Ubuntu is cool, sleek, slim, chic, sexy, all of that. Plus it’s free, can run (slowly) off a CD, has a huge community of support, doesn’t require virus protection, and is slim, chic, sexy, and all of that. In the name of speeding up, glamorizing and expanding my digital experience while at the same time not spending money on a new computer, I decided to scrap Windows and go all Linux. Yippee!
However, after backing up my original configuration and swiping my hard drive, then installing that epitome of coolness and all that, I realized (yet again–I’d tried this before) its drawbacks for a simple user like me: while I can pretty much be okay without Photoshop even though Ubuntu’s GIMP isn’t quite as polished, and while I can (albeit begrudgingly) live without iTunes, I simply can’t live without Picasa (which Ubuntu/WINE doesn’t seem to fully support).
Furthermore, my video card upgrade upgrade wasn’t compatible with my computer’s specs and so I was left with quite crappily choppy graphics even after trying a lot of Ubuntu workarounds: Even after all my operating system shenanigans and hardware improvement attempts, I was faced with troublesomeness, both in terms of the video card and the fact that there is no way I want to spend my life working around when I’d rather be writing, or just doing whatever is the task at hand.
And so, since work in order to do work is a waste of my working brain space, a new computer–sporting Windows 8–is on its way home to me.