What does this mean? It’s simple. Whenever we use an Operating System like Windows XP, or Vista, we contribute to keep the world “as it is”. Have you ever thought why people use only Windows or Macintosh in this world? Have you ever considered the fact that Windows systems are so full of problems and people still continue using them? Why?
Bill Gates was a really impressive man: he was the first person who really conquered the informatics world… He created the first operating system using windows, he made our life better. We suddenly stopped using the keyboard to copy or paste a document… We suddenly became able to see files on the screen, to copy and paste them using a common mouse, to open and close applications simply clicking on the left button… That was great! But… does anyone remember the first time he introduced his “Windows 95” what happened? No? Well, the classical error blue screen we all have seen once in our lifetime appeared and shocked anyone who was standing there, watching the man of the infinite wonders! That blue screen has never left windows. We can find it in the 98 version, in the Xp version, and in Windows Vista as well… Our friend Bill has always been selling a product which has always had big problems: it has been unstable since its creation. Why? When you become the controller of the market, and see that there are people who try to give us a more powerful product without letting us spend even “a penny”, what would you do? You try to create something better in one year, and, when ready, you don’t even test it: you go through your target and put it in the market, no matter what’s going to happen later…
What is the importance of all this relating to Ubuntu? Actually, there’s a relation. Ubuntu is one of the “alternative” operating systems which is more and more powerful than Windows. It’s completely free, downloadable from internet, and it’s stable.
“Ubuntu” is an african word which means “Humanity to others” or “I am what I am because of who we all are”. And that’s the philosophy of the Ubuntu Foundation… Nowadays Ubuntu is the more used operating system between the Linux-based ones… It’s friendly, easy to use, and allows people to do whatever they want without needing to install programs and programs… With Ubuntu you can use spectacular graphical effects, listen to the music, watch films, surf the web, edit mp3s or videos, download files using aMule or Bittorrent, and so on…
If we compare the last version of Ubuntu (8.04 Hardy Heron, which is a long term supported distro) to the Microsoft’s latter operating system, Vista, we can easily see many differences in performances: if you activate graphical effects in Vista, you can notice that the usage of RAM is about 750 megabytes, while in Ubuntu is 300!
Why use Ubuntu instead of Windows? Ubuntu is an Open Source OS. It means that every single program used into it is legally free and tested… When you install Windows, you find it with many programs such as Windows Media Player. You know that those programs have particular functions (Media Player let you watch films and listen to music), but you don’t know if they have only those functions. When a programmer create a software, he/she starts creating the source of that program and then transforms this source into the binary, which is the one we use when we install it… A closed source software is bought without its source files. And sometimes apart from having the common features, it has hidden features. Windows Media Player, for example, is a video and music player, but nobody knows that it sends information to Microsoft’s servers. What we are listening to, watching, is not a secret for Microsoft… And the same thing happens with other programs… You don’t have the source code, so you can’t check if there are additional features which violate your privacy. With open source programs, you can check the source code (if you have the competences) and verify if there are just the features you chose that program for… In fact every open source software comes with its source code, just to give programmers the possibility of checking it…
Ubuntu is the most used Linux-based systems. Its philosophy reflects exactly what it was created for: helping people find something easy to use and safe… There’s the biggest community ever, disposed to help people solving their common problems, concerning the differences between the Windows/Mac and Linux. Because we are what we are because of who we all are…
Go to http://www.ubuntu.com