Free software is software that can be used, studied, and modified without restriction, and which can be copied and redistributed in modified or unmodified form either without restriction, or with restrictions only to ensure that further recipients can also do these things. To make these acts possible, the human readable form of the program (called the source code) must be made available. The source code may be either accompanied by a software license saying that the copyright holder permits these acts (a free software licence), or be released into public domain, so that these rights automatically hold.

Linux is a powerful operating system, but chances are it's a very different operating system than any you've used before. The dizzying number of choices in distributions alone is enough to make your head spin, but it also means there's something out there that really suits your computing style.

This is the year I kiss Windows good-bye. Well, maybe not entirely, but the writing is on the wall for Microsoft's flagship operating system, and all other desktop bloatware: The future of PC software is open source. (I'll add that the future of PC applications is on the Web, which I'll cover once we've got Ubuntu in place.)

"I consider myself a beginning Lisper. I’ve been developing my software in Emacs for 8 months now. At first, I was clumsy at it. Emacs can be difficult and daunting. The terminology is different from what I’m used to, the key bindings are different, and there are just so many commands, configurations, and modes. But I’ve persevered and I now find myself quite nimble with key bindings and structured editing. And yet there’s still more to learn.

The subject of what to learn is treated in many online tutorials and printed books. But here, now, I thought I’d share some tips I use to keep the key bindings in my head from being garbage collected..."

Picture this: It's late at night. You've restarted your computer. The optical drive is whirring contentedly, but you have butterflies in your stomach. Tonight is the night you install Linux for the first time.

Hydrogen is an advanced drum machine for GNU/Linux, although there also appears to be a Windows installer available (it could be dated -I haven't tested it-). 'Its main goal is to bring professional yet simple and intuitive pattern-based drum programming', reads their website, and by god, intuitive it is!

Make 2008 the year you switch. Liberate your computer and join the Linux revolution. I want to make an impassioned plea to you, but not only that, I’m going to tell you how to go about it with confidence, stability and all the while being able to still do all the things you use your computer for. Read on!