Desire-Driven Computing Choices

Sometimes, we make choices based on needs, such as the use of a particular program needed for our work, but sometimes we can pick a system or a particular piece of software based on our wants instead. The vast majority of home PC users probably falls into this category. My daughter, for example, had migrated over to Linux last year after becoming increasingly with Windows, but a year earlier she had no interest at all in looking at her options. When she saw the Red Notebook application running on my system, she realized that it would be a very helpful program for her. Unfortunately, it's not available in the repositories for her current distribution, so this weekend, we'll change it over to Linux Mint, so she can run the the program too.

Choosing a new system based solely on a package that she wants to use, rather than because of a need, has been a rather eye-opening experience as she has begun to look at some of the other capabilities of the open source arena. It doesn't hurt a bit either that she will have access to a wealth of programs that won't cost her a dime - always a plus these days. Just for the times that she actually needs to use Windows, her machine will be set up to be dual boot, but I'm willing to bet that the Windows side won't be getting much action in her case. Especially since she saw Frostwire on my system and it looks like it might be possible to get her Sansa Clip to work as well....