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I’ve had an on-and-off relationship with Linux for the past 10 years. It all started with RedHat 5.2, which I got on a CD that came with a book (because it would have taken 3 days to download on the old 56k modem, and I thought the book was a good way to start). Now, just to clarify, I was thirteen at the time.

It took me a while, but after about a week of tweaking, recompiling the kernel, finding a stable driver for my 10MBps network card, and making X work with my video card, it finally was up and running. Just the installation taught me a ton about computers, hardware, Linux, and problem solving skills that would surely help me in the future.

But I couldn’t really use it after that. I spent maybe 6 months with it installed as a dual-boot with Windows 98, but there just weren’t good replacements for my daily desktop apps back then—no games, no web development software (I used Dreamweaver back then… shudder), none of those little tools I had come to rely on in Windows. Like writing a journal, my Linux use stagnated and I eventually deleted the partition to make room for more games.

I went through 5-10 distros in all after that, maybe once a year I’d give it another shot. I tried RedHat again, Fedora, Gentoo, Mandrake, Debian, Gentoo again, and then Ubuntu. I’ve installed or used Ubuntu exclusively for the last few years (I’ll explain my reasons later) and I’ve enjoyed it for the most part.

Last week, I installed Ubuntu 7.10, Gutsy Gibbon. I also had an epiphany that the names of Ubuntu releases are in alphabetical order (Dapper, Edgy, Feisty, Gutsy) and I was no longer confused. Hooray.

The verdict: We’ve come a long way. Installation not only took minutes, but found all of my hardware without trouble, including enabling all 3D functions of my graphics card and detecting an obscure USB WiFi adapter. I am impressed thus far.

I experienced some instability after that, mainly when rotating the 3D desktop cube (amazing) and watching 6 movies at once (six times more amazing) in Mplayer. OK, maybe I went a little overboard, but a crash is a crash nonetheless. Turned out that updating the nVidia drivers (to version 169.09, if anyone’s searching for a solution) fixed that completely, as I verified by running 12 movies while rotating them on a 12-sided 3D surface (twelve times more amazing!). No crashes, no slowdowns. Things are smooth now.

I like Ubuntu because they seem to get at least part of the “big picture”—see, most Linux developers and hardcore users will point out feature-by-feature that Linux is better than or equal to Windows, MacOS X, and all other operating systems in existence. What they don’t get is that individual features don’t mean jack, it’s how they fit together that matters. If you’re missing one part of the puzzle, then people won’t care what other parts you got right. I think it’s important to understand that when making any software, but especially an operating system, whose job is by definition to integrate all the other parts.

Ubuntu at least begins to get this. They’re starting to bring things together through consistent visual design, consistent interface design, a complete suite of default applications, useful menus and preferences and utilities. They’ve also got some awesome 3D effects, but that wouldn’t matter much if there wasn’t any reason to use them.

So, in general, it’s finally a Linux I can imagine using every day. When I’m done with my work that requires Windows (what can I do, it’s corporate enterprise software…) I reboot and get into Ubuntu and for the first time in the history of my use of Linux, I don’t miss anything.

I think that’s a big deal. We’ve now got a community-built free OS that’s a real competitor to Windows and even OSX in some ways, and that’s a big accomplishment. More choices are always good for the user, and I’m finally a happy user with a great alternative to Windows.