I have decided that every now and then I will post a complete review of any games I may find that you may not be aware of. This is the first of those reviews…

Game: Lux Delux
Version: 5.71
Developer: Sillysoft
License: Commercial (Demo Available / Full Version: $24.95 )
Genre: Strategy
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Introduction
Classic board games are no strangers to being recreated in software format. Chess, checkers, Scrabble, Battleship and a host of others have already received such treatment. The game of Risk is no different. Risk is the classic game of world domination in which each player attempts to drive their armies over their opponents’ and conquer the entire board.

I have never played Risk, either as a board game or computer game. I like the premise of it, though. Slowly calculating the best positions to place your armies in order to corner the enemy and make them squirm. So when I ran across Lux Delux (or just Lux) I was eager to give it a try.

Upon running the game for the first time, you are presented with a rather simple interface to create a new game. You can choose your map, players (up to 6) and start either a local, single-player game, or create or join a multiplayer match.

By far my favorite feature of the game (not related to gameplay) is the ability to play on a virtually endless variety of maps. There are plenty of historical (WWII, Civil War, Korean War, Vietnam War, ancient Rome) and other geographically accurate maps. Most of the available maps are actually created by other players with the built-in map editor so the quality fluctuates quite a bit.

The demo version of Lux allows you to play any of the included maps for up to 30 full games which is more than enough to keep you occupied for hours and get you addicted. When you register the game, you have access to a multitude of user-created maps and AI bots to easily be downloaded and played immediately.

Gameplay (9 out of 10)
Lux is easy to learn, but difficult to master (especially when playing against more advance players or AI). Before the game begins, depending on what options you’ve chosen, you are given the opportunity to choose which regions you wish to occupy at the start. Once all the players have chosen their regions (read: countries), they are given a certain amount of armies to place within those countries as they wish.

This is a crucial first step. Place too few armies in countries bordering your enemies and you will quickly lose them when the battles begin. But if you place all your armies in one area, you run the real risk of having your unprotected regions fall and your flank exposed.

At the start of each turn, you are given more armies to place down. The amount of armies you receive per turn is greatly based on how many regions you currently occupy and how many bonus “continents” you own. Bonus continents are usually collections of several adjoining regions. If your armies occupy them all, say all the countries in Europe, for example, you will be given several bonus armies at the start of each turn. This adds quite a bit of strategic importance. If you don’t grab the complete continents, your opponents may, creating quite a disadvantage for you.

The battles are fairly straight-forward. To attack a country, simply select a group of your armies and then select any enemy-occupied country adjacent to yours. This creates a battle based on random dice rolls (behind the scenes). If you send more armies into a country than your enemy currently has there, the chances are good that you will win the battle and the country. After you’ve performed all the battles you want, you have the option of moving some of your other armies around to fortify your positions or reinforce other countries. Ending your turn then allows your enemies to perform their actions.

I have to be honest and tell you that I have a hard time winning against any opponents above the Easy category.

Graphics (10 out of 10)
The graphical qualities of Lux are certainly one of it’s strong points. Linux games are not exactly known for cutting-edge graphics but Lux definitely holds its own. Then again, this kind of game doesn’t need and wouldn’t necessarily benefit from amazing 3D graphics.

That being said, the graphics are very crisp and highly detailed on most of the maps. Again, this depends largely on the creator of the map, but for the most part, they’re all very well done.

The icons used to represent your armies are nicely done and it’s fun to see the representation of your armies as they grow larger.

Special effects are basically non-existent (save a few fireworks-like explosions) and the battles are not actually shown. But again, this is not a negative point as the gameplay does not necessitate such things.

Audio (2 out of 10)
The sounds in Lux are the biggest let down for me. From a technical perspective, they lag quite a bit behind the actual action. Even the sounds for the selecting things from the menu actually make it out the speakers after you’ve performed the action.

Artistically, the sounds are actually somewhat annoying anyway. The sound of the bombs during battle is basically just one or two files played over and over again. The same goes for selecting countries and armies. It would have been nice to see just a little more attention paid to this area.

Multiplayer (not rated)
The multiplayer aspect of the game seems identical to the single player although I did not actually try any matches myself.

The game browser features the basic abilities to filter games by map, players, etc., and there doesn’t appear to be a shortage of games to join in on.

