My apologies to those who were bewildered by my newscast, Man Found Dead Trying To Install Linux. You come expecting a saccharine dose of inspirational pap about going back to nature, and what do you get? The grisly death of a would-be Linux user. Hardly fare for the aspiring homesteader. What is Linux, anyway?

Here’s one ridiculously inadequate definition: Linux is a free alternative to Microsoft. Or Apple. Or any other company that keeps its bloated code under lock and key. While “normal” operating systems charge big bucks for software and then make it illegal for you to alter it even on your own machine, Linux is open source—you can tweak the code as much as you like. And you can get it without spending a penny.

Too good to be true? Ah, kind of. As you might surmise from my last blog, there’s a bit of a learning cliff. It could take you weeks to get your computer fully operational under Linux. Linux demands that you know what you’re doing and there’s a lot to know. Scary? Yes, but then how long did it take you to learn the Micro$oft or Apple style of computing? More than a few weeks, I bet.

I wrote my “Dying Newbie” blog when it seemed my computer (specifically, my printer) would never work. Now it does, and my perspective has soared. In fact, you should try Linux too.

• It’s free (as in beer). If you have anything faster than a 56k modem (or if you aren’t going to call anyone for a month or two) you can download a complete operating system and burn your own CDs. Otherwise, you can pay $20 or less to get a system that does what Micro$oft would charge you hundreds for.
• It’s free (as in speech). If you’re into programming, you’ll be pleased to know that you can mess with the code as much as you want and you will never end up in court. (The beer-speech thing is a classic Linux metaphor, by the way, not mine.)
• Free software. Although companies do sell high-end products for Linux, there’s a mob of free programs out there that will match or even outperform their bloated, overpriced counterparts. Sick of M$ Word? Try OpenOffice (free). Torn between pirating Photoshop™ or pawning your piano? Try the Gimp (free). Let’s see, how many thousands of dollars have we saved so far?
• Resist the monopoly. Down with corporations? Yes! Stand up for the worker? Of course! Sacrifice whatever it takes to win economic justice? Groovy! So what are you going to do about it? Well…see…I just sit in front of a computer all day… Say no more—if you can’t do anything else, you can learn to use Linux.

Think about it. How many hundreds of dollars a year do you pour into the coffers of the friendly folk at Micro$oft or their vassal Apple? Do you really think those guys are building a lovely world? If there was a way to stop funneling cash into their organizations, would you? Even if the transition was a royal pain?

Open source software and operating systems are the joint creations of thousands of programmers who are determined not to let corporations own the world’s computers. You use computers. Which side do you care to take?