Not more than two months ago my web-browsing, word-processing, music-playing, and e-mail-checking needs were fulfilled by various Microsoft products that were either free or highly subsidized through the University’s software catalogue. As the end of the fall semester approached, I had the realization that when my stay at the UW ends in May, I will need to go and shell out the hundreds of dollars that Windows and Office cost off of store shelves. A few days later some friends convinced me to make the move from Internet Explorer to a new, open-source, web browser called Firefox.

The most blaring reason for making the move is the fact that Firefox is immune to the annoying popup ads and spyware that plague Internet Explorer users and can bring a brand new computer, such as mine, to its knees when performing the simplest of tasks. After using this safer browser for a while and experiencing some of its enhancements, such as tabbed web surfing, I was a quick convert. After having so much success with my non-Microsoft browser I decided to switch from Outlook to Thunderbird, a mail client from the same people who make Firefox. While Thunderbird admittedly did not have as complete a feature set as Outlook, it performed exceedingly better. My computer runs noticeably better with Firefox and Thunderbird open than with Internet Explorer and Outlook open.

After experiencing these successes I decided to go one step further and play with making the complete switch from a Microsoft based desktop to a Linux one. While I did not make the change on my own machine I spent significant time over break playing with Linux on a friend’s computer. I was amazed at how easy to use and efficient the Linux desktop was. This lifelong Windows user was able to adapt to the Linux environment in minutes, and over the entire course of my experiments the computer, an older model, didn’t slow down or crash even once.

I then pondered whether or not to make the switch to Linux on my own desktop. I had to consider all of the things I use my computer for: web browsing, e-mail, word processing, making spreadsheets, making presentations, and viewing DVD movies. All of these can be done easily, completely for free, on a computer running Linux. I hit my roadblock: music. I am morally opposed to downloading illegitimate MP3 files off of networks such as Kazaa and Soulseek so I subscribe to Real Rhapsody, a streaming music service, where I pay around ten dollars a month for all the music I could ever want. After doing a little research I was disappointed to learn that there is currently no way to access the Rhapsody service on a Linux computer. I looked around a little more and discovered that there isn’t a single pay-music service, offering mainstream titles, available for Linux.

As it stands right now I am unfortunately stuck with Windows for the foreseeable future. After doing some research on various discussion boards I discovered that many people are, like myself, unable to make the migration to Linux because of one application, one website, or one piece of hardware.

Just a few years ago Linux was not an option for someone like me, and was relegated to the world of the programming elite, and now it has become almost a viable option. While my business world may be stuck with Microsoft today, it will not be long before I find a music service that works with Linux or some guru finds a way to make an existing one work. Slowly but surely users will be able to escape from the exorbitant prices being charged by Microsoft for unreliable software that we, as consumers, are forced to use. With less than two months of tinkering I have found an acceptable, if not better replacement for every single Microsoft product that I use. These replacements run better across the board and, in all but a few cases, offer more and better features than their Microsoft counterparts. The Linux community is making a stand against the Seattle giant and is beginning to offer products that pose a significant threat to Microsoft’s dominance in the operating system and software markets. If Microsoft, who has already announced they are removing promised features from the first release of their next version of Windows, does not clean up their act, they are going to find themselves unable to charge the sorts of prices they have come to expect for inadequate products. This change will only serve to benefit consumers.

Adam Smith ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in economics and political science.