The thing that I really like about Linux, and it just so happens I believe that it this makes Linux more efficient than MS Windows, is the package management system. In Ubuntu, it is the Debian-based APT package manager. It can operate from a command line or a GUI (graphical user interface.) With APT, all one has to do is type in a terminal window, at the command line, for instance, if you want the GIMP, sudo apt-get install gimp. It then asks you for your password for the account you happen to be logged on your system with, and then it calculates different software dependencies, and away you go! It installs the program you have chosen to install.
It probably isn't the problem it used to be, but it is of greater advantage to have a BroadBand Internet connection, but I guess that is a bit of a no-brainer. Dial-up is still out there, but it takes far too long to set an effective Linux system up with dial-up, in my opinion. As with most, if not all, computing, the internet is the very heart of it all. I would like to interject that, in my humble opinion, without the internet, computing would be far less robust, and that it would quite lackluster, but that is coming to the point that it is almost a moot-point. I still, when I visit my parents' house, have to suffer dial-up, so it still is a reality in my life. They live in a rural area, and don't want to pay for HughesNet satellite internet. They are waiting for the availability of DSL, as it is far less expensive. My dad is the computer user in their house, and my mom is a bit of a techno-phobe. My mom doesn't trust the internet, as she has heard about the downside and doesn't yet accept it as the viable business tool it has fast become. she tried for a short while to use e-mail, but she soon lost interest. But I digress into issues that are not Linux-specific. Please forgive me.
In Fedora, now in v. 10, and soon to be v. 11 come June, the YUM package manager is the PM system of choice. It works much the same way as the APT system works. Just type, at the CLI (command line interface), yum install gimp, and you have the same process occur as with APT, although it works just a little differently, but, to me, the difference is negligible.
So far, Ubuntu Linux and Fedora Linux are the two "flavors" of Linux I favor most highly, mainly for ease of installation. There are also Gentoo, Arch, SuSE (pronounced like the surname of composer John Philip Sousa). By the way, speaking of pronunciations, the official pronunciation of the word 'Linux' I believe to be lee-nooks, as the man who wrote the Linux kernel, Linus Torvalds, is Norwegian, I believe, or maybe it is Finnish. He is Scandinavian, at any rate. I pronounce it "lih-nux," as my Midwestern accent doesn't flow well with the official Scandinavian pronunciation. Some, whom I believe to be uninitiated in the world of Linux, pronounce it "ly-nux", so I suppose it is a matter of personal taste. But, I prefer to be well spoken and correct, so I try to use the closest thing to the official pronunciation.
There are hundreds of flavors of Linux, most of them customized, individual needs. Some are simply system rescue live-cd distros, and some are full-blown, installable, multi-DVD disc sets. Rest assured, if you are a computer-user, there is a Linux distro to fit you needs. It is even gaining popularity in Hollywood, where Linux is used for motion picture production and editing.
Give Linux a try. It will give you a far more robust outlook on computer use, and I believe you will learn much.
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