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Where you can purchase a Linux PC or Laptop

Why choose Linux?

Chances are you've been using Microsoft Windows for years on your desktop computer, so why would you want to try out Linux? For lots of reasons, here are just a few...

1. Cost of the OS. Linux is only a fraction of the cost of MS Windows, especially when you consider MS Windows is sold with a per-computer license (Linux is licensed on a per-user basis). For example, if you had a computer at home, one at work, and a notebook for travel, you'd need three copies of MS Windows. MS Windows XP Home Edition is $200 ($300 for Professional Edition.) Since MS Windows requires a separate "activation code" for each of your computers, you've now spent $600, just for the OS. With Linux, you'll probably spend under $50! That's a savings of over $550!

2. Cost of the Computer. You may be thinking, "But MS Windows came free with my computer." That's not really the case, because the computer manufacturer pays around $100 to Microsoft for a license to include MS Windows, which then gets marked up by both the manufacturer and the retailer, so you could end up paying around $200 or more for every computer you buy if it includes MS Windows. Fortunately, due to the increasing popularity of Linux, there are manufacturers out there who will sell you a computer with Linux pre-installed instead of MS Windows, and you'll pay significantly less for these computers. For example, compare the KooBox, a Linux-based computer to computers running MS Windows. Here are some Linux computers from Wal-Mart for starting at under $300! Here are dozens of computer resellers, all over the world, who will sell you a Linux computer at a fraction of the cost of a MS Windows computer.

3. Cost of Applications. Here is where the savings really start to add-up. To get the basic Office Suite from Microsoft (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation software), you'll spend around $500 per computer. Again, because of Microsoft's activation codes, you'll need one copy for each computer. That means you'll be spending $1,500 if you have 3 computers. You can find comparable Linux Applications for under $100 (many even at no cost!), and you can use them on all three of your computers. This would be a savings of over $1,400! Click here for an example.

4. Total Cost of Ownership. Now, toss in support costs, other misc. applications, upgrade costs every year or two, and you start to see how you could be spending literally THOUSANDS of dollars to be using that "free" copy of MS Windows that came with your computer.

5. File compatibility. Linux will work with pretty much all the file types that are used by MS Windows. For example, click here to see all the different file types you can use with Linspire, the most popular version of Linux for use on desktop computers.

6. Stability. Linux is well known for its amazing reliability...it just runs and runs and runs. Users often report going months without ever having rebooted their computer. MS Windows users find it difficult to even go a day without having to reset their computer.

7. Virus Protection and Security. The basic underlying architecture of Linux was designed with security in mind. The problems MS Windows has had with viruses, worms and security breaches are well known. Some versions of Linux even come with Anti-virus integrated right into the operating system for even additional protection.

8. An "Open" System. Unlike MS Windows, which has many proprietary parts that only Microsoft has access to, most parts of Linux are open, so it's much easier for 3rd parties to develop, support and work on Linux software. Can you imagine driving a car that only the manufacturer knew how to change the oil on?

9. Linux is Fun. Because Linux is Open, you tend to have thousands of independent developers creating interesting software programs that you can run on a Linux computer, and most of these applications are much less expensive than MS Windows applications or even free.

10. Linux is Cool! Ask anyone who has used it, they have a hard time ever going back!

Walmart carries 3 Desktop/towers versions.

Get Linspire computers from featured Builders!

Guests This Week

8:00 - Craig will speak with Adam Jollans from IBM Software Group. Adam is responsible for defining IBM Linux marketing activities.

8:30 - Daniel Guermeur, the founder, president & CEO of Metadot, an Austin-based company that sells an open source portal technology, will speak with Craig about Open Source that anyone can use. If you've been dying to create your own website, you won't want to miss Daniel's story. It'll leave you saying "I never Metadot I didn't like!"

LinuxWorld Expo

PHOTOS: A gathering of penguin pushers

This Week's Giveaway

Radio Shack has provided us with an XMOD Customizeable RC Car Kit. Be sure to listen in to find out how to win.

