Fed up with the mess of spyware, fragmentation and viruses that my family’s computer had become, I finally snapped. I decided a major change was in order.

After considering buying a new machine, I realized I could not justify the price for what would be an e-mail checker and Web surfer. My mother wasn’t editing videos or playing World of Warcraft – she was shopping and forwarding chain e-mails to relatives.

Rather than spending hundreds of dollars on new hardware and Microsoft’s new Vista operating system, I bit the bullet and made the switch to Linux.

You’ve probably heard of Linux. It’s an operating system like Windows, but free and customizable – a lot like the Firefox Web browser. Linux is famous for its stability and security, and you can make it look as good as or better than Apple’s acclaimed OS X. It runs on cell phones, some of the world’s top supercomputers and nearly everything in between.

As great as Linux is, it’s easy to see why the average user could be frightened off. In the past, Linux was braved by only the most skilled users. The money saved on free software was nullified by hours spent tinkering deep in lines of code just to make it work.

Linux is developed by hobbyists and given away for free, so there is no 1-800 number to call when things go wrong. You won’t find Linux in stores, you have to choose from hundreds of independent versions, and the people behind the project are bearded socialists who speak in metaphors.

Braced for the worst, I found the experience surprisingly painless. I chose a straightforward and lightweight type of Linux called Xubuntu, burned it to a compact disc and booted it up. It was that easy. Contrary to the old horror stories, I never had to scour messageboards for missing drivers or fiddle with the command line – everything just worked.

With my loved ones using a nearly-idiot-proof user log-in, I don’t get tech support calls anymore. The computer has never been more secure, run more quickly, or looked as slick. It does all that is asked of it with style and ease. At no cost and with minimal effort, I managed to buy the old warhorse many more years of usefulness.

Linux is maturing quickly, and Dell recently announced that it will optionally pre-install Linux on retail computers, inviting predictions of widespread Linux popularity.

Is Linux ready for the average user yet? Absolutely. With a few nagging exceptions, Linux can do everything most people need out of a home-use computer, and for free.

Somewhere there is an elderly man playing card games and e-mailing his grandchildren on his glossy new laptop running a $399 copy of Windows Vista Ultimate. Somewhere else, his old computer is taking up space in a landfill, still usable and with all the performance and memory he would ever need.

I’m not saying you’re a fool to use Windows. I’m saying you’re a fool to pay for Windows if you could accomplish the same tasks you need with Linux.

David Medeiros is a contributing columnist whose columns appear occasionally in The Daily Orange. E-mail him at dmmedeir@syr.edu.

Published on April 17, 2007 at 12:00 pm