Since I switched to Ubuntu for my development work on my main PC, and I’m loving it. Here’s a few things that make Ubuntu cooler than Windows XP:
- Tabbed Consoles. I can press Alt+` and I get a new tab, instantly, in my console window open to the current directory I was working in. If I need a new console I can setup a new shorcut in System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts to create one when I press Ctrl+` (you people who type on the home row might wonder why I did this... I don't type on the homerow. Fingers go wherever they please)
- The inability to click that naughty TF2 icon. Earns me more money every time I don't think about playing it. To get to TF2 I have to reboot, maintain attention through the reboot to remember to press Escape and then select Windows XP, wait for XP to boot, and then wait for the game to boot. I get... emotional when I play TF2, so it's probably also better for my blood pressure.
- irssi. My god! For a console chat client this kicks ass. I've set it up to automatically connect to three servers, (EnterTheGame, EyeRC and Freenode), authenticate me and join all the channels as soon as I start it up. No registration window, no welcome screen, it just does it.
- I can install anything and there's multiple ways to do it. Firstly, I can do apt-get install <anything> and it'll install it. It even takes multiple parameters, so I can install as many things as I want, at the same time. It doesn't even care about what programs I have running, it just does it. The other way to go about it is to go into System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager, and select your packages in there. It even comes with a search feature.
- I don't have to compile everything I want to install, unlike certain other linux operating system.Everything installs as fast as I can download it, plus a few seconds on top of that, at the most.
- Automatic updates. It gives you a non-obtrusive indication that there's updates available, whenever you need them. Oh, and it's not just for the operating system, unlike other operating systems. It'll update all your programs that you installed using apt-get or the Synaptic Package Manager.
- Want office? That's automatically installed. Want tetris? That's installed. Want Firefox? That's installed. Want a photo manipulation program? That's installed. Want something to draw pretty pictures in (Gimp)? That's installed. I can go on.
- The places menu. Why, oh why, does Windows not have this? This is awesome.
- Compiz (which currently doesn't work for me, but used to). Makes everything pretty. You can spend minutes, if not hours, toying around with Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow or Right Arrow and all the funky settings for making your windows fade in/out, exploding or whatever. Again, kicks ass.
- Shit actually installs. I can install stuff because I've installed the build-essential package (quite sizable, but worth it), by using the compiler. Does Windows come with a compiler? No? Well that's too bad. Switch to a decent operating system.
- Memory usage. Currently I have, Pidgin, two consoles, Netbeans, gFTP, Firefox, XMMS, an IM window from Pidgin and System Monitor. I am only using 456mb. Doing the same thing in Windows would probably push it up to something more like 700-800mb.
The only thing I can’t do (yet, and because I haven’t set anything up to do it) is play games. But this is my development operating system, if I want to play games I’ll use Windows. I could go on, but there is so many awesome things about Ubuntu. Try it for yourself, do yourself a favour. http://ubuntu.org. You’ll thank me later.