Chlorophyll

The Canadian government has figured out that Linux requires far fewer hardware upgrades. That means less energy going into building new comuputers, and fewer computers (and nasty chemicals like mercury) going into the wastestream.

Upgrades to new operating systems, like, say, Vista, frequently require a new computer, because computers that are only a couple of years old won't run it properly. Linux, in contrast, will run just fine on those computers, and even older ones.

I've given away every computer I've ever owned, and since 2001, that's meant a computer with Linux on it. I gave an old iBook to a friend in Nicaragua, and within six months, he liked Linux better than Windows. If he can learn it, you can learn it.

Today, I run Linux on two computers -- a Dell laptop and an iMac. I just yesterday updated both to run the most up-to-date software available. Because I can do that as often as I like, at no cost, there's no reason I can't use these two computers for many years to come.