Ubuntu Users' Stories
Below you will find Ubuntu Stories submited by people all around the World. Most of them are in english, but we are also allowing other langauges.
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.
Who is using Ubuntu?
Check out who and why is using Ubuntu Linux. Read the stories below.
Mike Cormier, Student
I've always like messing with computers however possible and installing Linux at one point became my new challenge. Ubuntu was the first distribution I was shown and tried and it worked out alright. Later on I decided I wanted to try Linux again, but a different distribution. 5 minutes with the other Linux I had tried and I had bolted for my Ubuntu disk. Not only is Ubuntu better then Windows and OSX, it's better and easier to use the OTHER Linux distributions!
Patrick Crawley, Student
A friend of mine showed me Ubuntu at the beginning of the summer and I switched from XP almost immediately. I first learned how to properly set it up with a separate /home partition and FAT32 storage space to exchange files between my Ubuntu and Windows partitions. However, now I do everything except gaming on Ubuntu because not only is it more stable and reliable it is also more aesthetically appealing and highly customizable. I am always trying to get people to convert and spread the word about Ubuntu. As well as live disks.
Brandon, Student/ Laptop DJ
I've collected tons of music over the years and in trying to get rid of a virus in my root directory; i ended up killing my entire windows partition. But, thank God, I had most of my tunes backed up and I had been in week 2 of trying out Wubu. So I made the switch. And I am never looking back. Linux is absolutely amazing, and I can't seems to see why I didnt make the switch earlier. And with the soon to be released Mixvibes cross software, i'll never have to "live without walls" a roof, heck i have an open grassy knoll to run on. and its amazing.
Jakke77, ...
kerran kauniina syysiltana mietiskelin silloisen xp:ni ääressä jotta miten helvetissä tämän koneen saa toimimaan, etsiskelin internetistä vastauksia ja ei mitään.
jossain sitten törmäsin ubuntu-shipit palveluun ja ajattelin tilata itselleni ubuntun, pari viikkoa odoteltuani sain ensimmäisen ubuntuni ja ja koettelin sitä live-cd:llä, hetkeä myöhemmin koneessani oli UBUNTU wihuu kaikki toimii, ei jähimisiä, ei kaatumisia eikä turhia boottauksia.
noo eipä aikaakaan kun tutustuin conffaamiseen ja sain ensimmäisen kerran black-screenin :) (älkää tehkö perässä) ja kun en viitsinyt etsiä neuvoja netistä kovin kauaa päätin asentaa ubuntuni uudelleen, ei siinä tosin mikään iso homma ole.
vuosien varrella on sitten tullut kokeiltua ubuntun lisäksi myös kubuntua xubuntua ja freespireä (josta en heti viitsinyt tykätä, susea koettelin mutta grub error 18 sai mut vihaseksi ja en sitten susea ole koetellutkaan.
kaikki joita linux kiinnostaa, suosittelen tutustumaan ihan mihin vaan versioon, kyllä se siitä, tulette huomaamaan kuinka yksinkertaiseksi kaiken voi tehdä ;)
Jamie, Professional Magician - Speaker - Freelance IT and computer assistance guy.
I've been using Macs since 1986. I have used them for all aspects of my business as an entertainer and speaker. In recent years I've begun repairing and refurbishing Macs for myself and others. As a result of that I have begun helping folks in the wide wasteland of Windows with some of their issues as well...LOL.
I stumbled upon Ubuntu and I'm enamoured with it. I'll never leave my reliable and capable Mac, however the new frontier and user friendly nature of this Linux distro is simply amazing!!!!
Real computing power for anyone and all for no cash and a little learning curve (very little). I have discovered that the long debate over Mac v. Windows is largely that most folks don't know anything about their OS just a bit about their most used apps (office, IE etc..)
SO I say try it out and explore. Ubuntu will unleash and older machines power and give you all you need to work and play and create on a digital platform.
vache asatryan, web developer / student
If i was asked what is free, what is freedom, Linux would be the number one thing that would come to my mind. If we, as a society, are striving to break all boundaries than Ubuntu is leading the way .
Abhishek , B,Tech Student
The best thing about Linux is that it lets you look under the hood and see how things actually work. Being of inquisitive nature, Linux is a boon for me.
And Ubuntu is the best distro I have encountered. I have tried Fedora, open SUSE, Mandriva and so on but Ubuntu is the best.The best feature I like in Ubuntu? Its got to be apt-get. I don't know how many hours I have spent doing apt-get and installing things which I don't actually need but what to do, it's so addictive. Also I love the way I can customize my Ubuntu.
