I've been a Gentoo user for the last ~4 months, before that, I was an Ubuntu user, before that, I was a Gentoo user, and before that, I was an Ubuntu user... and the same story loops at least 2 more times. Why? you may ask. The answer is simple: they are (imho) two of the best linux distributions out there you can drop in your personal computer, and I just can't pick one without missing the other. And so it came to pass, when I decided it was time for a change, that Ubuntu had settled as my main working environment for the upcoming months.

First, let me introduce Gentoo, so that you can understand a bit better my point of view: Gentoo, is a geek-oriented Linux distribution. What is that supposed to mean? It means great knowledge is assumed from the user, who also happens to want more control over the entire system and, of course, must additionally enjoy Gentoo requiring this facts. Here are some tips about Gentoo:

• You install it manually, i.e. downloading files, copying and extracting them, setting up some system wide parameters, compiling every piece of code you will need, requiring some specific functionalities from specific packages, optimizing them for a desired hardware, etc.
• Most of the tasks mentioned above, are accomplished by Gentoo's package manager: Portage. This little tool, basically calculates all the dependencies needed to install some given package with a given version and a given functionality, then downloads, extracts, compiles, installs and configures them all. Yes, its pretty cool.
• Gentoo is a fast moving target. Even though you can find versions as 2006.1 or 2007.1, that does not mean you will be able to say: "I am using Gentoo 2007.0" because that is not entirely true. Portage lets us choose which version of a package we want to install, and we could even have two different versions of the same package installed at the same time, but this completely breaks with the whole idea of "distribution versioning", since you and me, we could both have, say, Gentoo 2007.0 installed, but I could be using KDE 3 while you are using KDE 4. So, in other words, which Gentoo version you are using is up to which packages you have installed (and how those packages are supposed to work).
• Gentoo's documentation is way better and larger than any other distro's. You can take a look here at the official docs or wiki, but that would be just the tip of the iceberg.
• Everything you will ever need to do, you will be able to (and must) do it from the command line (call it, terminal, shell, console, tty, whatever).
• In theory, since you compile everything optimized for your hardware, your system should be faster. In practise, this is barely perceptible (at least for me).

Of course, I really like all that. But then, there is Ubuntu.

Ubuntu is a breeze, you simply put the live cd in your drive, 2 or 3 clicks, and you get a great desktop environment set up in your computer, including office solutions, internet browser, instant messaging, VoIP client, multimedia players, photo manager, image editor, mail client, cd/dvd burning application, bit torrent client and even some games! Ubuntu comes with great hardware support, and it even makes installing those bad and ugly proprietary drivers for your crappy video and wireless card plain easy -- not that this is a good thing, it is bad, but it is their fault! (read nVidia, ATi, Broadcom, etc).

So, there I was, with my new shiny Ubuntu, completely fascinated, because this very version (8.04 Hardy Heron) is what I would call a Perfect desktop environment. It is stable, secure and modern, as its foundation is the best operating system out there. It makes using it a great experience, since all the pieces fit perfectly, it has an excellent community which provides excelent support, and the best of all -- as well as the only reason why this facts are true -- is that Ubuntu is software libre.

Ubuntu just works, most of the software you will ever need are already in the official repositories. That means you just have to type the name of the application you are looking for, hit "OK" and in a couple of minutes it will be ready to be used. Wait... you don't even need to know the name! Just type what you are looking for (i.e. "chat client") and you will be offered a set of choices to install.

If you have digital camera, thumb drive, mobile phone or bluetooth, chances are you will be plugging it and it will just work -- no need for installing drivers or spyware provided by your hardware vendor. Forget antiviruses! there is no such thing as a virus, worm or malware here.

Keeping the system up-to-date is really easy, you just need to acknowledge by clicking a button when you are prompted for this. Updating your system will bring new security fixes or features to the installed software.

Working together with other linuxless computers is also easy, you can share files and printers with them, work remotely via VNC or SSH, and you can even run another operating system inside Ubuntu.

There is no valid excuse to not trying this, and even if you think there is, you'll see there are a lot of choices around, and at least one of them will lead you to a solution. Just try it, you wont regret it.

Wait, this was supposed to be a Gentoo vs Ubuntu thing! Nevermind, I enjoyed it.