Linux
Let's talk about Linux. Where did it come from? What can it do for you? How long does your beard need to grow before you can get it to work?

Linux is totally free. It's open source, which means the code is free for anyone to take and edit. Not only can you download it, but you can even fork it. This means you can create your own version.

If you wanted, you could literally publish your own version of Linux under the name "Maroon5 Sucks OS", and I bet if you paid Google about a trillion dollars, they would base the next version of Chrome OS off of it and print "Maroon5 Sucks" right across the lid. But Google probably wouldn't do this for anything short of a trillion dollars. As it turns out, you are not as dependable of a maintainer as the people who work on the official Linux kernel.

So why do those maintainers do it, especially when they don't always get paid? In programming, "money' isn't the only form of money . There is also time.

Let's say you have three teams of people that make competing software. The bosses pay their engineers to build applications profitable applications. The development of these applications will take time.

Let's say that all three of these teams have to overcome a really obnoxious problem - like accounting for timezones. This is code that they will all have to write, test, and maintain. It also needs to be perfectly accurate.

So why would all three teams write their own? Why not just share one algorithm that they all test, contribute to, and maintain together? That way they save time and get to focus on the stuff that is more important to their bosses. Nobody gets paid for the code, but it makes everyone's life a whole lot easier. They are paid in time .

This is how open source generally works. A bunch of people pitch in and write something that makes everybody's life a lot easier. The maintainers of the official Linux kernel keep at it because they need it - and so do many other people.

This wonderful concept can trickle down to end users, even if they will never write a line of code in their life. When you use Linux, you can ride on the coat tails open source symbiosis - and the best part of it all is that these programmers are delighted to have you along for the ride. More users mean better testing. With your permission, they can collect information from your machine and work on the errors that you find. You, in exchange for free software, become an extreme test case explorer.

Have you ever downloaded an update and felt instantly depressed once you saw the new changes to your favorite app or system? The biggest example of this kind of upset that should be staring you in the face is Windows 8. For whatever reason, Microsoft looked at the world's most popular operating system and though, "Let's make the next version totally unrecognizeable."

Don't get me wrong - some people like the giant tiles and bright primary colors. That's not the point. My point is that if you want to continue to use Windows, you have no choice but to live with Microsoft's sometimes erratic design decisions.

In the land of Linux, the tables turn. When a distribution (i.e., a flavor of Linux) release an update, it is done with great fear and trembling. Why is that? It's because distribution maintainers know that any poor design decisions on their part can cause an equal and opposite exodus of faithful users.

Consequently, there are thousands of versions to choose from, and fearing your dissatisfaction, most of them include plenty of ways to customize your user experience.

There are versions that look really similiar to Windows.

There are versions that look exactly like Windows.

There are versions that look like something out of the control room of Jurassic Park.

There are versions that look exactly like your mom's Mac.

There are versions that are look like a combination of Mac and Windows.

And there are versions that look like a whole different animal all together.

The point is you never have to be a sucker for someone else's opinion. If you believe that the last good looking computer was made in 1991, you can use that look forever. If you like to use something different every day, you can make changes on the fly. You can switch the clock to army time, change the color of the window's shadows, and even use a little picture of your dog as the mouse cursor. The choices in Linux are unlimited.

Everyone has their own software preferences. Remind yourself of your own, then imagine yourself setting up a fresh new Windows or Mac computer.

1. Open Safari or Internet Explorer (make sure you wash your hands after). Go to Firefox's website. Download installer, open, and follow the instructions.
2. Go to VLC's website. Download installer, open, and follow the instructions.
3. Go to GIMP's website. Download installer, open, and follow the instructions.
4. Go to Thunderbird's website. Download installer, open, and follow the instructions.

The pattern is inevitably tedious. Even worse, the only way you are going to know these applications need to be updated is faith that they will individually nag you the next time you open them. The whole system is ecclectic at best and a mess at worst.

In Linux, a beautiful thing called package management is used. If you don't know what it is now, it's about to become your new favorite thing. All the software available for the system comes from one source. Therefore, if you want to install anything new, you only need to visit one place. Most versions of Linux make it look really pretty and browsable, but the reality is that installing anything takes only one command.

In Ubuntu (a popular version of Linux), performing the above steps would look like this:

sudo apt-get install firefox vlc gimp thunderbird

Abracadabra. The applications are totally removed and they are no longer rolled into your software updates.

Package management is one of those things that you can never stop using once you figure out how to use it. If you have an obsessive need to keep things clean and organized in your workspace, switching to Linux would be worth it for the package management alone. I even keep a giant list of all my favorite software on hand. That way, if I ever want to do some spring cleaning of my system and start from scratch, I just run a script - and by the time I've made a sandwhich and come back, I have all of my favorite software installed on my machine.

This reason is much more subjective than the others. Getting to customize anything I want on my computer makes using my computer more fun. I'll be honest, sometimes I go a little crazy and break something. I'll install a theme or plugin that wasn't quite ready for the general public, and now I can't boot into my desktop. But you just have to make reasonable preparations if you are going to go off of the beaten path and do some ricing (customization). Keep backups, read things before you do them, don't start anything big too late at night, and never drink around blank DVD's. I've personally coined the term drunk partition . This is when you wake up next to a bottle of Honey Jack with a new hard drive partition that you don't recognize and a DVD with a handwritten label that says "FREEBSD lol ;)".

Don't get me wrong - there are plenty of means in the Linux community to set up something simple and dependable and mind your own business. But for whatever reason, most of us take weird pleasure in breaking our machine and learning about our system by fixing it.

Computers can "boot off of" things other than themselves. I like to think of it like putting your car up on a jack. You can temporarily have your computer live off of a CD, SD card, or USB while it sets your hard drive aside.

This is a great way to try Linux. You can create a CD, which will almost always give you the option of just trying it out before you install.

The hardest part about doing this is that you have to burn the CD yourself. Here's how it will go:

1. Download a Linux image. This will be a file that ends in ".iso". Most of them are pretty big, so it may take a while. Here is a link to Ubuntu's download page.
2. Grab a blank CD or DVD. You are going to want to burn the iso to the disc. Both Mac and Windows usually have built in utilites to do this, but if you are not sure how, now would be a good time to prime your Google-Fu . Make sure you burn it as slowly as possible.
3. Insert the disc into your drive. Wait until it registers, then power down your computer. Once it is completely off, power it back on. If you have Windows, follow the instructions in your boot screen (it's usually one of the f keys) until you find a place where you can select the disc. If you are on a Mac, hold down the alt key and wait until the disc become available to select. Bear in mind, it's been a while since I have done this. The boot process may be different for each computer, but it's easy to find (even if this has to be your last call to geeksquad ever).
4. You should see the purple splash screen. Ubuntu will present you with two options - Install, or try it out. I think it's clear which you should pick.
5. Once you are done playing around in Ubuntu, power down, then power back on without doing anything. You should be back in your own system, where you can remove the disc and pretend none of this ever happened (unless you enjoyed it).

Virtualization is a need little trick. Without ever turning off your computer, you can launch a tiny virtual computer in a window. Given, it won't be as powerful, but it's a great way to try something out in a truly isolated sandbox.

I like to use VirtualBox. It's free, and pretty dependable. Download the software and the ISO mentioned above and create a new virtual machine. While setting up, you will load the ISO file into the virtual dvd drive of your virtual machine. Once you are set up, you can play and pause it like a VCR. All of the happenings of this dangerous Linux experiment will be contained to a little window on your computer. Once you are done, you can power it down and delete it.

Get an old computer. Linux can run on pretty much anything, especially a $50 craigslist laptop or your dad's old PC.