There is a lot of “free” software available, but here in Vanuatu it may still be too expensive or too hard to get it. Internet links are expensive, slow and for some types limited in the amount of data that can be sent & retrieved. However, one shining example of generosity makes it possible to get the latest version of an operating system, office suite (word processing, spreadsheet etc) and a host of other facilities and utilities completely for free. Remember the name – Ubuntu.
Founded by Mark Shuttleworth, a multi-millionaire who made his fortune just before the dot-com bust, Canonical Systems develops and maintains the Ubuntu linux package and distributes it free of charge. 'Ubuntu' is an African word meaing 'community', and Shuttleworth's aim is to provide a completely free all-in-one package that meets all your computing needs. This is 'free' as in no cost AND 'free' as in no licensing restrictions.
Canonical systems will even send you the installation CDROMs by mail without charge. Visit their website at ubuntu.com, register, and request one or several CDROMs to be sent to you. You can even choose versions for Macs or PCs.
Ubuntu has a program for updating its package every 6 months, and also makes continuous updates (for security fixes, for example) available free-of-charge over the internet for Ubuntu systems already installed. Updating is not entirely automated, but is nonetheless quite straightforward – a command to download updates, and then another to install them.
The latest version of the package takes Ubuntu into the 'server' realm. Previously intended for desktop computers ie. for everyday use on a typical computer, the new Ubuntu includes not just the server-type facilities (which were already there) but standard installation scripts that make it easy to setup a new server with only a little technical knowledge. This is a big step for Ubuntu, and take it into the territory of commercial equivalents from Red Hat and SuSE/Novell.
If you would like to trial Ubuntu without going to the trouble of installing it over an existing computer setup, then fear not – there is a Live Trial CDROM included which allows you to boot up load Ubuntu direct from the CDROM. This is the real thing, but obviously you will not be able to save any changes you make – still, it gives you first-hand experience of Ubuntu (and linux) without having to wipe out your current software setup.
This is an amazing package at an amazing price. It is well worth investigating if you are tired of pirated software that is increasingly hard to keep up-to-date, want everything in one package, yet still want the option of controlling and configuring everything if you need to. Try it out.
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- Tony Phelps is part of the Merlin Pacific IT team, dedicated to effective & efficient business IT (see www.merlinpacific.net).
