Giving kids a fresh start with Qimo Linux

One of the great challenges to Linux adoption is inertia. Many Windows users, for example, have spent decades learning and using the operating system: they don't want to be bothered with moving to and learning another.

Those are fogies like you and me. Kids, however, are a tabula rosa.

Taking advantage of that concept is Qimo, a desktop operating system geared toward kids that is based on the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. Developed by a husband-and-wife team Brian and Michelle Hall, Qimo was released in mid-February.

Getting kids into a new operating environment lets them, not Microsoft or any other company, define its boundaries. But getting Qimo going likely will require convincing parents who are already into Linux to install Qimo for them--in other words, the very sort of parents who probably already have their kids running the "grown-up" Ubuntu.

Even so, I like the idea of Qimo and would love to hear feedback from those who have installed and evaluated the system, especially if you're under the age of 12. :-)

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