I live in Portland, Oregon, where open source is not just the favored software methodology but a way of life. Yet despite my buddies sporting their Linux user group laptop stickers, I was desperately afraid. It sounded hard. It sounded geeky.

Then I needed a new laptop. I was going freelance and sending my corporate laptop back to the mothership. The refurbished Dell Latitude I bought was only $245 but came without an operating system. My geeky friends suggested Ubuntu -- the free operating system Linux users consider a beginner's option. I'd save a few hundred dollars on Microsoft Vista and the Office suite; and I didn't have the extra money so it was really my only option. That or spend a lot of time at the public library.

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