FOSS

The Linux operating system is becoming increasingly popular and offers a stable desktop platform including the respectable Openoffice office suite for free. You can load Ubuntu Linux onto your windows computer and, on boot up, decide which operating system you want to use - Windows or Linux. In addition to cost, there are many advantages to taking a serious look at Linux including an awesome array of free software to support almost any field of human endeavour. And if you are still attached to your old windows programs, the Ubuntu Linux supports a Windows emulator called Wine that can run many (but not all) your windows programs. In addition, remind yourself that it is exploring and learning new things that keeps you young and interesting.

You can request a free copy of Ubuntu Linux by going to Official Ubuntu Website Shipment is free to any country.

Without an operating system, computer hardware is inanimate and about as capable as a brick. In the early days, the operating system was considered to be an integral part of the computer until a brilliant move by Bill Gates when the hardware was separated from the operating system with MS.DOS Version 1.0. From this point, the operating system became glamorous, glitzy and branded as a consumer product - and had to be paid for separately to the hardware.

I use 3 operating systems - MS.Windows XPPro , Ubuntu 9,04 (Jaunty Jackalope) and Windows Mobile 6.0 on my HTC palmtop. I first started using Linux about 4 years ago. Up 'till then I used Microsoft exclusively apart from my experiences with some of the more exotic operating systems of the early 1980s which included the Commodore PET (with 16Kb RAM!), the Sinclair ZX-81, an o/s for designing integrated circuits called Gaelic and even an O/S called Gerbil.

An office suite is a basic essential piece of software for the Knowledge Worker. For those of us who have spent many years on computers, there is now a free and OpenSource (FOSS) program called OpenOffice version 3.0 which does everything that Microsoft Office does including Spreadhseets, Word Processing, Drawing and Presentations. OpenOffice is compatible with a great many file formats including Excel, Word (including the latest .docx formats), Powerpoint which means that you will be able to carry on working on your existing files without interruption. If you have worked on Microsoft software before, you will find the interface in OpenOffice easy and intuitive although it is not as glitzy as the Microsoft product.

Have a look at the OpenOffice Website for further details and to download the suite.