Business and Security Technology

· Cyber Safety: What You Don't Know Can Hurt Your PC - When it comes to keeping your online adventures safe from scammers and malicious coders, school is never out -- It's a running battle to stay ahead of their ever changing antics, and you've got to stay current to win.

· RSA Security Releases 'One-Time Password' Specs - A company that helped pioneer computer security methods now seeks to increase that security through universal adoption of OTPs, but will they integrate easily with existing systems? Here's how to find out...

· Hitachi to Offer Security-Enhanced Notebook PCs - Paying homage to an ancient technology, these machines, more 'terminal' than 'notebook,' provide data security by foregoing local disk storage. That old ADM33 in the attic is looking better and better with each passing day.

· Antivirus Vendors Tackle Spam, Spyware - The focus of these antivirus companies broadens: As spyware becomes more malicious and pervasive, the market for big-label anti-spyware products grows with it.

· Microsoft, eBay, Visa Share Phony Phish Site Info - Unable to figure out how to rake in megabucks from licensing it, Microsoft has decided to share bogus website & phishing data with eBay and Visa WITHOUT charging money for it!

· Microsoft Walking Fine Line with Security Push - Microsoft would really, really, really like to make Internet Exploder more secure. But, oh shucks, the new security changes tend to lock out competitive products. Gosh, they'd never do that intentionally, would they?

· Security chiefs favor business savvy - The push is on for nerdy technoids to learn how to "speak business to power" without translators. Yes, it's painful, but so is getting run over by a garbage truck...

· Worms and viruses and phishers, oh my! - Obviously, these virus writers are not gainfully employed. Perhaps we can get them all real jobs -- BREAKING ROCKS and PICKING UP HIGHWAY TRASH!!

· New Services Emerge To Perform Checkups On Software Coding - The better your source code, the safer your software products. Realizing this, companies offer systems to make other programs "better" and "safer" from the very beginning of their "lives."

· MyDoom Worm Spreads Via Search Engines - This nasty e-mail worm employs morphing through search engines to insinuate itself into your cyberspace.

· Computer Bugs Find New Target - The wireless industry braces for malicious code aimed at "smart" devices.

· Technopolis Found - We weighed dozens of variables, from the number of homes with wireless internet to the number of robotic surgeries performed at local hospitals, to rank U.S. cities by tech quotient. And the winners are ...

· Break-In At SAIC Risks ID Theft -

· When ID Theft Starts at Home

Family and Technology Articles

· 10 Million iPods, Previewing the CD's End - Formless Media means you really will be using those CDs for drink coasters.

· Where toys meet tech - "Toy-ifying" tech makes it more appealing to kids. Hey, any ideas about how to toyify cleaning their rooms?

· Etch A Sketch, a staple of toy chests for more than 45 years, has gotten an electronic makeover. - When Jesus was a kid, he probably wanted an Etch A Sketch. Nowadays, he'd need a TV to use one.

· Technology claims to thwart DVD copying - Those darlings at Macrovision, who first brought you unwatchable videotape rentals, now will bring you unwatchable DVDs. That is, they claim, if they're illegal copies.

· Microsoft recalls Xbox power cords - Always lusting for ultimate power in the universe, Microsoft must now relinquish some. More precisely, they must relinquish an estimated 14 million replacement power cords for their Xboxes, because of a tendency of the cords to overheat and possibly ignite.

· Motorola Unveils RAZR Successors, iTunes Phone - If these phones get any thinner, you'll be able to shave with them.

· No Fun and Games in Cyberspace - This is hard to believe -- Phishers are using cyber-scams to steal PRETEND MONEY from online computer games, and sell it on eBay!! We can take a lot of guff, but when bottom-feeding scumbucket subhuman weaselmeat phishers start intruding into our online games, well, Mr. Checkov, load photon torpedoes!!

· Elementary school nixes electronic IDs - Privacy advocates warned us -- Now, a company tracking elementary students "like livestock," with electronic tags, has succumbed to protests from parents and the ACLU. But is this really the end?

· “and finally, I’d like to thank my high school physics teacher ...” - The sci-tech oscar winners won’t be getting teary-eyed on prime time. But for special-effects lovers, these techie brainiacs are Hollywood’s little-heralded heroes


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