Map Editor (9 out of 10)
With a game of this type, including a map editor truly is a must and Sillysoft did a phenomenal job of making it incredibly intuitive and simple to design your own custom maps. Simply draw shapes, define countries and continents, add a few other details and your map is ready to play.

Unlike map editors for FPS and other 3D games, this is all obviously done in 2D and the editor itself walks you through all the steps necessary.

The ability to add your own artwork to the maps, either as backgrounds or other graphics, makes this a map editor that everyone can enjoy. Why not make a map of your own house’s floorplan or your neighborhood and stage your own epic war with your friends? It’s simple to do with Lux.

Conclusion
Strategy games have been around for ages and span basically every relevant topic known to man. Lux Delux is a fantastic diversion from daily life and allows you to try your hand at conquering the world with ease. Any fan of strategy games should definitely give this one a try.

Screenshots

Hopeful after endless hopeful, young Americans pour out their hearts and lungs in front of three people whose sole purpose it is to be honest (sometimes brutally) about their singing abilities or lack thereof. And time and time again, we hear the same response from the auditioner:

“Everyone that has heard me sing has told me that I am good.”

And the judges in turn respond to that with more truth: “They’ve all lied to you.” Why? Why would someone tell another person they are good at something when they are most certainly not? Two words: Self Esteem.

America has become so obsessed over not offending anyone that we will tell them anything to make them feel better about themselves. This feeling will lead parents, grandparents, friends and lovers to lie to you instead of tell you the truth: that maybe you aren’t wonderful at everything you enjoy doing.

This obviously doesn’t pertain only to singing. Sports, writing, speaking, photography, fishing, farming, quilting, taxidermy. It doesn’t matter what you enjoy doing, it seems like your loved ones think you’re wonderful at it whether you are or not.

So my big question is this: Using American Idol as a kind of gauge, is it better for your child to learn the truth on national television, or to be discreetly told at home that while you love them 100%, maybe singing isn’t their particular gift.

Look at the reactions some of these young people on the show have when the judges lay out the truth for them. They’re devastated, crushed. Why? Because the people that love them the most couldn’t think of how to tell them they couldn’t sing. So they lie and encourage them to go on national TV, attempt to “wow” 2-1/2 difficult judges, and then call the judges liars when they tell their child they’re terrible.

I’m sorry, but I don’t get angry with the poor auditions; I get furious at the countless people that lied to them in order to encourage an erroneous ego.

I heard a sermon once and forgive me for not knowing who delivered it (if you know, please inform me so I can give due credit), but he said basically this:

Teachers are finding that students that feel really, really good about themselves have little or no interest in learning anything or improving in any way. Guys, the answer is not in self-esteem which doesn’t work, but more importantly it’s contrary to the Biblical view of man.

I think he has it exactly right. Not only is the “self-esteem movement” more damaging to a person’s emotional well-being, but it is entirely contrary to how the Bible says God sees us.

Now, I won’t get too deep into this subject as I would likely write for a very long time. I just want to point out that the Bible does indeed tell us that God has given each of us a gift. For some it may be singing, for others compassion, and others still may have the gift of writing or dancing or preaching; there are literally thousands of different gifts and we all have at least one, usually several.

The Bible also says that we have all sinned against a righteous and holy God by breaking His laws. God doesn’t see us as great singers or athletes or fantastic preachers, He sees us as criminals, law breakers. That much of the Bible, at least, is NOT up for interpretation: the Bible makes it crystal clear.

Does God still love us? Without a doubt! But is God angry with us for breaking His laws? Of course. No amount of self-esteem is going to help anyone escape God’s wrath on judgement day. Only the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ can do that. And only the repentence of sins and faith in Jesus will allow us to gain access to God’s forgiveness.

Do you want a REAL self-esteem boost? How about this: all the evil, vile and disgusting things you’ve done (and remember God has seen your private and thought lives as well) has earned you the punishment of eternal suffering in hell. However, even with all that, the God of the entire universe still loved you enough to create a plan for you to escape that judgement! Please don’t get caught up in the ups and downs of this world which will fade away. Only eternity truly matters. Please, think about what I’ve written and ask God to open your eyes to the truth.

Amen.

The problem is, your mind fails to remind you of why the relationship ended to begin with.  I’ve been through this recently with my thoughts on Ali.  I could not remember anything about our relationship that would have suggested she wasn’t absolutely perfect in every regard.  Oh, I could “remember” them, of course, but I never thought about it.

