Chapter 1: Welcome

Overview

If you're an avid computer user, there's a good chance that you've heard of Linux. You might have read about it, or perhaps you've seen television ads that refer to it.

One of the odd things about Linux is that the more you learn about it, the more questions you have. For instance, it's generally thought that Linux is free of charge, but this then raises the question of how, in our modern world, something like an entire computer operating system can cost nothing. Who pays the programmers?

Over the following introductory chapters, I'm going to try and answer some of these questions. In this chapter, I'll explain what Linux is and its benefits compared to Windows.