Josh-Kerr.com

I’m what you consider a middle man when it comes to the Linux v. Microsoft camp wars out there. I love the power and flexibility of Linux and I also love the simplicity of Windows. I love the fact that I can do just about anything with just about any Linux distribution. At the same time I love how I can install Windows and everything works. You purest on either side of the fence are probably cringing right now at the thought of someone liking another OS over yours. Let’s just say that I want my computer to work for me, not me work for my computer.

For a while I was dual booting Gentoo Linux and Windows on my laptop. After some time my hard drive crashed and I’ve been playing with it, trying out any distribution that I downloaded. Of them all I liked Gentoo the most because of its flexibility. However the flexibility comes at a cost. It’s way to easy to completely screw up your system if you’re not careful. Thankfully I never b0rked my laptop but I have done it on my server :( While at work one of the guys handed me an Ubuntu Live CD and told me that he’s heard good things about it. I honestly have never heard of Ubuntu?! Go figure, here it is on version 5.10 (as of this writing) and I’ve never heard of it. After doing some research I was blown away by its fan base and out-of-the-box support. So what’s a geek to do? I loaded up the Live CD and everything (but wireless) worked!

Since using the Live CD I went and installed it on a virtual machine on my Windows partition. The more and more I used it the more and more I loved it. It eventually got the point where I replaced my Gentoo partition (sorry Gentoo fans) and installed Ubuntu in place of it. I still love Gentoo, don’t get me wrong. But Ubuntu has great package support that I don’t have to compile!!!! Sure Gentoo has some binary packages but Ubuntu has everything and then some. Gentoo is still a great distribution, especially if you want to be “bleeding edge”, but I’m moving over to Ubuntu for now. I think the letter that my laptop wrote will explain it all.

Dear Gentoo,

You and I have had a wild ride together. I’ve had you and Windows on me for a while. When it comes to “bleeding edge” no one can top you. Your wiki is superb, your forum bountiful, and your over all documentation is something to be admired. You’re everything a laptop could want. However I have to tell you that I’ve found someone else. We’ve been spending some time together and I think we’re better for each other. You have a lot of great qualities but I need something more for myself. Ubuntu offers me everything that you offer but in a more friendly way. I don’t have to compile large packages. I’ve been complaining about how tired I was running you and emerging Open Office, Fire Fox, and X for a while now! Don’t take it personally but I have to do what’s best for me. You’re still a great distribution but I think we need to break up. It’s just been so hard since my hard drive was replaced. The more and more I was with Ubuntu the more I liked it. Please don’t be angry.

Yours truly,
Laptop