I just made the switch to a better OS. For free...to Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Linux. (My finances aren't currently allowing me to switch to the Apple of my eye, unfortunately. So I had to get creative).

I LOVE it so far, despite the fact that it took three tries to install it successfully (mainly because of my own stupidity). I also mistakenly wiped the partition on my HD that restores the PC to factory settings (which really just means it allows you to reinstall Windows XP), so I've no choice but to stick to Linux.

There was a minor problem after installation; the screen resolution wouldn't go beyond 1024x768. I did, however, find a good solution to this problem that seems to ail Intel-based graphics cards with Linux.

I've tried to "make the switch" many times before with Linux, but to no avail. I tried Knoppix, Fedora Core, Ubuntu Dapper (an earlier version)...it wasn't until I tried Ubuntu Feisty Fawn that *almost* everything went smoothly. It really does work out of the box (at least for my system).

I didn't even really need to configure my wireless card much! The only configuration necessary was to input the WEP password to my router and voila.

What prompted this seemingly sudden foray into a different operating system has a simple explanation. I've been planning to this for 2 years. It was either shell out $600 for a Mac Mini or install Ubuntu for free. The latter was a more realistic goal.

I chose today in particular to switch because an unfortunate event befell my Windows XP installation, an event that pushed me over the edge...well okay, I'm just being dramatic, but I have been having some problems with Windows that aren't immediately visible in my screenshots.

Now for those of you familiar with my desktop customization work on Windows XP, you may ask, does this mean I will no longer be posting screenshots on Windows? Being as I chose to make this PC entirely Windows-free, the answer for now is No.

Linux has some really flexible customization options, which I plan to explore at a later date.