How many times have you heard the arguments about operating systems and why mine is better than yours etc? Now I admit to even starting a few of these talkfests myself.. things quiet at work or new guy starting.. asking what OS they use and watch the smackdown begin (its almost as good as UFC). There'll be your Mac people espousing how "everything just works" and your Windows types saying "the world uses Windaz" so its the best. And then there's the "you should use Linux because its free man" tech guru wannabe hippy types looking all smug and self righteous because the rest of the clowns paid for their OS and he's using his for free. Or is he? In my experience these people are all PC gamers therefore Windoze users.
I've met a few characters that are living the Linux dream or at least claiming to. But here's the rub... is there anyone who's exclusively using it? I don't mean "I've got Linux installed on my USB stick" or "I dual boot". Is there anyone who is actually using Linux as there sole operating system. Booting into everyday to check their email, write their documents, develop their code, surf the web and yes.. play their games. I fear there is not.
Maybe I'll concede and say having a Windaz virtual machine is still living the dream. Is there anybody doing that? I know of one bloke (who we'll call 8Ball to protect his privacy) who uses Ubuntu for work because "its got all the tools I need to get things done". But even he has to use a Windows VM to run iTunes to sync his iPhone.
Now before you fire up your email clients to deluge me with hate mail, I'm no Linux hater, far from it. Currently I'm using a Mac but my Mac fanboy-ism has really worn off since my first iMac and with the price of PC hardware so good, my next purchase will be a beige box. My next OS will be linux.. not sure what flavour yet.. and I'm going to see if I can live the dream. Can I do all the things that I currently do on my Mac? Will the temptation of slick PC gaming be too strong? My new hardware is probably going to be a few months away yet but I'll be sure to update you when it happens and we'll see if I can live the Linux dream.