M. Koskinen, Art student
I moved to Ubuntu a few months ago, mainly because of my disappointment with Windows Vista. I had heard that Ubuntu was easy to use, fast and reliable so I tested it out. I was more than satisfied. With Wubi I was able to test it out without partitioning. Eventually I stopped using Windows altogether and moved my Wubi install to a dedicated partition. It took some time to get things working since I have a lot of USB devices that lack Linux support but with the help of the wonderful Ubuntu community I eventually got everything running.
Eli, Library Technician
Like many, I had a hard drive crash and lost my only legal copy of Windows XP. I didn't want to have to purchase a new hard drive AND a copy of XP so I just got by using a computer at the public library. I came across an artice touting Ubuntu as a viable alternative to Windows so I decided to give it a try. I had a friend of mine who not only downloaded & burned Ubuntu for me, but sold me an old hard drive of his for a fastfood lunch. Awesome!
I loved Ubuntu from the start. LOVED! It is by far the easiest of any operating system to just sit down at, and having no experience, use and have fun with, and get work done with. I've used Windows, and Mac's newest OS, neither stand up tp Ubuntu. That first version was 7.04, and I'm now using 8.04 at home & at work. At our library we have XP, Mac's, and a few Ubuntu machines. Ubuntu continues to be the most stable, quick, and the coolest operating system that I use. Thanks to Ubuntu working for me at home, I've spread it to our local public library where I work. In turn we're spreading it to the community. I think that's kinda what Ubuntu's developers have in mind.
VoodooLogic, Tenant Coordinator
Ubuntu was my way into Linux. It was a hobby, then a bit of an obsession. I live a regular life; work, sports, girls, etc. but I also unlocked my computers potential as well as my own. Ubuntu is the dojo where your geek skills are honed.
Jorge, High School Student
About 5 months ago i bought a laptop with windows Vista. I like millions of others bought vista for its eye candy. Its sad really, ms deprives you of visual affects with xp then throws aero for vista so ppl go crazy. Transparent windows ad fading effects..Ooo lol open your task manager and thats a joke... 600mb on just the os..rofl gj ms. Well anyway i used vista for a week and then decided it sucked and installed xp. But i found xp actuall ran slower. Out of curiosity i ordered an ubuntu cd and im really glad i did its so fast, stable safe. All i can say is UBUNTU FTW! UBUNTU FTW! UBUNTU FTW! UBUNTU FTW!
Souleymane, Niger, Database Manager
Ubuntu is a part of my life. Since I discover it, I am ok.
Thomas King, Student
I'm only a day-old Ubuntu user, so I'm still on the learning curb. But I love it! I had tried other distributions of Linux in the past - Fedora, SUSE - but never before has Linux been so easy to use. I had no problems getting it installed and running, whereas, in the past, Debian and other distributions were much more trivial.
My only complaint as a Web developer would be with the default fonts. I know I can go in and change these, but I'd prefer that they resemble Mac OS's Lucida out of the box, instead of the gauche-looking default font family. I've heard thing complaint before from other Web developers and designers, so I don't think I'm along there. Hopefully they'll consider this for later releases.
Overall, Hardy Heron is an easy to install, easy to use OS, which I now prefer over my previous OS, Windows Vista. Ubuntu isn't perfect, though. I wouldn't recommend it to gamers or graphic designers. I say that because I'm not a fan of emulators, like Wine, and Gimp just isn't Photoshop. But, for me, seeing as I'm not a gamer and I only use Ubuntu for Web development, Ubuntu is the best thing the PC has going for it right now.
Angel, Housewife/Mother
In October of 2007 I was perusing the web and came across Ubuntu, and found it quite interesting. It seemed like a neat Idea. I had considered trying to dual boot Redhat in the past but was always too scared for fear of screwing something up. Well for a while I just sort of read info and didn't install anything. At income tax time (approximately February of 2008) I bought a new Rig the most powerful computer I had ever owned.
It's an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz quad core processor with 8MB of cache, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, a 500GB SATA II hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT 265mb.
Somewhere in between my Ubuntu discovery and rig purchase I had read about virtualbox so now that I had a system I could actually run it on without tremendous lag I decided to give it a go. I found an article which walked me step by step through how to setup virtualbox with Ubuntu. At the time I believe it was Ubuntu 7.10. I really enjoyed the experience and I've since installed numerous Linux operating systems on virtualbox just to try them out, however I always come back to Ubuntu. Eventually I grew tired of the limitations you have when virtually running an operating system and decided to give dual booting a try on an older computer, and I loved it. Actually it wasn't a dual-boot I used Wubi and installed Ubuntu that way on my husbands computer. It was my first experience with compiz as you can't run that in virtualbox. I love how I'm able to completely customize my desktop experience without handing over more money to some third party company. The availability of software is also another plus, I love how if I need to be able to do something all I have to do is search the synaptic package manager and/or Google to find the features I'm looking for
The only reason at this point that I keep windows is for games (I really hope this changes I would love to see more big name game developers give love to Linux operating systems). I can pretty much do everything else on Ubuntu. Including working on my websites with dreamweaver thanks to wine. I also enjoy the speed I have Even the older computer feels fast again with Ubuntu running on it.