I allowed my mind to dictate my memories or her.  I even foolishly wrote a very personal e-mail to her detailing how perfect she was and how in love with her I still was.  It was only after that e-mail that I realized I’d blinded myself to the truth.  I neglected to recall her numerous lies, her blatent deception, and her complete lack of regard for my own feelings.  In short, I failed to recognize why our relationship was doomed in the first place.

It is an angering revelation for me since I did send such a personal e-mail.  An e-mail that, looking back on it now, is based almost completely on a history that Ali and I never had.  A perfect one.

The mind is a complicated machine to be sure.  Don’t let it confuse you to the point where remembering the happy times causes you to forget your reasons for moving on.

Ali and I failed for very good reason… a justified lack of trust.  “Once a cheater, always a cheater,” they say.  The way our relationship ended has done nothing but solidify that view…  As difficult as it is to convince my heart at this time, I know without a doubt that I am much better off without her and I deserve much better.  And I will have much better, praise God!

Even the “perfect” memories of Ali cannot compare to the perfect mate that Jesus has in store for me; a woman that will truly be a woman of virtue and not just good at pretending to be!  Man, how great it is to be an adopted child of God!

Anyone that has read my blog knows that I’m what you would call a “Linux fanboy.” I love just about everything about Linux, it’s freedom, it’s simplicity, it’s security, and it’s versatility. However, Windows IS superior to Linux in a couple of ways.

Gaming

I love computer games and I do admit to spending a great deal playing them. Call of Duty 2, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Medal of Honor, etc. As powerful and versatile as Linux is, game developers still refuse to accept the financial viability of Linux gaming. Therefore, very few developers release their games with Linux support (id Software is just one example of the few that do).

As such, to get any kind of decent and hassle-free performance of games, I need to boot into Windows. The Linux community continues to make great progress in Linux-compatibility for Windows games (think Wine and Cedega), but there are often extreme limitations and a myriad of hoops to jump through just to get mediocre performance from todays hottest 3D games in Linux.

Video Production

With the purchase of a hard disk camcorder earlier this year, I was excited to create my own home movies, edit them, and burn them to DVD. However, once I began my search for video editing software available for Linux, I basically hit a brick wall…hard. There are several choices for video editing in Linux (Kino, Cinelerra, LiVES, etc), but all that I’ve tried (any that I can find) are pathetic, in my opinion. They ALL suffer from horrible user interfaces, lack of standard features, poor video format support, and very complicated requirements to perform the simplest of tasks.

Think of it this way: Windows Movie Maker is by FAR incredibly superior to anything I’ve found available for Linux. Ease of use, intuitive interface, powerful timeline features, transitions, several output options. Now, I use Ulead VideoStudio 11 for my video editing and it is so easy to use that I will never again attempt to use Linux for my video editing; at least until they get smart about interfaces and stop trying to reinvent the wheel.

Reinventing the wheel is common in the Linux community, actually. Take Gimp for example. They refuse to acknowledge that Photoshop’s interface is just about perfect so they insist of creating an interface that completely clutters the Linux taskbar and is difficult to navigate.

Video editing software is very similar in Linux. Apparently the Linux community believes the tried-and-true interfaces of popular (keyword alert) Windows Movie Maker and Ulead VideoStudio (or just about any other video editing suite available for Windows) is crap, so they do their best to avoid replicating it.

Get with it, Linux community! Just because Linux is different from Windows (and should continue to be), doesn’t mean that a lot of Windows software does it right when it comes to certain applications. Video editing is one of them. Stop trying to be so different that you create unusable software. Take the best of what Windows has to offer and build from there!

Conclusion

So there you have it. The only two reasons I still use Windows on a regular basis. The video editing software is likely to get much better in Linux (once enough users complain, I guess). The gaming issue is more difficult. Open-source gaming will never, EVER catch on, however. Open-source software, by design, is a slow process. If it were to be applied to gaming, technology would be so far ahead of the playable games out there that no one would have any interest.

If game developers, however, jumped onboard and began developing for Linux, I guarantee that they could continue to charge the same price for their software and would not have a problem. I know I would not have a problem paying full price for a quality Linux game as long as I knew I was getting a good product.

