Excuse Me While I Wrap My Kernel

Yes, I know, I know... It's my own darn fault. If I hadn't been trying to watch the last season of Lost on the Internet (without paying...), I wouldn't have linked to the suspicious Website that, in turn, gave my computer a terrible virus.

Now, every time I turn on my computer, I get a false alert from a company telling me that my computer is infected (which, of course, it is - by their stupid virus!) Now this group of #$%!! hackers is holding my beloved PC hostage until I agree to give them my credit card number. (Which, I'm most definitely, not, by the way. I fell for that trick once in second grade.)

Anyway, because my computer is now virtually useless, I've decided to try something completely different. Instead of using the Microsoft OS to run things, I'm turning down a different path: Linux. Or, more specifically, Ubuntu.

To me, Ubuntu sounds like a mystical region from a forgotten contiment. Visiting there has not been easy! After so many years of sticking to the well-lit, safe world of Windows XP, I am way out of my comfort zone. Though I've successfully installed the Ubuntu software, I cannot access Wifi. And while there are plenty of websites offering information on how to do such a thing, I cannot understand them. Even the ones labeled 'for n00bs' or 'beginners' thwart me.

And, as I quickly found out, the natives of Ubuntu are not friendly to visitors. The uninitiated are mocked and told, "If you want an OS that runs like Windows, then buy Windows."

But learning this new system has got me thinking. For example, I'd never realized that there was such a (snarky) sub-culture of Linux users. Nor did I realize that changing operating systems would be as different as changing citizenship. And, until now, I've never given a thought to the layers of programming code that lie beneath the tranquil waters of my Windows screen. Certainly, I have a deeper appreciation for the complexity of a computer.

But the mystique of using Linux prevails. While I was installing the program, my teen aged son wandered into the room and said, "I've always wondered...who uses these weird operating systems for their computers?"

Apparently, they are the most legendary of intrepid people: middle-aged, suburban, soccer moms.

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Picture credit: Thor With the Hammer, Thor Arvid