Last week, I was charged with finding a computer for a customer who only wanted it for Internet, email, and word processing. He didn't want to add any games, extra programs, or anything else to it. My first thought, as I was listening to his needs, was Ubuntu [1]. One other request was not to break the bank on cost. Lastly, he told me that he would be hooked up to a high speed cable Internet service.

Upon talking a little more, I explained my idea bout an Ubuntu Linux machine. He asked, "Does it do Internet? Email?" I said, "Yes." He agreed that it sounded fine to him.

This weekend I perused the big box store ads in the paper as I do every Sunday morning and found the deal I was looking for at Best Buy. For $399, the package included an AMD dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 19" flat panel monitor, AND a printer! It came with Windows Vista Basic, but I wasn't planning on leaving it on there anyway.

I called the customer, and they agreed to meet me there and purchase the system. They also decided that it would be fun to Skype [2]their family from time-to-time, so we added an inexpensive web cam to the mix.

When I fired up the computer to make some restore CD's (just in case), I left everything as is and timed the boot process with Vista; 4 minutes 45 seconds. And of course, trying to do anything, I got the obligatory "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Ubuntu 8.04 came out this week, and I inserted one of my freshly minted Ubuntu installation CD's into the computer and restarted. Less than 45 minutes later (90% of it hands off time), I started working with the new Ubuntu system. Boot up time: 54 seconds! The printer was installed, the web cam was installed, I downloaded, installed and configured Skype, and setup his Yahoo email account for easy access.

To do all of this on the machine I bought, had I left Windows on it, would have taken twice the amount of time, and he would have had less features.

Moral of the story:

• Ubuntu is a real compelling option for many computer users. In fact, for computer user similar to the customer I described in this article, I think Ubuntu should be the first option to consider.
  
• Ubuntu improved performance and function over a Windows machine is impressive. Buying an inexpensive new computer, less than $600, and replacing Windows with Ubuntu will give you a faster, safer, and more functional computer. In fact, its performance and function will rival a Windows system of twice that cost and be much safer on the Internet.
  
• Ubuntu allows you to play games, surf the Internet, send and receive email, download your digital photos and work with them, play and burn CD's, play DVD's, and much more. 

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