them.* There is no such problem in Ubuntu!

So, with all of this Business Quality Free Software, why are there not more users?* While the Ubuntu Operating System is the fastest growing operating system in the world and while there are about 20,000,000 Ubuntu users at the moment, Ubuntu is not a game machine!* Yes, you can play Solitaire, MaJongg and a host of other games written for the system but the writers/programmers of the games are just beginning to realise that there is a growing market that has been ignored while the Micro Soft people are busy shrinking their market share.

Another plus for Ubuntu is the truth that Ubuntu will play nice with the Windoze OS while the reverse is not true.* Ubuntu has a package, NTFS3G that reads and accesses the windoze folders and files while it is an earth shattering experience to do the reverse.* And then there is the ability to dual boot the two systems without becoming a geek to accomplish the task as long as you do not need or try to depend on Windoze to do it for you.

Go to ubuntu.com and download the current Long Term Support version, v. 10.04, as an iso file and use you favourite Disk Burner and burn the file using the Burn Image Selection.* Then, with almost all new computers, place the disk in your CD or DVD Drive and reboot the computer.* It will boot slower than normal because it will boot from the CD and give you the choice to test the system or to install it.* Select Install, set your time zone for the clock, tell the system who you are and choose to install the systems side by side and go get a Dr. Pepper to celebrate while the disk installs your new system for you... you will have just become the Neighbourhood Geek to all your friends.

When the computer spits the CD out park it in a safe place and watch as the Grub Boot gives you the choice to boot into Ubuntu or Windoze for 10 seconds before it boots into Ubuntu by default.* Do not try to install Windoze on an Ubuntu machine without first knowing that you had better back up everything because Windoze will eat all of it and it will forever disappear... unless you spend a little time researching the recovery tools available for the Linux systems.

So remember www.ubuntu.com for the free operating system that is trouble free and all the packages for things like Office Software and games, photo repair and enhancement and just about anything you can think of, including Bible programs are free.* You just turn your computer on and if you have DSL installing software is just point and click to install.

 

To the moderators, I am sorry for posting in the wrong forum but in the end, even in this forum it matters... those that run Windoze illegally, God´s eye does not twinkle at this!

As for the childish charges, I did mistype 20,000,000, aparently but as for my spelling of Microsoft, that affects the truth of the post in what manor? And as for my spelling of Windoze, if you ever get past that foolish but popular system you will begin to understand the intentional misspelling.

As for the virus attacks, you are free to believe anything! The facts are that when Mary Jo Foley, respected Computer Columnist and Tech., asked the Miro Soft (that is intentional also) Team why they did not plug the, then, 17 year old DOS Hole in their operating system, their response spoke tons of weight to those of us that straighten out our friends and neighbors Registry, something that all the Linux Systems, including Ubuntu, do not have, as I remove the Spyware, Virus´, Worms, Trojans and Garbage programs placed there by Micro Soft (oops!) Their response was and I paraphrase for lack of memory, Ḧow would we ever execute a program from the internet if we did that. And all I can say to that is, ¨Duh!¨

I´ll say one thing more on the OS situation. The two years I ran my system without the Firestarter Firewall and the Clam AV sytem... I had zero viral, worm, trojan or spyware problems. Facts are tough!

But now for the only important matter here. It would be much better if we were friends, you might even affect my feelings about Windoze and the brand new Root Kit installed by Micro Soft and approved by the NSA of the US Government.