It was the time when Computers were the most expensive thing and no one could usually dream to purchase a computer but in just two decades time has changed and now we can afford one Desktop Compute/Laptop Computer/Notebook etc.. for each family member. Electronic price is decreasing day by day. Since the day computer industry got this instinct that computer would be in each and every house in the world they found a way to earn big money using the Softwares. There is always a need of Software either you want to play a game in computer or want to do some office work.
If you look at 10 years back, the word Free Software was a kind of prohibited word. I mean public were not accepting this word at all, 1st because companies like MS & Apple dont give anything for free and they dont like this word at all. 2nd people used to think "who will give support if anything happens to my data or system?" which is very genuine thought. I remember when I used to buy PCQuest (1995-1998) I used to get lots of free stuff in their CDs but that free stuff is always a trial or demo software. It used to annoy me that in future I'll have to spend lots of money just on Softwares. During that time I got introduced to Linux and I liked it but I never thought this is gonna be a big thing in future because that time it was not as mature as Microsoft Windows. I used to think "How good it will be if I can get all good softwares free" but my second thought used to stop while thinking this because I knew Software development is not a joke you need to employ people to do that and if they sell me free how will these companies pay their employees.
But one day like Walt Disney my dream come true, it was rise of new language in the world that was Java. It was free (no demo no trial), supported by a strong company Sun Microsystem. It gave me a hope that at least few things will be free in future. Still I had that second thought and I wanted to see how Java can survive with strong MS Visual Basic because that time VB recently killed Developer2000, Power Builder almost. By the end of 2000 I was able to see a clear change in IT. Java almost killed VB. By the time there was again a rise of Open Source Web Server which was competing MS IIS, it was Tomcat which is still first choice of Web Developers. Than it came to database and then there was sheriff in town ;) MySQL.
OpenSource community was exactly what I used to dream, Well Supported Free Software. This progress was continue and in last couple of years almost every thing is free and that competes with any big brand software (i.e. Firefox, OpenOffice, ClamAV antivirus, Gimp, MPlayer..and lots more). This is a boon for a common man who can not spend money on softwares.
Another big name in this line is Linux. There are more than 100 distros available and all of them trying to make Linux more usable and replaceable to MS Windows. About an year back when I first installed Linux on my laptop, before that I used to think that it must not be having that support and maturity what MS Windows has, but it was my call I wanted to try Linux. First try I did with Mandriva and I felt that Linux is having superior quality than Windows now. I tried PCLOS and than Ubuntu. I was amazed to see that except for some small copyright issues there is everything free. Rightfrom OS to a rich image editing software (Gimp). I was able to Burn CD/DVD without purchasing any software. I am like a free bird in the sky. Its possible that there may be better communities in other distro but I used Ubuntu & PCLOS and I found that if I have any issue people provide solution in couple of minutes which is amazing. It made me more comfortable. Why people used to say that Free Software are not good, because you wont get support in future if anything goes wrong. Now I believe its the time when everybody in this world should support Open Source softwares because I dont think if I purchase Vista and something goes wrong I'll get solution in a day. It will definitely take more than a day. Also people used to fear (especially for OS) that Unix/Linux are not user friendly, I would love to show these people how friendly and faster Linux systems are (again I'm talking about PCLOS & Ubuntu).
For kids who enjoy Computer Games but its expensive for his/her dad to purchase those games then there is a good news for them too, Linux is too mature to handle 3D graphics and provides 1000s of games just for free.
Well for me its a dream come true, today I just pay for the Laptop Computer for their hardware. You must be aware that Dell Laptop comes with Ubuntu. So if Dell trust on Linux than I think anyone can. I want to spread my thoughts to all those who still afraid of trying Linux or free software. Please step forward and give a warm hug to OpenSource technology, you will be taken care by millions/billions people all over the world and and you'll get every thing better than branded softwares.
Thanks for reading my blog, please spread this word to millions and grow our free Open Source community.
