You may or may not have heard of Linux before. Even if you have heard about it, most people don't know very much about it.  I didn't know much till about a year ago. So...

What is Linux?

It's an Operating System (OS). Windows is the operating system almost everyone (who isn't on a mac) uses. In the early 90's windodws was the best most user firendly OS, so it became popular. Linux has been around for a while in various forms, and has always been free. The problem was it was made by nerd for nerds, you had to have a good amount of technical abilities to run it. Fortunatly, in the last few years, a huge effort has been made to make it easier to use. There are a number of different versions of Linux (it's open source so anyone can make one), but the most popular and easiest is called Ubuntu.

So Who Should Use Linux?

The are a few good reasons to use it. It's 100% free, possibly even 120% free. It runs a lot faster than windows, and can run on older computers much better. You don't have to worry about viruses and spyware. Most importantly, people will asume that you are really smart and tech savvy just for saying, "I use Linux."
The biggest reasons not to use Linux are... if you already have windows, linux isn't so much better that it's worth switching. Windows programs don't run on linux. There are ways of running the most popular programs, but not all of them. Doing most things is really easy in Linux (well in Ubuntu anyway), there is even a program that will download and setup all the common programs for you. If soemthing doesn't work right it can be very difficult to fix, but that is true for Windows as well.

Two years ago, linux was a good option for uber-geeks. It has come a long way and now is a great option for a second computer or for people who don't mind learning a new way of doing tihngs. I really believe that in another two years, Linux will be flat out far and away better than Windows, but time will tell.

If you want to know more give me a jingle, I'd love to let you know if Linux is right for you and help you get setup!