There's a lot of talk about everything from salt shakers shaped like ears of corn to the kind of black water hoses that get used on the road. But I'd like to bring up something else that deserves to share that journey with you: Linux.

Nothing, except perhaps the smile of a pretty lady, is both free and worthwhile except Linux.

Their motivation is key. 

At the "other leading brand" in Redmond, Washington, people work 8 hours or so and go home. They get to tell people who they work for. It's a J-O-B. Focus groups try to tell them what customers want, but they can only do so much. Always in a hurry to finish.

Meanwhile, (perhaps at a campground near you!) some guy spent his day making some part of Linux better. He doesn't get paid for it; it's a labor of love. Later, when he goes for a new day-job, he can point to his body of work and show'em what he can do. Being part of OpenSource shows you can be a team player.  At 3am these guys will get up and code; they'll be damned if some little snot's gonna break his code and make him look bad! These people 'own' the code.

There's no need for focus groups: we're all users of the project. If you have a pulse, a copy of Linux awaits you. Only one catch: if you improve the code, you need to send that code 'upstream' so everyone can enjoy it.  That's it; really.

It's most high-profile use is on the desktop. It's on most of the EEE NetBooks you see anymore. But it's  also in hundreds of Sandisk and other MP3 players as well as Garmin "Nuvee" and TomTom "Go". It's really catching on.  You've seen Linux before, I promise you. It created all the 'big ship scenes' in Titanic all those years ago.Which reminds me: I really should email Darryl Strauss and see what he's up to.

So why would YOU use it?

- No viruses. All computers have weeknesses. The well-known ones have express lanes.
- No $100 to flush-and-fill your machine
- No 'unsafe' places on the net.
- Download TV shows without fear.
- No slowdowns. Get it and use it.
- Easier. Get new programs with a point-n-click.
- Complete with OpenOffice and Firefox, something like 80,000 programs.
- It comes with all drivers, from the factory. No more hunting.
- Free tech support. Google for news, IRC chat with people, or ask me.
- Runs even on old machines. Some of my machines are NINE years old.
- It's FREE and  built to stay that way!

Do yourself a favor. Try it. You can get the "Live" CD and test drive it, first. They will even send you disks ready-to-go from the site:
http://Ubuntu.com

And no- I don't sell it, and the people who offer it don't sell it, either. We all share it. Strange concept, I know...but you'll get used to it. Imagine a trip/job/outing where your main computer *can't* throw a fit because of a virus...

I've been using it since 1999, and I'm no fan of 'complicated'.  Give it a try sometime!

(OH: and if you really must use that other leading brand, it'll run under Linux in VirtualBox!)