Recently a number of you in the OMG! Ubuntu community have been wondering about my “Ubuntu is Easy” videos, and why I have chosen to create a series of what seem like extremely simple tutorials.

A few of you have wondered if they’re even necessary. A few more think that I shouldn’t use Windows at all if I’m a true open source proponent. Here’s my short answer to that and more Linux politics.

Now for a longer answer:

I know for a fact that there are a number of really wonderful advanced tutorial makers out there, both in video on YouTube and in text; I have benefited from many of them myself. I feel like there is a need for someone to reach out to new or prospective users of Ubuntu, and so my hope was to be someone that might help show these people that Ubuntu isn’t as hard to use as they have heard it is (remember the girl who was “forced to quit college” because her Dell laptop came with Ubuntu on it?). So my tutorials aren’t going to be as advanced as some are out there, and I’ll likely never be a technical support expert. I just use the tools at my disposal as best I can.

I see Linux, particularly Ubuntu and distributions based on it, as great tools for doing what I need to do on a daily basis. Yet I can’t completely get rid of my Windows tether. Why? Because certain things I want to do, particularly playing the most recent games, require me to use Windows (if I want support for cutting-edge hardware and getting decent frame rates).

So until we see some parity in that respect I am going to continue to use proprietary software. I understand that some people are fanatical about the open-source initiative and feel that using Windows is a slap in the face to the community, but I just don’t share that sentiment. I’m a user of software, not a political activist.

Video produced on Linux Mint 10 using Kdenlive, Audacity, and GIMP.

Are you into Open Source but use proprietary products? Why or why not?

Feel free to reply below, or write me on my Twitter or Facebook!