We are all back to normal here at Geek In Gear after my rant this morning. The lack of hate mail constructive criticism leads me to believe that almost everyone noticed me getting up on my soap box and politely averted their eyes as they walked away quickly. I thank you for letting me spew (and so does my fiancee, because for once I got a bug up my ass and did not rant to her all day about it). Moving on, I have a great double feature of Ubuntu linkage for you.

First up we have a great thread on the Ubuntu Forums site that is the best guide for converting Windows users to Linux that I have ever read. There is not that demeaning tone that is often present when Linux zealots discuss why Linux is better than Windows. Even more amazing is that the guide tells you when NOT to convert Windows users, which is conspicuously absent from most articles of this type. It is this sort of pragmatism that keeps drawing me deeper into Ubuntu and its community.

Second, we have a fairly decent list of "essential" apps that anyone using Ubuntu will probably want to have. This list is written by a Mac user, so the comparisons are from an OS X point of view (which I have not really seen before). Just like the forum post I just mentioned, this list is very realistic, it doesn't pull any punches when it comes to the Linux equivalents not being up to par with their OS X counterparts. I don't agree 100% with all his app selections, but I don't think any two Linux users will have the same favorite app for everything. That said, there are probably about a half a dozen alternatives to the programs on the list, so if you don't see your favorite software (or give these suggestions a try and don't like them) don't fret. This is just one way a user has made the move to Linux.

How To: Convert Windows Users to Ubuntu [via Digg]
Essentials, 2006 edition [via Lifehacker]
computers software Linux Ubuntu Windows