Why Linux?

Every so often I am asked why the library chose to go with a Linux operating system.
Librarian Extraodinaire Jessaymn West recently posted a great blog post, complete with video about her experience putting Ubuntu (a Linux operating system) onto some computers her library received as a donation. The computers didn't have a legitimate operating system so she chose to load Ubuntu.

The video and blog post offers insight on some of the reasons behind our library's decision to go with Linux. It was a great choice for us--and for you, as an end-user as well--mainly for the reason of security and stability. Because Linux isn't open to most of the malicious web stuff (not just in terms of viruses, but also spyware) this allows us to be less restrictive regarding your usage. You can use your own media (cd's & thumb drives) as well as download and save items as needed.

However, this was only one of the reasons we chose to go with Linux and open source software. The best thing about our current set-up is--we paid nothing for our operating system, or the software on our machines. Open source software is free! Linux is free! This means that the money we would have spent on licensing for Microsoft Windows and various office packages can be spent on other things in the library. We have 24 patron use computers. That's a lot of licenses. Most patrons don't even notice that what they're using is any different.
The biggest noticeable difference usually comes when using OpenOffice writer. However, really it's very similar to Word and if you've any familiarity with using that program you can generally figure out how to do what you need to. Also, they really have some great instruction available under the "help" portion of the tool bar. (I can usually find the more obscure answers within a few clicks) I've switched over to all opensource software on my home computer as well because I've really enjoyed using these programs so much.

I've recently been playing around with the opensource photoshop-like program called Gimpshop. For the basic user who just wants to do basic things (and a lot of not so basic things!) with their photos--it's a great alternative to Photoshop. It's also--free. Check out some of the great opensource resources on the library del.icio.us page.

At any rate, watch the video (it's better with sound :) and then read her blog post too. She did such a great job showing how easy (as well as giving many reasons as to the question of "why?") it can be to switch.