I’ve let a couple of anniversaries slip by without mentioning them, but they are momentous, and deserve note.
First, it’s been five years now since I downloaded an Ubuntu ISO, and tried it out. That was in November 2005, and a lot changed because of that.
But more recently, and perhaps more importantly, I split away from Windows for good on New Year’s Day 2006. So it’s been five full years since I stopped using proprietary software altogether.
Seems like a long time.
Now when I originally wrote this post, this is the part where I got all smarmy and talked about how life changed and how I became a better person and blah, blah, blah. 🙄
I’ll spare you that. Suffice to say, things shifted considerably when I discovered Linux. My computing habits, my computer buying habits, my perspective on computer culture … all those things changed.
For the better, I hope. I also hope Linux does for you what it has done for me — opened my eyes and put money in my pocket. It’s not impossible.
Here’s to five more years! 
Mine to have changed i wish i could find a proper way to help friends and family learn too but ive only converted 1 person to linux in my 4 or so years using it.
Heck my sis thinks im a hacker because I use it.:(
My Asus Eee (the original 701) came with Xandros Linux. A terrible Distro, but I was intrigued to learn a little. I put Xubuntu on an old laptop in 2007, but only recently has Lubuntu gotten that thing running well. Meanwhile I converted a Macbook to Ubuntu when I got peeved at Apple wanting to charge me to upgrade to Snow Leopard. The Cheek! (Strangely enough, the wireless card won’t work under Mac OS X anymore. But it works fine under Linux. Go figure.)
Converting new users is tricky, though. The Wife is well wrapped up in Windows software suites. (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Windows Live Writer, the Wacom Bamboo Drawing Tablet.) She tells me she’ll use Ubuntu full time when Linux gets done the stuff she’s been doing in Windows for years and years.
Fair enough. At least, after several virus inspired Windows re-installations, and an identity fraud case, I’ve taught her to boot into Ubuntu when she wants to do any banking or shopping on line. So now she uses Linux for consumption and Windows for production.
We’re halfway there!
Half a loaf of bread is better than no bread at all. 🙂 Cheers and good luck!
Officially and completely switched after being a Mac user for 20+ years this past July, although I’ve been using and learning Linux in earnest for about five years now. I get frustrated on other computers now. 🙂