Operating systems - Linux I.

I met with Linux long time ago.
Personally (I have installed it on my computer) it was 6 years ago. It was SuSE Linux 6.2. It worked very well, but there was no use for it in my work or for my family - unfortunately. So I tried some things, but when I needed that computer for my relative, I had to reinstall MS Windows 98 on the computer so he could use it. From time to time I worked with various distributions (SuSE, RedHat, Ubuntu, Aurox, ...) and currently I favour so called live distributions, mainly one called SLAX (as you can see in my Links section).
The reason is very simple, big companies in the Czech Republic (and I work for one of them) use largely MS Windows operating systems and office applications. I think that it is mainly for the conservative approach of their management and also there was no reasonable alternative to it 3 or 4 years ago.
So the use of Linux was only my personal hobby and you know the consequences of hobbies - no free time for family etc. I had to steal my time for making the acquaintance of Linux. Some time ago I met a student who was very familiar with Linux and actually prepared his own Linux distribution - one of the first live Linux distros called SLAX (initially Slackware Live, because it is based on the well-known Slackware distribution). These live distributions are very good for familiarization with Linux and the specialty of SLAX is that it fits on small (3.14") CD-ROM so you can put it in your pocket and take it anywhere with yourself. Another reason, I like SLAX for, is that it has very good hardware support - it was the first Linux distribution that worked on my notebook.
And from that time I started to investigate applications that I could use on Linux. And also on Windows in the better case. So I began to explore the world of open source, but it is another story.

The Idea of Open Source

I like the idea of open source.
I found out during my life that I need to communicate my ideas with somebody. It isn't the same as asking for advice. Sometimes only the fact you have to formulate your idea helps you to understand it and to see it from another point of view. And then you see it, you can solve the problem (if there was any), you know how to continue in your work. Without any comment, without any help.Sometimes it is easy.
Another good idea of open source is that you can contribute to projects if you wish and know how. And even you can evolve it.
So there are more ways how to "repay" the effort of other contributors. The donation is not the last one. :-)