St. Charles County Technology Committee

Seven months ago, I switched from Windows XP to Ubuntu Linux on my primary business computer. Life has not been perfect with Ubuntu Linux (it wasn't perfect with Windows, either) but I certainly judge the experience to be an overwhelming success.

If you are considering trying Linux, and I strongly encourage you to at least give it a look-see. You can now download both the instructor's and student's guides for a ten-part Ubuntu 7.10 desktop training course.

The Ubuntu folks announced the release [on January 15] of the Ubuntu 7.10 Desktop Course.... The ten sections of the course include: introducing Ubuntu; exploring the Ubuntu desktop; using the Internet; using OpenOffice applications; Ubuntu and games; customising the desktop and applications; making the most of images and photos; playing music and videos; ubuntu help and support; and partitioning and booting.

Naturally, the entire course is free, covered by a Creative Commons license.

Try this (it won't change a single file on your computer): Download Ubuntu Linux, burn it to a CD, and leave the CD in the drive while you reboot your computer. It will come up running Ubuntu Linux from the CD, without changing anything on your disk drive. Play around. Experiment. See if you like it.