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Celebrating Independence Day

Sun, 07/06/2008 - 5:08pm — corfy

Everyone has their own way of celebrating Independence Day. Some have cookouts. Some set off fireworks. Some watch fireworks that others set off. Some go to parades.

I celebrated Independence Day (or at least, Independence weekend) by declaring my own independence.

My computer is now completely free (as in freedom).

I removed Windows XP from the harddrive on my home desktop computer. And no, I didn't replace it with Windows Vista. Actually, at the moment, I haven't replaced it yet. Since I was already running Linux on my computer, I don't need to replace it any time soon.

So now, Microsoft has no reason to spy on my computer. I don't have to worry about Microsoft installing software without my consent or knowledge. I don't have to wonder if Microsoft will wrongly accuse me of being a pirate. I no longer have to worry about being forced to buy a new computer just for the privilege of using their over-priced and under-performing software.

To be fair, this story isn't entirely a happy one. My old copy of XP is being put to use, just not by me. A friend of mine desperately needed a computer for a minimum amount of money, but she was unwilling to break from Windows. I built her “new” computer for her using a combination of new parts and parts I had sitting around, and then I uninstalled XP off my home computer and put it on her computer instead. I purchased my retail copy of XP back in late October or early November 2001, shortly after Windows XP was released, so I have gotten plenty of use out of it. But over the last two years, I haven't used it at all. Now, at least, it will go to a good home, at least until I can convince her to swich to Linux as well.

I certainly gave it a good start. I installed it with all sorts of open-source software. There is the OpenOffice.org office suite, the Firefox web browser, the Thunderbird email client, the GIMP photo editor, the Scribus desktop publishing program, the Inkscape graphics design program, the GnuCash finance program, and many others. I started her off with the equivalent of probably close to $2,000 worth of software... if that software had been purchased commercially.