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After reading a nice (albeit sparse) review (hat tip: Linux Today) of the new incarnation of Linux Mint – version 6, “Felicia” – I decided to take this purportedly-polished, evidently-elegant OS for a spin. By sheer coincidence, I happened to have an “older” (yes, everything is relative) P4-powered Dell Dimension set up anyway, so a moderately resource-constrained testbed was ready and waiting.

But before I even got around to popping in the Mint install disc – or even burning it for that matter – I was struck by one of the largely-unsung positive aspects of Linux: the sheer ease and speed by which you can find it on your digital doorstep.

If I wanted to put a copy of Windows Vista on my computer – legally, mind you – I’d have to drive down to the local big box store (which is closing, by the way) and hope they have a boxed copy of whichever among the six editions that I actually want. Even using every one of my Saab’s 250 horses (so much for “legally”), I couldn’t even make it there and back in the time it took me to download Linux Mint, let alone wade through the salespeople and the checkout line.

23 minutes, 15 seconds. That’s how long it took to pull down a Linux Mint disc ISO through my crumby DSL connection. Even if you add on another (rather generous) five minutes to burn the disc, it’s still faster than buying a boxed copy of Windows. And let’s not even discuss mail-order, whether it’s for a box-o-software, a preloaded PC, or a copy of Windows XP (which is only available by snail-mail).

I’ll admit, when most folks are ready to reload their operating system, procurement speed isn’t exactly the first thing on their minds – which is surprising in a society where people get pouty and start to twitch if their $7 latte isn’t prepared quickly enough. But it is something to consider: if you’re getting ready to format that hard drive, why fossil-fuel your way to CompuMart or wait days for the postal service, when you can have the latest new OS ready to install in less time than it takes to get a pizza delivered?!