This weekend I managed to get Ubuntu Linux running on my PC, along side Windows XP. In the past I have tried to get away from MS products, but the hurdles have just been too high. There are still some hurdles with Ubuntu, but they’re not show stoppers for me. However, since my wife and kids use this PC, I can’t ditch Windows totally. This is a major source of Microsoft’s great power.

The two things that stop me ditching MS are office macros and kid’s games. Open Office is great, but there are still some issues between it and MS office. Our dependence on some spreadsheets means that we need to stick with Excel for a while. And the kids games are windows-only. I may be able to get them going with WINE, but haven’t tried yet.