Here is where a strange paradox comes in. I use Windows to play games because game developers don’t make these games for Linux. Game developers will not make games for Linux as long as the majority of players use Windows to play them. And so I see this as being a catch 22. I think the first step for gaming companies should be to ditch DirectX and adopt OpenGL (which offers very comparable quality…just look at Doom 3). This would free them up to make the games fully compatible with Linux. Once that is done, they would truly see a drop in the use of their Windows binaries and more and more people stay in Linux to play their games.

Here’s hoping…

I’ve recently switched to Kubuntu Gutsy (the KDE version of the upcoming Ubuntu release) and have to say I absolutely love it so far!

So enjoy the read and feel free to leave any comments or questions…

Overall look and feel

When I first login to Kubuntu, I’m greeted with my lovely desktop wallpaper (admittedly stolen from Windows Vista because I like it). Similar to Windows, Kubuntu has an all-inclusive menu button (quite like Windows’ “Start” button). This is the easiest way to access all of your installed programs. Unlike Windows, however, almost all of your installed programs are organized within handy categories to make it easier to find what you’re looking for:

As far as organizing and viewing your personal documents and files, Dolphin, the new file browser in Kubuntu Gutsy makes it incredibly simple:

Adding and removing programs

One of the biggest interface-related advantages that Kubuntu has over Windows (any version) is the way that programs are installed or uninstalled. With Windows you need to go to a store and purchase a program to install, or manually go to a website and download the program. With Kubuntu, there is a handy dandy “Add/Remove Programs” system. Yes, I know Windows has one too, but it can only add new programs if they are a part of Windows.

With the Kubuntu Add/Remove system, you have access to hundreds of very common and useful applications (and some useless, in my opinion). To install them, simply click the checkbox next to it, click Apply and voila! Kubuntu will automatically download and install the software. Only takes a couple of minutes max. Don’t like a program you have installed and never use it, simply uncheck the box next to it and click Apply. Goodbye, useless application!

Listening to your music collection

iTunes, Windows Media Player, Winamp. There are several options available to Windows users that want to listen to MP3 files and other such formats. There are a myriad of options to do so in Kubuntu as well. However, installed by default is a fabulous program called Amarok. This is the default audio player in Kubuntu. With Amarok, you can organize and view your collection sorted by artist, album, genre, and any other tags you choose to assign to your music (such as moods, etc.). With the “Context” tab, Amarok will automatically display the currently-playing artists Wikipedia page with biography and discography info. Or, if you’d like to sing along, Amarok will automatically search the internet for and display the current song’s lyrics. Lots of other features including the ability to manage your iPod or other portable music player!

Managing your photos

Kubuntu includes a program called digiKam which makes it very easy to view and organize your entire collection of digital photos. With the “tags” feature, you can assign certain tags to each photo. For example, I always assign a name tag to each photo; a separate tag for each person in the photo. Then later, if I’m looking for all the pictures I have of a certain person or group of people, I simply click the appropriate tag and digiKam will display only those photos. Makes having a huge collection of pictures fun and not so daunting!

digiKam also includes basic functions for editing photos: color enhancements, resizing, rotation, brightness & contrast, etc.

Also included with Kubuntu is a program called Gimp (GNU Image Manipulation Program). This powerful program provides nearly the same set of features as Adobe Photoshop . If you use Photoshop regularly, there isn’t much you’re use to doing that Gimp can’t handle.

Browsing the internet

Well, this isn’t really amazing news, but did you know that the Mozilla Firefox web browser runs in Linux? That’s right, you can have all the same features you’re used to in Windows: tabbed browsing, ad blocking, and all those fantastic extensions that make browsing an absolute joy! Still using Internet Explorer? Unless you want viruses, spyware, and other nasties, I suggest you stop right now and give Firefox a try!

Creating audio CDs and DVDs

Most Windows users are fairly familiar with using Nero to burn CDs or video DVDs. Kubuntu includes an even more powerful application called K3b. It can burn audio and data CDs & DVDs, video CDs, ISO images . It also makes it very easy to copy CDs and DVDs from your personal collection to your computer or to a blank disc.

Watching video

The default video player for Kubuntu is Kaffeine. However, I’ve always preferred VLC (easily installable through Add/Remove). It will play virtually ANY movie format: mpg, mov, wmv, asf, avi, etc. Not only that, but it is a fantastic DVD player as well!

