Hi and Thanks.

[colevua at lavabit.com]

Hi. Wanted to say Thanks to all the developers who make it possible for me
to run ubuntu.

I'm new to the list. I'm also new to ubuntu. Long time Windows user here ;)

For those who are interested, below I talk about what led me to ubuntu and
why I like it:

I've almost exclusively used WindowsXP with some experimentation with 7
and 8. I haven't been impressed with what I've seen of Windows Vista/7/8.
So I took a look at Mac and Linux in September because WinXP is getting
mighty old. Ended up with Ubuntu. I am using 12-04 because I prefer
stability and don't like to change things up every six months. So my
preference will be to likely use the LTS every 2 years. I'm told this is
fine and normal for some people. Not an easy transition to move from XP to
Ubuntu. Unity is great. It's just there's lot of difference between how
Linux runs and how Windows runs. I like the way Linux runs better though.
Many things about Linux I find I prefer:

-I like not having Activation Keys
-I like being able to install the OS on new hardware--so there's no bloat 
-I like how Linux highlights text: if I single-click, a cursor appears
where I click (I hate in Windows how a single-click highlights a whole
word). If I double-click in Linux a whole word gets highlighted. And if I
triple-click, a whole line/section highlights. This is very intuitive and
I use it all the time.
-I like repositories and how all apps get security updates through the
Update Manager
-I like not having to restart after every OS update
-I like being able to uninstall major packages. Like in Windows I can't
uninstall Internet Explorer.
-I like many of the applications that are available for Ubuntu. I love
EXAILE for example--great music player (favorite music player across all
platforms). I also like Gedit much more than Notepad.
-I love the font in Ubuntu. Windows' font is too tiny and always gives me
a headache. The Ubuntu font is fabulous and is much easier on my eyes.
-Many more things.

I like Ubuntu so much and the philosophy/open source ideas behind it I
wanted to contribute to help Ubuntu. So if my experiences or feedback can
help inform or improve ubuntu in any way, I'm happy to contribute and take
part in the discussions. I'm really excited that the developers let users
take part in discussions :)

Ubuntu Developers you are doing great work and I'm really impressed with
the product you guys are putting out. Thanks for letting me be a part of
it in this small way!