I have recently installed linux on my old laptop and I’m loving it.  I’m keeping Windows on my main computer until I finish writing my thesis, but from what I’ve seen Kubuntu (a type of linux) could easily replace windows and there is software for everthing I need to do.

Actually I reinstalled XP so I could dual boot it with Kubuntu.  The installation and updated of XP took much longer than Kubuntu and Kubuntu had all of the drivers I needed while I had to download them from Dell for the XP installation.

I simple distribution looks like a good idea for pastors, especially small churches.  I have set up a system that would do everything I need for the church at the cost of burning one CD.  There is a learning curve for linux, but as a solo pastor I’ve had to learn some basics about computers just to keep things running (my brother-in-law has been a helpful resource).  In other words if you have to learn how to do basic maintainence it doesn’t seem to really matter what system, you still have to read and figure out what your doing.  Furthermore,  I like the idea of open source  seems like it is very conducive to Churches or non-profit organizations.  Also, I’ve been impressed with Bible Time, a Bible study program that has a very intuitive interface compared to others I’ve used.

The neat thing is that several distributions have ‘live CDs’ that let you boot the system and try it out before actually installing it.