Word processing, etc

Have you ever used Microsoft Works or Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint)? Kubuntu includes a free suite of applications called OpenOffice.org (OOo) that is a great replacement for the expensive Microsoft products. You can type simple or complex documents. Create detailed spreadsheets, presentations, or just have fun with OOo Draw. Not only that, but if you have a bunch of Microsoft Word (or other MS formats) around, OOo will open, edit, and save them without a problem.

Playing games

Now, the gaming topic is iffy with Linux. While Kubuntu does come with a ton of simple amusements, you can not play most Windows-based games in Linux. But there is some fun to be had with the games included. Also, there are a few Windows games out there that are made to run in Linux without a problem (Doom3, Unreal series, America’s Army).

Administration

Kubuntu comes with a very nice “Control Panel” type of system for making changes to your system or preferences. Just take a look at the screenshot to get an idea how it works. Very simple…

What about X program?

Is there a program that you must use that you can’t find a capable replacement for in Linux? You have a couple of options. First, Kubuntu comes with Wine with is a collection of small programs that basically, without getting too technical, will attempt to trick a Windows program into thinking it is running on Windows. So when you run the program, it is possible it will run in Linux just fine with Wine.

If Wine doesn’t work, you can actually install Windows WITHIN Linux. There is a program out there called VirtualBox that can basically pretend to be any kind of system you’d like it to be. Run VirtualBox and install Windows into it. This isn’t exactly a beginner-friendly process, but it isn’t too difficult. I won’t get into it too much with this article. But with an actual, working installation of Windows running inside Windows, you can have all the benefits of Linux and still run whatever program it is that you can’t replace.

Eye-candy with Compiz Fusion

If you have a fairly decent video card (truth be told, some onboard video will perform these tricks just fine too), you can install Compiz Fusion (also included with Kubuntu).  Compiz Fusion provides a lot of fantastic 3D effects for your computer desktop.  Not only do they look absolutely awesome, but some of it’s plugins are extremely useful.  For more information on Compiz and for a video of what it can do, just head over to YouTube and search for “compiz.”  Or check out my screeshots…

Wobbly windows:

Tab Switcher:

Scale Plugin:

Desktop Cube:

Expo Plugin:

Animations:

If you’d like to know what’s going on in any of these screenshots, check out the videos, or ask me

Conclusion

Keep in mind that most of what I’ve written here is based on my own experience and experimentation with Linux.  I have made a lot of changes to the default installation of Kubuntu (adding/removing programs, changing themes and colors, etc).

Feel free to post any comments or questions you may have.  I love Linux.  I love learning more about it.  And I love getting others interested in it as well.  I know I’ve left a lot unwritten here and that’s fine, this was meant as more of an overview of what is possible with Linux.  When you can do all these things with Linux, what do you need a slow, virus- and spyware-infected, expensive operating system like Windows for?

Enter in the wonderful community of Open Source Software (OSS)! Some wonderful programmers out there have created a fantastic little tool call moto4lin. This allows you to communicate with your phone, upload pictures and ringtones, etc.

I had a problem, however, getting moto4lin to actually recognize and utilize my phone. Even after a long time spent on Google looking for an answer lead me down some dead ends.

Here is my quick-and-dirty tutorial on how to access your phone from Ubuntu using a standard mini-USB cable. If you own a digital camera, it likely came with one of these cables. Simply check to see if it fits in the Razr’s charger port; if it does, you’re golden!

1. Install moto4lin
   

   $ sudo apt-get install moto4lin

2. Plug in your Razr
3. Run moto4lin (as root)
   

   $ sudo moto4lin

4. Edit preferences
   
   • You can try simply clicking on “Connect/Disconnect” to see if it works, but it didn’t for me. Click the “Preferences” button.
   • Click the “Update List” button at the bottom and select the phone entry (will say “Motorola, Inc” under “Manufacturer”)
   • Change the “ACM Device” to read “/dev/ttyACM0″ (that is a zero, not an o)
   • Click the “Switch to P2K” button
   • Click “OK”
5. Connect to your phone
   When you click the “Connect/Disconnect” button, the status box should now read “[Info] Phone now pluged as P2K” (programmers don’t need no spelling/grammar lessons Now, to get a list of files from your phone, simply click on the “Update List” button.

Have fun! And please let me know if this does or does not work for you…

Most of my friends already know that I’ve been using Ubuntu Linux for quite some time now. I even posted on here about the benefits of switching to Linux from Windows (look for it on this blog).