My number one reason for loving Ubuntu though is this. I did have some hardware issues initially when first dual-booting Ubuntu and I all I had to do was a few Google and forum searches to fix them. The community support is phenomenal, and in all the time I used windows (we're talking all the way back to the beginning here, my first computer had dosshell on it) I have never had the great sense of community and support that I get from the Ubuntu community!
So all in all I would say my experience has been quite positive and I look forward to many years of happy Ubuntu computing.
Kumar, Physiotherapist.
I live in Tamil Nadu, Southern India. I bought a PC from a local assembler in February 2008. It came with a pirated version of Windows XP. I can't afford original Windows OS. I heard about Ubuntu from the internet. I did some research. I downloaded it and installed it dual boot. I can feel the difference clearly between Ubuntu and Windows. I love Ubuntu. I don't use Windows at all. Most of the people who struggle with Windows are afraid to use Ubuntu because they are only familiar with Windows, but actually anyone with some basic computer awareness can use Ubuntu. I am happy that I made a right decision. Linux is far more superior than Windows I can say.
Michael G. Paez, Systems Administartor
I started to to play around with Ubuntu around version 5. Linux was something I was interested in and Ubuntu was one of the better option to play around with in my opinion. I had it running on spare systems and as I said before, it was more to toy around with and I didn't take it very seriously.
One day I was able to get Windows Vista Ultimate 32 bit version at a fairly discounted price (9) and got home and installed it on my desktop. I kept on having blue screens and other performance issues. I checked all the hardware until the only thing I could determine as being the problem was the software. I decided to install Ubuntu 7.04 64 bit (FREE) on my home desktop and encountered no issues and performance was even better. Thats when I drew a line in the sand and said, I want to use windows as little as possible.
Thats when I fully dove in to Ubuntu. On my work laptop, a HP NC6400, I installed Ubuntu 7.10 and I am currently running 8.04. On my work laptop, I've configured Ubuntu to use our VPN and I am able to VPN in and work on servers as needed. I have a VM of XP for those cases where work requires a Windows machine.
I've become somewhat of a Ubuntu evangelist, preaching the benefits of having Ubuntu installed on your desktop or laptop. Everyone that has installed it is very happy with the systems and haven't looked back.
Ed Briggs, computer repair
After years of using windows, I decided to give Ubuntu a try. Simply put, I was blown away by it. I now own my operating system and can use and tweak it any way I see fit. No viruses or spyware to worry about is a huge plus. I have long since wiped windows from my computer, and I will never again use a microsoft product.
Johnny Utah, Systems Administrator
I love Debian, but its always been better fitted for a server rather than a desktop for me. I tried Ubuntu a few years ago and liked it. Then I installed KDE (Kubuntu) and removed Gnome and loved it. It provided the stable foundation of Debian, with all the new cool apps and utilities. I encourage every Windows/Mac user to try Ubuntu and every Ubuntu user to try Kubuntu. Here is one of our community forums:
http://kubuntuway.net
Kyle, Student/Tech Support Intern
I made the Linux plunge my freshman year and have never looked back. At first I used PCLinuxOS and dual-booted between Linux and Windows(primarily for gaming). Now, I run Ubuntu 8.04-amd64 full time (using wine to run all of my old Windows games) and can barely imagine life before the switch. I no longer had to stave off viri or malware, suffer through the hassle of Windows Genuine Advantage checks, or pirate the software I need to do my work, seeing as Ubuntu's extensive repositories contain software for just about any application, free from charge or copyright restrictions. As a computer science major, Linux has helped me become more acquainted with how my computer actually works, it has allowed me to "look under the hood" and concretely understand the concepts discussed in my classes. I also love the freedom and flexibility Linux offers, anything in the system can be altered to fit my tastes or needs.
Aleksander, High School Student
Way back in middle school was when I pursued a growing interest in computers. My parents had just gotten Windows Vista. I hated it. I thought that Windows had invested more in Aero than in the software I needed. Needless to say, as soon as I got my own desktop, I immediately loaded it up with the newest version of Ubuntu, Hardy Heron. Never had a problem with it. The Synaptic Package Manager has had everything I have ever needed, and the Ubuntu Community has been solicitous to the end, with clear, helpful and free advice (free, just like everything in Ubuntu!)
I'm now proud to say that I have become a sort of Ubuntu Evangelist, developing and propagating the greatest Operating System on the planet. Ubuntu Linux to me, is the synergy of Usability, with scalability. So I say, "Hurray" for Ubuntu, and I eagerly await the new version!
Share Your story
Please tell us why are You using Ubuntu. Share Your story!
swingers adult dating