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I had been a Windows user since 1994. I started out on Win 3.1, went to Win 95, then onto Win 98, Win ME, Win 2k, & WinXP. I had become very comfortable with the Windows UI, but was always frustrated with Windows. To me, Windows kept me wishing for something that was better. Something that wasn't your run of the mill OS.

Win 3.1 was limited. Win 95 demanded that you upgrade to a better, more expensive machine. Win 98 was no different than Win 95. Win ME was a complete flop (I vowed I would never go back to crash vile after Win ME). Win 2k was stable but was limited also. WinXP was riddled with surcurity issues.

I got fed up with Windows. Microsoft brought out OS's that did nothing until you paid for a full version of any software that shipped with it. They forced you to use buggy drivers, and wait for updates. Anyone who knew anything about Windows could walk right into a persons PC, rummage around and have free reign with the personal files on the HD. What's more, Window's thought this to be acceptable? Excuse me? "Oh just wait for our Service Pack 2 to start shipping. This will eliminate all security issues." Why didn't they make it right in the first place?

Another monumental blunder for Windows is the way it recognises a device that the user plugs in. My favourite though was the way Windows would recognise that the user plugged a simple USB thumb drive into a free USB port. Windows would say, "I've found a new device. Please wait while I install the drivers for this device." The user would wait for Windows to do its bit, and 50% of the time, Windows would load the correct drivers and the user would be happy. However, lets say the user took the USB thumb drive out of the USB port and went away. A few hours have now passed, and the user returned to the PC with the need to use the USB thumb drive. The user puts the USB thumb drive into a USB port, however this time the user puts the USB thumb drive into a different USB port on the PC. Now one would expect that since Windows had loaded the correct drivers for the USB thumb drive only hours earlier that it would happily accept the USB thumb drive, and all would be well. But no, since the USB thumb drive was inserted into a different USB port, Windows goes through the process of loading drivers for the USB thumb again. Why?

Windows is an OS that the majority of the world has learnt to live with. It's like a person being given a choice between eating a chefs meal or canned dog food and choosing the canned dog food - "Hey, this isn't that bad. I can learn to live with it". And the sad thing is that for the people who have chosen Windows as an OS will never venture out to find something better.

Take Windows Vista for example. It was rubbish when it first came out, it was engineered by idiots, and it's rubbish now. Windows Vista is a terrible OS that never worked. If you've noticed all new hardware, peripherals, and software all have a sticker pasted to them stating, 'Works with Windows Vista'. The OS was made to drive sales on everything computer related. Windows Vista was a marketing tool to get people to open up their wallets and spend money. Do you really think Bill Gates got to where he is by not being devious? He saw that the computer would be a valuable commodity in the years to come. He also saw a business opportunity to make billions, and he did just that. In conjunction with all the manufacturers and corporations, Vista capitalized on making people having to buy faster computers, more RAM, bigger HD's, faster video cards ect. Wouldn't Microsoft want to clear their name of all the previous OS blunders? Nope - and for the simple reason of - 'If we build and ship an OS that causes issues, ship software that is only trial versions, force hardware manufactures to make drivers instead of us, offer nothing but a clock, paint program and calculator, we will make money hand over fist'.

It's no accident that Windows is a rubbish OS. It's too profitable to have an OS that is terrible, and then offer the hope to customers that a newer, better OS will solve all their issues with the current OS.

I saw this plan of Microsoft in plain view about 2 years ago when I had a laptop replaced by DELL under warranty. When I received my new laptop, it no longer came with WinXP because DELL was not shipping WinXP any more, they were shipping Windows Vista. My original laptop only came with 512 RAM. Microsoft recommended a minimum of 1 GB of RAM. In good faith, I believed that DELL would boost my RAM to 1 GB so I could enjoy all the features of Windows Vista. Instead, they shipped my laptop with 512 RAM, and a basic Intel video card. The version of Vista that was shipped was Vista Basic. Not only did the OS run terribly slow, it did nothing because it was the Basic version. Despite the fact that the laptop had the all new Intel Core 2 Duo running at 1.6 Ghz, the computer was painfully slow. DELL refused to add more RAM, and after many phone calls later, I decided to turn away from Windows. My question was this. "Why should I be forced to pay more money to have Windows Vista run smoothly on my computer?" It bothered me to such an extent that I chose to switch OS's.

I searched around and found the light. I turned to Ubuntu Linux. The OS is a Unix based Kernel, and runs like an OS should. It just works, and that's what I wanted. Best of all, it's FREE. That's right, free. The OS resembles a look and feel like that of MAC OS X. It's very graphically pleasing to the eyes, and functions without fault. The majority of people think lines of text and a terminal prompt when they hear Linux. Not so. Linux is a very powerful OS that can knock the pants off of Windows.

As I write this now, I'm on a new Dell Laptop made for Windows, but am using Ubuntu Linux. It's beautiful really. I'll never go back to Windows again. There's no need. I can do everything I did in Windows on my Linux laptop. Linux is no longer restricted to geeks in thick reading glasses, no. Linux is powerful, and fully optioned beyond anything you could imagine. And did I mention that it's free?

Spread the word. Linux is and always will be better than the terrible OS Windows. Why settle for second place when you can be in first place with Linux.