However, now I wanted to show a quick demonstration of some of the awesome 3D effects that my computer can actually do. Not only do they look great, but they add quite a bit of great functionality (I especially love the cube, expo, and group/tab plugins).

And to think that Microsoft is claiming to be on the cutting edge of technology with Windows Vista? They’re “effects” are pathetic compared to what Linux is capable of… and these effects started coming out a couple years ago. Once again, leave it up to Microsoft to steal another developer’s ideas and claim them as their own…

Let me know if you’re interested in getting Linux installed on your computer, I’d love to help!

Alisha was making Aiden some hot cereal in the microwave, but when she took it out, it slipped from her hands and spilled all over Aiden’s chest. As he wasn’t wearing a shirt at the time, it quickly burned him severely and melted several layers of his skin off his chest, abdomen, and genital area.

The paramedics, when they arrived, said he had only 2nd degree burns and that the skin should grow back without any scarring. However, the doctor has recently told us that Aiden actually suffered several 3rd degree burns as well, so there is a chance of scarring.

He spent all day Sunday in the hospital and was allowed to come home on Monday afternoon, but he is still in a lot of pain and has a lot of healing to do. Please keep him in your prayers.

Also, if you’d like to see them, I posted a couple pictures of him below. But be warned, they are fairly graphic…

While we were at the hospital on Sunday, we met Aiden’s next-door neigbor; a 5-year old boy named Donnie. He was there with severe 3rd degree burns on both of his feet from the ankles down. His story is shocking and infuriating, really.

Turns out, apparently as some form of punishment or whatever, Donnie’s mother filled the bathtub with boiling water and then forced him into it. Now, for water to cause 3rd degree burns (which had actually damaged his bones), she would have had to hold him there for a while after he felt the pain.

What a witch of a woman! She is in prison now, thank God, and Donnie has been adopted by a foster home. So pray for him and his new parents as well, please!

Pictures: Aiden shooting mama | The burns | Another view of the burns

With the launch of Microsoft’s new version of Windows (Vista), more and more people are looking for alternatives. They have MANY reasons for wanting to do so, and I’m going to address a few of those here.

There are a LOT of very comprehensive lists on the internet as to why Linux is better than Windows, so I’m really only going to cover the most important issues and also offer some of the ways that Linux falls short (so you can make an informed decision about switching).

Pros

• Security – Linux is the most secure operating system in the world. With Windows, a user can simply navigate into the system folders, delete critical system files, and Windows won’t argue. But when you restart the computer, suddenly you find out your system won’t startup and you need to reinstall Windows.This simply doesn’t occur in Linux. System files are protected and the worst a normal user can do is damage some of their own personal files – but the main system remains intact.
• No viruses or Spyware – Since Windows is the most popular operating system in the world, almost all of the viruses out there today use it as their target. Even if, by some odd chance, a virus WAS able to infect a Linux system, due to the reasons stated above, it would be able to do very little, if any, damage.In fact, although virus scanners do exist for Linux, most Linux users never run one (myself included).Spyware is also a non-issue (which will be explained a bit further under “Open Source”).
• Always up-to-date – With Windows, when there are updates to Windows itself, Automatic Updates will download and install them automatically, and then force you to restart your computer. If you want to update any of the other software on your computer, you must manually go to the publisher’s website, download the update, install it, then restart your computer.In Linux, security updates are automatically downloaded and installed as well. However, every single piece of software on your system is also automatically updated whenever updates are issued. This means that you will never need to go to any program’s website to install the update yourself. Linux handles it all for you!

  Oh, and the really exciting part? You will NOT have to restart your computer! Just keep on working, knowing that your system is completely up-to-date and any security patches that have been issued have been applied and you are safe.

• Complete System – When you install Windows, that’s all you install. You still need to go out and buy or download all the other software you may want or need. Word processors, video players, device drivers (the software that allows Windows to use your printer, scanner, digital cameras, etc.), games, graphics viewer/editor, instant messengers, etc.When you install Linux, you are installing a complete operating system that includes everything you need to begin using your computer for everything you’d like. You get an office suite (to write documents, work with spreadsheets, create presentations; all fully compatible with Microsoft Office files), an instant messenger, video/audio players, a few simple games, an advanced web browser, an excellent graphics editor (similar to Photoshop), CD/DVD burning software, system backup software, and much more.
• Open Source – Linux is what is known as “open source” software. Basically what this means is that anyone can download the source code (the set of instructions that tell a piece of software what to do and how to do it), change it any way they like, and then send it off to other users.So how does this benefit the average computer user that has no interest in programming? Well, look at it this way: have you ever used a program in Windows that just keeps crashing or not doing what you expect it to? What can you do about it? You would have to email the programmer of that program and hope they fix the problem.

