It’s funny really, when you consider how many of us “so called” awake people happily sit here using the internet, totally reliant on Microsoft and Google to control our surfing. And when I say control, I really mean control. We have no idea how much information we are giving these massive globalist corporations each time we start up our laptops, PC’s and smart phones.
Like most people, we are not a single computer household. I have two laptops that I use regularly. The big one that sits on the arm of the sofa to allow me to keep up to date with things, while still being part of the family. This runs on Windows 7, which I still prefer to the awful Windows 8. I use another smaller Acer Travelmate which is far more portable and is usually used at the dinning room table running Windows Vista. My wife, when she can’t get on the “big one” uses a small Acer One net book also on Vista, plus there is this old tower system in the office, which until this week, was really an emergency back up machine running on Windows XP. Because, as a sort of hobby, I build and repair computers, there are a number of older laptops in the garage which could be used if needed.
Anyway, while laid up with this bug that’s been doing the rounds for the last few months (it was a heavy cold, not Flu, and no, even though work tried their hardest to get me to have the free poison jab, I have survived without it for yet another year), I started thinking about using alternatives to the globalist controlled operating systems browsers and search engines.
Apple is a very good alternative. My daughter, who is both a musician and photographer, uses a 27″ iMac, but that’s in her room, and certainly out of bounds to the likes of me. Plus it’s not exactly “Globalist free” computing, but she needs Photoshop and Logic Pro, so that’s her choice.
So where else do we go? The answer is of course Linux. Always seen as a fringe system, can it really replace the Windows? Well the answer is a big fat yes. I’m sitting here in the office, using a real keyboard, using and old tower with a freshly installed version of Ubuntu 14.10 and it’s brilliant. Blistering fast compared to Windows, and completely Gates free. It is very easy to personalise, comes with the wonderful Firefox browser. There is a non Google version of of Chrome if you really insist, and as for Internet Explorer, who still uses that anyway?
Ubuntu is one of dozens of systems based on the Linux framework. Mint is another good one, or Lubuntu if you really want the old XP experience.
As for a good search engine, again, here there is a lot of choice, but I’ve opted for Duck Duck Go.
OK, this is all very well, but what about software. Microsoft Office is still the market leader, but that, thank goodness isn’t available for Linux. The good news is that Open Office or the slightly better Libre Office is, and to be honest, I’ve been using them for years. In fact, there are thousands of really good open source software titles out there, all produced by people who put quality before profit.
So far, this old tower is now windows free, the netbook has also been converted. I’m changing over the Travelmate as soon as possible. As for the main laptop, I will keep Windows 7, only because I use Photoshop a lot and understand the program, but will install Ubuntu to run as a twin system. Gimp is a fantastic Photoshop alternative, but because it doesn’t use “actions”, and to be honest, Photoshop cost me a lot of money, I’m not yet ready to say goodbye altogether, but for general use, blogging and keeping Alternative-News-Network on line, I will be using it in Ubuntu mode.
So there we have it, I feel cleansed and free from Gates and Google. And before anyone says “you have Adsense on ANN”, yes we do, it’s a means to an end and helps keep the site online. If you have a better suggestion to help pay for the hosting and bandwidth ANN uses, please let me know because I would love to get rid of it.