Right-o. Today we're going to talk about Linux. Specifically, how it does exactly what you want, and it's all free.

A few months ago now, I made the switch to from Windows XP to the [Gentoo] Linux distribution (or distro). To buy an entire operating system, right down to graphical editors and office suite software would cost me easily $2000. Plus a new desktop system on top of that? Put down another $1200 at least. So, for about half that price, I built an entirely new system, with a killer monitor, a case mod that fills me with glee, a DVD/CD burner, a new keyboard & optical mouse, kick ass speakers, a good processor, a decent video card, and a 120 GB SATA drive. I have an operating system that does exactly what I want it to, can be customised specifically to me, and is nigh invulnerable to hacks and viruses. New products are being developed all the time, and the community that's out there to help when I have a problem is far better than any tech support I've ever found.

Now, I will admit that Linux has a fairly steep learning curve. But, if you're not programming? All it takes is a day or so to learn to do exactly what you need to.

I'm sure you've all heard how incredibly hard Linux is to install. Well, I can only laugh at that. Yes, you can make it harder for yourself, but there's also the option of going out and getting a live cd with any distro on it, or even buying one of those "Linux for Dummies" books that comes with a free Red Hat/Fedora/Mandrake cd. Those things will walk you right through the set up, easy as pie. The only reason you're thinking that Linux is so hard is that you've never installed an OS before; your Windows systems came to you all prefab, didn't they?

Okay, you're thinking, but what about all my peripherals? Will they work in Linux? Short answer: hopefully. Long answer: Yes, with a bit of work for some of them. HP has released their driver into the Open Source community, so an HP printer is by far your best bet. Most webcams and such will work just fine, so long as they're not super cheap webcams that have issues even with Plug & Play.

But what about gaming? Well, we're getting there. Many games will run in Linux, and some companies (BioWare!) have Open Sourced their games. Plus, Linux developers are making new games all the time, and hackers are working with what's out there. If you do a lot of gaming, I'd recommend a dual boot system, where you can have Micro$oft to game, and Linux to work with.