  With Linux, there are thousands upon thousands of other people (and most of them are programmers) that are using the same programs as you. If they encounter a bug, they can fix it and submit the changes to the original author. In this way, crashes and bugs in Linux programs truly do not last for long before a fix is created (and remember, Linux will automatically apply that fix when it is available).

  Now compare that to Windows. The only people that are ever allowed to see the source code for Windows are the programmers that work for Microsoft; only a couple of hundred. It is very easy for so few people to miss errors in the code. But even more dangerous, the people that use Windows have no way of knowing exactly what is going on behind the scenes. Microsoft has gotten into a lot of legal trouble in the past and recently because they are gathering personal data from Windows machines. They’ve even made a deal with the NSA to include some code in Windows that would give the U.S. government access to your computer (email me, and I can give you the link to this news report).

  In Linux, this isn’t possible because of all the thousands and thousands of programmers that look at the Linux code at any given time, one or more of them would instantly notice dangerous code and remove it (and they have a legal right to do so).

• Perfect for multiple users – Linux was designed from the ground up to accomodate multiple users on one machine. This means that every person in your house can have their own login name and password which gives them access to customize their system however they’d like. They can choose their own backgrounds, colors, icons, etc. They also have their very own “home” folder which contains all of their documents and program settings.Windows has tried to do this for their users, but it has never really worked very well. In Windows, nothing is truly private or seperate: for example, I could always open, read, and change any user’s documents in Windows.In Linux, I only have access to the files I have created myself and there is no way to view other users’ files without their password.
• 100% FREE – And the absolute best thing about Linux is that it is absolutely, 100% free. You never have to pay a dime to install or use Linux. But it doesn’t stop there, all of the software you would ever need for Linux is also completely free! If you buy Windows for $150, you then need to buy an office suite for at least $200. Then, if you want video editors, games, CD burning software, or other software, you’ll pay at least $50 for each one!With Linux, if it hasn’t already installed something you want, simply browse through their collection of 20,000+ software titles, click a couple times, and it’s installed and ready to use – and you don’t have to pay anyone anything (or worry about breaking the law, because the software is released by the original programmers for free).

Cons

• It is NOT Windows – Now, I put this under “Cons” even though it is also a great thing about Linux. But it belongs in this section simply because there is a bit to learn in order to use Linux. Even if you were an absolute pro in Windows, it will take a bit of learning to do everything you used to be able to do in Windows. It does not run the same software that Windows runs (although there is almost ALWAYS a comparable program to replace its Windows counterpart).
• Fairly advanced installation – Linux has come a very long way since it began some 15 years ago. However, installing Linux and getting everything up and running smoothly does still take a certain amount of computer know-how. There are a few strange quirks that you will need to read a lot in order to resolve. However, once you get everything working well, it will run forever, very rarely (if ever) crashing or requiring you to even reboot your computer.

So that’s about all I can tell you. I’ve been running Linux now for 2 or 3 months and have not used Windows more than maybe once every couple of weeks (and then only to play a game or two).

Did you make it all the way to the end of this list? I’m impressed, since I really don’t have any friends that I thought would care to read about techy stuff .

If you’d like to know more about Linux or to try it yourself, let me know. I have a lot of discs of Linux that will allow you to try it before altering your computer at all (and if you like it, the discs will help you install it). If you decide you’d like to install it permanently (which you can do and still keep Windows… you can run both on the same computer without a problem), let me know; I’d love to help you get everything running smoothly.

Also, the version of Linux that I use is called Ubuntu… you can get more information on that by going to www.ubuntu.com.

Okay, now that I’ve completely “geekified” myself in the eyes of everyone that has read this, I’m going to go. Please feel free to ask me if you have any more questions about Linux… and remember, Microsoft is really screwing over the people that pay so much for their software. Don’t give them the money you work so hard for and they have not earned!

Anywho, you all have a wonderful day and remember: Go do something for Jesus today.  Whatever you “do unto the least of these, you have done it unto” Him!