Why Lifehacker Readers Switched to Linux, Sep 03, 2008

We asked the devoted Linux users, the dual-Windows-and-Linux-booters, and the newer converts to the open-source operating system last week why they made the switch to Linux, and received over 330 responses as of this posting.

You may have last seen gOS, the free, Ubuntu-based Linux distribution, touted here as a way to revive an old PC with a webapp focus. Now there's three flavors of gOS available, including a "Space" release that was designed with a Mac-like slickness to its interface, and a lot of MySpace functionality thrown in, on top of all the other Google, Facebook, and other link-ups.

Google Gadgets, an open-source, stand-alone app that runs gadgets from Google Desktop and the Universal iGoogle repository, closes the widest gap between Google Desktop's Linux version and its Mac and Windows cousins

If you've flirted with the idea of switching your desktop operating system to Linux but never took the leap, the time is now. This week's release of Hardy Heron, an Ubuntu release that will be supported until 2011, offers a freer, more productive space for work and play than ever before.

One of the best things about KDE 4, the newest release of the mainstream Linux desktop manager, is something it doesn't do—force you to adapt to its way of running a computer desktop.

Google has rounded out the feature set of the Linux version of its photo suite, Picasa, with the release of the beta version of Picasa 2.7. Linux users will know that Picasa for Linux hadn't included a number of features available in later Windows versions (including Picasa web intregration). However the new version lets you upload to Picasa Web albums using the new "web album" button.

If you've got an extra PC gathering dust, gOS is not only a worthy operating system for a cheap PC from Wal-Mart; it's also an excellent (and free) way to repurpose your old PC.

If Wal-Mart's recently released $200 PC sounds like a potentially great deal but you're not sure about ditching your current operating system for the inexpensive, Linux-based Ubuntu box, head over to the developer's web site and download the bootable gOS LiveCD

Booting Linux from an external drive with the applications and settings of your choice has never been easier after this week's release of Puppy Linux 3.0.

Founder of Ubuntu Linux Mark Shuttleworth took time out of his busy schedule to talk with us about email, productivity, travel, web applications, Ubuntu, free software and much more. We asked Shuttleworth what you wanted to know and he gave us the full scoop.