Shan Smith - Introduction

Without making this sound like a 12 step meeting, we're all going to be introducing ourselves, so you know what kind of background we all have.

My name (of course) is Shannon Smith. I'm a professional photographer, and own 831 Photography (along with my wife and our partner).

I'm an artistic geek by heart. I went to school on a dual scholarship of music performance and computer science. I've been working with computers since 1982. With my music background, I used mac quite a bit in college, and with my computer science background, I've used dos, windows, and linux. I'd say I'm quite well rounded when it comes to computers.

Basically, I need this t-shirt:
(BTW, if you want a shirt like this, or plenty of other fun geek stuff, go to http://www.thinkgeek.com )

The reason I originally wanted to use ubuntu was simple: I wanted something different. My laptop had Vista, and while I had no problems at all with it, I kept seeing more and more information about linux, and specifically, ubuntu. So I figured I'd see just how far along it has come from my college days. Just to be safe, I purchased a new hard drive, downloaded the installation disk, and fired it up.

Boy, was I impressed! Not only did it seem easy enough for the average user, it had some serious power behind it. I was really surprised to see how much support for raw processing it had built right in. I mean, it shows thumbnails for raw files - new cameras too! I still don't think vista does that.

I had already been using open source software - firefox (web browser), thunderbird (email), open office (word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, database, etc). It was an easy transition, as all these programs looked exactly the same.

It's been 9 months now, and rarely do I have to use another computer (some of my photo labs have windows only software for speciality product ordering - I'm still working on them :-) ). I organized this group to see what their impressions were, and if they thought it was truely ready for prime time.

I'll be posting helpful hints (since I'm one of the more experienced ubuntu users) as well as keeping everything flowing in a quasi-organized fashion. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

See you soon!

Shan

Linux: Ready for Prime Time?

Some of you know that I've been using linux (specifically, Ubuntu Studio) lately. I've been trying just about every program out there, and I can say for certain that ubuntu IS ready for digital photographers - professional or not.

I'm doing do an experiment with several professional and amateur photographers, ranging from seasoned computer geeks (namely me!) to people who have never seen an installation disk. I think if commercial software vendors see that real professionals (and serious amateurs!) are really ready to switch from windows (or mac - linux works on ANY system!), they'll open up to linux and start producing software.

What's in it for us? Lots. Right now, for the most part, people assume photographers use either windows or mac. Opening up to linux brings another competitor to the table, and a very serious one. Linux offers the speed, power, and ease of use that mac users (rightfully!) brag about - with the hardware pricing of pcs. This means if it takes off, macs will have to compete with the lower pricing of pcs, windows will have to really work on producing sound, solid code, and best of all, linux (and the open source community) gets more users, more focus, and more reasons to produce amazing software.

Who else uses linux? How about these names:

Disney/Pixar
Google
IBM
Most hollywood studios (seriously!)
Just about every web hosting company out there
me (not that I'm up there with those guys! LOL)

You don't need to be a "nerd" to do this either - in fact, we have some "basic" users. We're all going to post about our experiences, both good and bad. If you've been bemoaning the problems with Vista, or are just tired of seeing your computer slowing down because of all the excess baggage that is included (or gets installed), this may just be your ticket to unlocking the true power of your computer.

Another goal is to get more software companies to support the linux platform. There are several right now, including:

Bibble Labs - www.bibblelabs.com
These guys produce a great cross platform image processing program (similar to lightroom). If you haven't heard of it, you should really give it a try. It's super fast, has lots of built in features (like PerfectImage and Noise Ninja) and supports some amazing plugins. They have announced that they will be releasing their new version before the end of the year, and that anyone who purchases a license from this point forward will receive the next version at NO CHARGE.

LightCrafts - www.lightcrafts.com
Another image processing program, and it uses a very unique "Zone" system. It's very intuative for complex curve adjustments, and I have been able to quickly produce images and effects that I have yet to duplicate with any other program. Their program is called LightZone, and is another example of cross platform programming.

Google Picasa - picasa.google.com
Google has been a great supporter of linux. While this program is technically a windows program with a custom WINE wrapper (WINE is a windows wrapper for linux), they still took the lead, and provided lots of updates to the WINE community. Of course, this program is free!

If you use any windows or mac specific programs, we need to show the software makers that linux has a valid user base who are willing to purchase programs for this OS. Make your voice heard! Email their customer service, ask for linux versions. Post on forums that you use linux. Help your friends try linux.

As seen on a hilarious Mac vs PC (vs Linux) spoof on YouTube - "Tap into the unlimited power of community!"

Keep an eye here. We'll all be posting quite a bit about our experience. Hope you join us!

Shan