Moving to Open Source

The Decision:
I want to move from a window based environment meaning windows operating system & commercial software packages to a complete open source environment.

The Reasons:
Trying something new, stop spending my money on software which isn’t satisfactory. Moving the power from big companies (yes Microsoft I am talking about you) to the user and his needs.

The Mission:
Turn my computer into a complete open source based computer.

So what are the Pros and cons?

The Cons:

1. I am not a computer programmer I am a simple user, I cannot dig into codes.
2. I have no experience with open source based operating systems I will have to learn everything from the beginning.
3. I know the open source community is a very big and supportive one, but I have the fears of being new to a community of veterans – It is like being the new guy in the class. The difference is the they know everything and I know nothing.
4. Too many options to choose from. For someone like me who has no experience with open source software how would I know what to choose?
5. Not buying commercial software can hurt big companies like Microsoft. Are you serious? I don’t really care about that !
6. Fear of the unknown - I am afraid that my hardware won’t be supported, I am afraid that it will be too difficult to use etc.
7. Software I am used to using under the windows environment won’t work in the open source environment

The Pros:
1. Open Source based operating systems are free to use, meaning they don’t cost money and everyone is invited to use them. I don’t need to worry about being charged later for using it.
2. They are thought to be much more stable than windows based operating system.
3. A big supportive community. The knowledge is out there.
4. A big selection - the freedom to choose.
5. Open Source Solutions are Allegedly safer to the user.
6. Open Source Solutions Shift the power from the big companies to the users.

Here are 2 articles about the pros & cons of open source solutions:
http://www.netc.org/openoptions/pros_cons/comparing.html
http://www.neilgunton.com/doc/open_source_pros_cons

Giving to the community:
Open Source solutions are based on communities, as I am not a programmer I need to think of another way I can give back to the community. This is why I decided to write this Blog – maybe it could help others do the transition to an open source solution, maybe it could help them solve some problems which I am sure I will face (and hopefully solve) during the process. I see this blog as some kind of contribution to the community and hopefully it will help many others. I am inviting all of you to go through the process together with me.

Finally – a question with no answer:
Why do companies & organizations (commercial companies, government organizations, schools etc.) choose to spend so much money on commercial software licenses when they have a free alternative which can reduce costs in the long-run?

The Next Stage:
Choosing the correct open source operating system to suit my needs.

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