Why have we created this website?
During our work at Centrologic company and at home, we are using Ubuntu Linux almost all the time. This website is just our acknowledgement for the wonderfull piece of software we've got. Thank You!
If you want to contribute add your own story, help us to make this page more popular by telling your friends, posting it on your blog, digging it (etc), or contact us at ubuntustory@centrologic.com if you are able to translate it to your native language.
We encourage you also to put a linked banner on your website.
Who is using Ubuntu?
Check out who and why is using Ubuntu Linux. Read the stories below.
Ace Leon, Technician
I am managing a cybercafe and I for the 6th time I had to shut down the whole place because of a god-forsaken malware I decided to look for an alternative which would satisfy these requirements:
1. Safe - No Viruses, malware, spyware, or any other whatever stuff that kills a computer system and your peace of mind.
2. Free - I don't want to pay again everytime I reformat my computer.
3. Satisfying - A system that will let me enjoy my computer peripherals to the fullest.
And they were all satisfied. Not by an antivirus, not by a firewall protection software. But an operating system.
Ubuntu is the one I picked.
It took me only 4 days to know the DIYs of the system. I started off 2 months ago, and now, I'm even getting people converted to Ubuntu.
I still use Windows XP, but that is only for my client machines on the cybercafe. My server computers hold Ubuntu as well as my pendrive.
What you will like to Ubuntu is that it is straightforward in giving you the feel that you don't need a lot of codes to learn. And you don't need to tinker to all those programming languages if you're a total plain computer user.
Ubuntu also comes with a bundled freebies of software you would normally pay thousands for their Windows counterpart. The bundle includes:
1. The OpenOffice Suite, which by now can open even Office 2007 files.
2. GIMP, which is the best free alternative to Photoshop.
3. Mozilla Firefox, the safest way to browse the internet.
and many more.
If you really wanted some software, you may use the add/remove feature of Ubuntu 9.04 or the Ubuntu Software Center of 9.10 to install whatever software you'll need.
Newbie or not, Ubuntu has an edge now. Linux evolved into something revolutionary. I suggest and recommend you to move to the revolution too.
Tim, Student
I was first introduced to Ubuntu by a friend of mine, before Vista came out. Back then I was really impressed by some of the things that could be done with Compiz and Beryl. Now that Vistat has been around for some time, there is something to compare the Compiz-Fusion effects to, and they are still impressive. I was also intrigued by the fact that linux in general doesnt really need anti-virus software, since that was something that took down a lot of the performance on my Windows pc.
Marcus , Science Teacher
I have been teaching Science for a while now. When I was an angry young man I had issues about the amount of money being spent on software from my departmental budget for operating system licences, word processor licences, spread sheet licences and database licences leaving little left for the kind of software I wanted to use in class, let alone things like equipment, text books and exercise books.
As a teacher in the U.K who entered the profession quite late in life I perceived a situation in our schools that I still consider nothing short of ludicrous and something that has become an institutionalised form of insanity. In a nutshell it is this;
Why as a British tax payer, with a budget responsibility for obtaining the best value for money in a British school, teaching British children, was I compelled by my employers to purchase the expensive products of an American company, Microsoft, that would on a whim change its proprietary file structures every couple of years in “upgrades” further compelling me to allow the aforementioned American company to metaphorically suck the blood out of my small science department year on year? No one in the school could ever give me a satisfactory answer. Usually phrases like “industry standard” and “compatibility” and “whole school policy” would be bandied about by my “superiors” who all had difficulty with mouse control and considered “the command line” as some sort of Voodoo! Most if not all of these standard responses are spurious as anyone who has tried to work with MS word attachments in emails will attest to.
As a struggling newly wed and newly qualified teacher, I was compelled to purchase a copy of Miscosoft Office of use at home because of these so called standards. More than once I have been stuffed by Microsoft, and other companies when “upgrading” proprietary backup software, only to find that my precious work has not been readable on a new system. This happened every couple of years because I was “locked in” at school and at home.
My job put me in a position to review a lot of software for the purpose of education. Too much of what I have seen had restrictive licences that meant I could not alter any of the software if I needed to. Too much of the software available for windows also had proprietary data formats and there was still the problems of “Lock in” and companies deliberately making their older software obsolete.
Now I went into Education on the back of some very deep seated notions about nurturing “the future of our race” and noble intentions of passing on philanthropic values to the next generation and beyond. All this milking money out of school budgets is something that I consider thoroughly distasteful an immoral. Sure I'll pay a reasonable price for good software, but I need the right to change it to my needs, share it with colleagues and friends and I also need open data standards so that the swelling archive of work I do does not get marginalised. Also as a teacher I have ethical objections to further indoctrinating other peoples children into the use of the products of one profit making company, or any company with closed source software for that matter.
Then in 1996 I discovered Redhat Linux 5.0 and the concept of open source. It was an epiphany. Here I had, potentially at least, the tools to do my job better than I have ever been able to do it before. Unfortunately few of my colleagues at the time shared my enthusiasm and the decision makers still muttered the same old stock phrases. I had no choice to remain a Closet Linux Nerd until the rest of the world caught up. I played a bit with Suse 5.2, Slakware and Debian 1.0. Since then I have used a wide range of Linux “distros” at home. Linux in the 21st century has grown up beyond recognition. In 2007 I came across Ubuntu Linux “Hardy Heron”. Ubuntu Linux has so far been the easiest to install and configure. It sees my windows machine on the home network easily and I can interchange files with the same ease. It connects my ancient Toshiba laptop wirelessly to the internet, and my three year old delights in safely surfing the Cbeebies website playing “Aunty Mabel”.
Everything I need for basic productivity is there in Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex, including Open Office for word processing, spread sheets and databases. It even has support for presentations. I now run a main system with “Intrepid Ibex” (8.10) and I am testing out some of the educational software available. The help forums are full of information from people who have had problems and solved them. There is a friendly community of folk from across the globe so if you get problems then there will be someone there to help you.
In my latest job I have responsibility for steering ICT use in my school. This includes all subjects, not just science. I have discovered a wealth of really good software such as Rosegarden, a music mixer and midi manipulator, blender, a 3d design program, GIMP a photo manipulation tool and too many others to mention. All free. All supported. Unfortunately I am faced with the same old nonsense where the key decision makers are still Microsoft junkies and I am prohibited from making the change to a Linux environment.
The British government, rightly or wrongly, has dictated that ICT become a larger part of the school experience. Unfortunately, by failing to consider open source and offer guidelines on it, the UK Govenment has also played a major part in creating a framework to further line the pockets of software houses while causing the state schools to haemorrhage money on mismatched systems, software and the ecologically disastrous practice of upgrading for upgrades sake. Working in education, with computers over the last couple of decades has done nothing to quell the anger from my earlier years. However, seeing the rise of Ubuntu Linux and its ease of use, ease of installation, adoption of free (as in “libre” as well as in “beer”) software and open standards I at last see a glimmer of hope that some form of rational thought will enter the minds of head teachers and governors as an increasing number of them begin to use Ubuntu at home.
At home, where I have control of my environment, Ubuntu is taking root, and will eventually serve all my needs.
Share Your story
Please tell us why are You using Ubuntu. Share Your story!