Tech Remedy

by Tom Duffy

I can’t stand Microsoft. I really can’t. That being said, I have personally been Microsoft-Free for well over a year now. This is truly a wonderful feeling! I have four different computers that are all completely free from ANY Microsoft products. I would like to share with you how you can become Microsoft-Free in 30 days or less!

First of all, let me share with you what I run:

Desktop: Intel Core2Quad dual booting Slackware Linux and Fedora 9 (Sulphur)

Laptop 1: Intel Pentium 4 running Xubuntu Hardy Heron

Laptop 2: AMD Athlon running usb boot Slax

Laptop 3: Apple PowerBook running OSX Tiger

It is important to note that just running Linux or OSX doesn’t free you completely from Microsoft. A lot of Apple users run MS Office and other Microsoft products even though this is totally unnecessary. So, now let’s talk about how to start freeing yourself from Microsoft. Let’s take the following example: A PC user is running Windows XP Professional with the following additional Microsoft products installed: Microsoft Office 2007, Windows Media Player, and Microsoft Money. Okay, now the most difficult Microsoft product to free yourself from will be the operating system itself. So I recommend starting by replacing Office, Media Player, and Money.

In place of Office, you have some options. My personal preference is OpenOffice which can be downloaded here. Once downloaded and installed, OpenOffice provides a feature-rich replacement for Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint, and Microsoft Database. It doesn’t however, replace Outlook. For Outlook’s replacement, I recommend Mozilla Thunderbird which can be downloaded here.

To replace Windows Media Player, I recommend MPlayer which can be downloaded here. Don’t forget to download codecs from the site as well. This is what will make it play all of your different media types.

To replace MS Money, I recommend GNUcash which can be downloaded here. GNUcash is a great piece of software that can handle personal and small business finances with a ton of cool features.

Now that we’ve replaced the software installed on your Windows computer with open source alternatives, let’s start the process of replacing Windows itself. I personally recommend the Linux Distrobution called Ubuntu which can be downloaded here. Once you download the ISO file, go ahead and burn the image to a blank CD.

Okay, now all of the above can be done in a matter of hours. So why does it take up to 30 days to become truly Microsoft-Free? Well, it is because of the transitional period that comes with learning a new operating system. The Ubuntu CD that you just burned can be used in many ways for you. There are two transitional steps that I recommend before you actually format your drive and completely replace Windows.

The first step is to insert the CD while running Windows. Ubuntu includes a cool new feature that allows Windows users to install Ubuntu as an application within Windows to try it out. Go ahead and use the Wubi Installer to install Ubuntu on your Windows partition. Spend some time using Ubuntu every day. Get used to the differences. USE GOOGLE TO GET ANSWERS! I can’t stress this part enough. When you transition from Windows to Linux, you are going to hit some walls. There is a TON of help available out there. Use google to find it!

After you have gotten used to using Ubuntu within Windows, it is time for the next transitional step. This step consists of installing Ubuntu onto its own partition and dual booting between Ubuntu and Windows. The reason that I recommend this is that when you are in the Ubuntu partition and you come across something that you can’t quite figure out, you can always reboot into Windows to take care of it. This process is annoying though which will eventually lead you to trying harder to solve problems within Ubuntu rather than rebooting into Windows.

Now that you are fully comfortable in Ubuntu and have figured out how to take care of all of your daily tasks, it is time to back up all of your data for a completely clean Ubuntu only Install! The partitioner within the Ubuntu installer is very straight forward. Again, if you have problems, use google to get answers. I also recommend joining the Ubuntu Forums. There are some absolutely awesome people on there who are ready and willing to answer questions. Of course, if you have questions, you can always just email me! Send questions to tom (at) techremedy (dot) net. I hope this helps at least ONE person become free from the Microsoft stranglehold!