I was recently introduced to Linux. I have always been a little scared of Linux because most of it has always been about knowing the Unix commands. The great thing about Linux is that there are many different flavors (ie distributions) and each was designed for a specific purpose. Most people have heard of Red Hat which was designed for server functions. Another very popular Linux distribution is called Ubuntu. This distribution was specifically designed for home PC use. After installing it a few times I started enjoying it quite a bit. It has good aesthetic attributes and seems to respond very well even with older hardware which makes it great for use on an old PC that you can’t run the new versions of Windows. It comes with Firefox and an email client that works pretty well. I would recommend it for anyone how comes upon a free PC or laptop that doesn’t have Windows with it.

The reason I bring all this up is because of a paper I wrote back in college. I was tasked with writing a paper about a future technology that had not been invented yet. I chose to write how someday hard drives will be a thing of the past and that everyone will have their own storage medium that can run their computer from any operable computer. I predicted that eventually people will be able to carry a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) device and from those would be able to use their computer. This is still not invented, but I believe it may be on its way. I recently visited http://www.pendrivelinux.com/ and found that you can install a non-persistent bootable version of Ubuntu on a USB drive. That means you can take your PC with you wherever you go and no matter which computer you have access. Just boot to the USB drive and you have access to all your files and emails.