Fairy-tales currently told about open source software say that once upon a time, long, long ago, life for Linux newbies was nasty, brutish, and short. Most Linux users lived meager existences in the Land of Slackware, where the user interface was a desolate command line landscape, with hardly any clickable icons for shelter. RTFM ogres dominated the virtual meeting halls, bellowing "RTFM!" ("Read The F***ing Manual") whenever a newbie raised his or her head to ask a support question. Slashdot trolls hurled flamebait after flamebait at newbies bold enough to wander onto the Slashdot's hallowed pages, and Linux user groups (LUGs) were gatherings of command line wizards huddled in groups darkly discussing the arcane mysteries of how to turn foo into bar.

Regardless of what you hear about the GNU/Linux past, the truth is that we live in the age of Linux newbie enlightenment. GNU/Linux is easier to use to install and to use than Windows. And most important, quality user guides for Linux newbies abound, among them being Rickford Grant's new book, Linux Made Easy. As you can tell from our two prior recent Mad Penguin™ Linux how-to book reviews, the only confusing chore facing a newbie these days is choosing the right Linux how-to book from among the plentiful offerings. Mad Penguin™ aims to help makes those choices easier, so stay tuned for more open source newbie book reviews.

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