A Grand Experiment with Linux

This is Part 1 of a ten-part review of Ubuntu Linux.  The series is designed to give you a rough idea what it's like to try Linux.  It's not a how-to, and it's not a blow-by-blow recount of my experience.  For your convenience, links for each part of this series are located at the end of the article.

I've been in the IT industry for fifteen years. During that time, I've seen a lot of things come and go. Being a generalist by nature, I've dabbled in many different aspects of technology during this time... I've built countless PCs from scratch, designed and published web pages, played with audio and video editing software, and constructed an entire enterprise domain from the ground up. Two areas that I've stayed away from, however, are Linux and Mac. I've avoided Apple products primarily because of the cost. I've procrastinated on Linux mainly because I didn't have a method and/or time to do the testing.

All of that came to an end recently when I decided to give Linux a try. This grand experiment started about a month ago, and it was actually a Microsoft issue that got me to do this. As a computer geek, I am frequently asked to help friends, co-workers and/or clients eradicate virus(es) that have infested their computers. In all honesty, I'm one of the best virus hunter I know. I freely admit that better virus hunters exist; I just haven't yet met any of them. The thing is, it can take quite a bit of time and effort to find and kill viruses, especially if the user has administrative privileges on the computer.

A couple of months ago, I started wondering if it would be quicker and easier for me to install Linux to a USB drive, boot to Linux on the infected machine, and then use Linux to scan the infected computer's hard drive for viruses. I realized that if I were to go down this road, I'd be opening a whole can of worms. After all, there's no way that I'd be able to just install Linux and AntiVirus software and not see what else the Operating System has to offer.

As you've probably guessed by now, I decided to try Linux, and I've been using it almost exclusively for approximately a month. After a couple of weeks of dabbling in Linux, I decided that it would be fun to immerse myself into the Linux experience and write about it. I believe that enough time has passed for me to write a reasonably-educated critique of my Linux experience. Today's post is just a teaser. My next several posts will be dedicated to telling you what I think...

Part I, The Grand Experiment

Part II, So Many Flavors

Part III, I'm Kind of Slow to Commit

Part IV,  ASmall, Short-Term Commitment

Part V, Diving Below the Surface

Part VI, A Different Animal

Part VII, Okay, It's Pretty, but What Can it Do?

Part VIII, Okay, I'm Committed, But It's Not all Puppies and Rainbows

Part IX, Unity

Part X, Parting Words