I realised that it’s one thing to ssh into a Linux server to setup up stuff every now and then, it’s a very different game to have Linux as your full-blown daily desktop system. Despite a much improved GUI, you need (or are willing to acquire) a certain level of comfort with a command line interface because it is often faster to do certain things from the terminal. I was in terminal alot during the first 2 days of setup to edit configuration files or troubleshoot through the logs. Ubuntu does provide a GUI-based log viewer and text editor, and Synaptic works well for add/removing programs. Almost 80-90% of the help I have used online assumes that the user is comfortable in terminal and solutions were often provided in the form of terminal commands or configuration files to be edited.

All that said, my experience of the whole installation process was fairly smooth sailing. What a difference a decade makes. Back in ’99, I literally sweat buckets trying to install Red Hat 6 on my then one and only family computer. I had chosen to upgrade the PC with an additional harddisk AND set the PC to dual boot Red Hat. Without enough money to get a replacement computer, I was worried sick that my dad would kill me if I were to accidentally destroy the PC. To his credit, Dad didn’t bat an eyelid when he saw me on the floor of his home office with the PC insides exposed and Red Hat materials strewn all over.

Fast forward back to today. Once I got configuration out of the way, it was a very pleasant surprise how little time it took for me to get fairly comfortable in Ubuntu as my main day-to-day home desktop OS. The experience is best described as… liberating. Shocking almost for this Windows user from the days of Windows 3.1.

I am still keeping my Windows installs because 90% of the day job requires that I stay on the Windows platform. Plus not all the software that I use actively are Linux-compatible or have comparable alternatives, and I am not quite willing to go with wine or the virtualization route unless I absolutely have to. Since no one is twisting my arm, Windows stays. For now at least.

So should you do it? Yeah, why not?