I have been a Linux user since the late 90's, when my main contribution was writing the original help documentation for Gnome System Monitor for the Gnome Documentation Team. In the intervening years, I have at various times run Red Hat, Fedora, and SuSE on my desktop, until I settled on Ubuntu a couple of years ago. Three things attracted me to Ubuntu in particular. First, the fit and finish was excellent. Everything that came out of the box worked, even temperamental applications like gnome-pilot, which seemed to be perpetually broken on other distributions. Second, the installation was clean and easy, incorporating just what was necessary but making available the full range of Linux software. Third, the community was extraordinarily supportive. Even while I was using other distributions, as time went on I found that Google was continually pulling up Ubuntu solutions when I looked for help. After a while, it just made sense to put Ubuntu on my desktop and, more recently, my laptop. Among applications that I especially use and like, beyond Firefox and OpenOffice.org, the Horde project and Postgresql deserve special mention.

As an attorney, I am always looking for ways to make the law more friendly to Linux, and Linux more friendly to the law. To that end, I have started participating in the nascent Legal Access Group, a Social Group for lawyers and others interested in software related to the practice of law, at http://ubuntuforums.org/group.php?groupid=209.

While work and family place greater limitations on the amount of time I have available for Linux-related projects, I am also contemplating ways that I might scrape the thick layer of rust off my Docbook skills and take another crack at Documentation.