I've been using Linux as my primary operating system since 2003 and haven't had much reason to regret the switch from Windows, although Linux isn't for everybody just yet. I was introduced to it by Tod Amon, a brilliant professor at Southern Utah University (where I received a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science).

My first introduction to Linux was Red Hat (the "distro" installed on campus), but my first installation was Slackware. I'm not sure why I decided on Slackware (it was a real beast back in 2003), but I'm thankful I did because it helped me understand Linux at a much lower level, which makes me more able to fix things when they break now. For the most part, I avoided RPM distros back then, because of RPM dependency hell.

An acquaintance in the on-campus "Linux Lab" tipped me off to Gentoo. What really appealed to me with Gentoo was its package management system (Portage) which uses repositories to automatically download programs and install them, resolving and installing dependencies too.

I stayed with Gentoo for several years, but its compile-from-source methodology eventually wore on me. During this time, I experimented with other distros, mostly just trying out various LiveCDs. I installed Debian on a friend's computer because I didn't want to spend the week+ to install and tweak Gentoo. I was amazed that the installation went so quickly and smoothly, but I still had my reservations (I wanted bleeding edge software and Debian was known for lagging behind to ensure stability). A year or so later, I got wind of a Debian-based distro named Ubuntu. I wasn't overly impressed with it at first because its repository didn't include all the programs I used, but the way its LiveCD handled installing new software really caught my eye. Then, about a year ago, it happened. My laptop finally croaked and I had to get myself into a working desktop ASAP. I'd already installed Ubuntu on another friend's computer, so I figured I may as well give it a run for myself. So far I've been satisfied with the results. Ubuntu is the #1 distro for a reason. It seems that Mark Shuttleworth's philanthropic passion has spread among developers and things are progressing very quickly now.

My first desktop experience was with KDE. I found it configurable enough, although it had some strange defaults (I find the default digital clock to be horribly ugly). I'm a minimalist, so when I later had the choice of a window manger, I went with Window Maker, which is much lighter weight. It didn't take long before I was lured away by the beauty and simplicity of XFCE. I used XFCE for some time until I ran into problems keeping it up-to-date on my Gentoo system. It was then that I begrudgingly started using GNOME. I am now a devoted GNOME user, even though it is at times a love-hate relationship.

One of my long standing passions is user interface design. I've always been an architect at heart and this is one area that I find both challenging and satisfying. Some of my thoughts on desktop interface design can be found here.

As far as text editors go, I currently am a big fan of vim. I started out using emacs, and really liked it, but it is rather bloated and not as available as vim.