Must-read Article on GNU/Linux on the Desktop at Robert Pogson

I just read an insightful article at InformationWeek, “Why Linux Will Succeed On The Desktop” by Nicholas Petreley. He makes a number of important points very clearly:

“The Perfect Generic Client” – GNU/Linux does things on the desktop very well and because the web makes so much available, why pay for that other OS?
“Linux’s ‘Window’ Of Opportunity” – Thanks to M$ killing off the competition and releasing Vista as if it weren’t a beta, there is a large vacuum into which GNU/Linux can expand. Which would you prefer, a buggy, DRM-laden bit of vapourware, an OS from 2001, which although widely used and fairly well debugged, has given new meaning to the term, mal-ware, or a rapidly developing OS with world-wide support and a vibrant community of developers working publicly?
“Obstacle: More Preloaded Linux Systems Are Needed” – Most people do not install an OS. GNU/Linux can grow rapidly in usage if OEMs distribute it from the factory. This is happening now with Dell, Lenovo, Acer, HP, and a host of smaller operators like System76 and others (LXER pre-installed LInux database). Another technique for setting up GNU/Linux desktops rapidly is the LTSP which was used by the Extremadura region of Spain to put up thousands on a weekend.
“Obstacle: KDE Must Replace GNOME As Linux’s Preferred GUI” – The GNU/Linux world largely shifted to GNOME as a result of licensing issues that have now been resolved. KDE has definite advantages on the desktop which Linus Torvalds has recommended. I have not used KDE much since Caldera eDesktop but I could put it on my terminal servers if I wanted to test it. Students mostly use a few apps so it does not make much difference that I can see. To a wider spectrum of users, this may matter and because one of the goals of KDE was to smooth the transition from that other OS this may be a strong point.
“Open Document Formats Will Drive Adoption” – Organizations large and small appreciate the security of using an open standard for documents. M$ has promoted themselves as the standard but then keep changing the default format of their wordprocessor in order to sell new copies. The world has been fooled often enough that they do not want to be fooled again.
“The Bottom Line” – “Of the three top competitors on the desktop, Windows, Mac OS-X, and Linux, only one of them is free as in beer. That will go along way toward making it the de-facto standard on the desktop.”

My Mission

My observations and opinions about IT are based on 40 years of use in science and technology and lately, in education. I like IT that is fast, cost-effective and reliable. I do not care whether my solution is the same as yours. I like to think for myself.

My first use of GNU/Linux in 2001 was so remarkably better than what I had been using, I feel it is important work to share GNU/Linux with the world. I have been blessed by working in schools where students and school systems have benefited by good, modular software easily installed in most systems.

I have shown GNU/Linux to thousands of students and hundreds of teachers over the years and will continue in some way doing that until I die in spite of the opposition.

2 Responses to “Must-read Article on GNU/Linux on the Desktop”

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1 John � Granada Nov 26th, 2007 at 9:58 am

I am 61 and Dutch, Robert, living in Spain and since 1978 addicted to microcomputers, mostly for reasons of my publishing work. I agree with most of your current writings about Micro$oft. Having worked in Cupertino (some 20 yrs ago) for that other OS, needing to change to XP when in Spain (where assembled homebrew PC’s dominate the market) and failing to efficiently use Vista since Feb 07, I decided 4 weeks ago to rigorously change heart and switch to LINUX. Without loosing my data this transition took me 35 minutes only and a cup of coffea, to continue in OpenOffice that I used already for disliking and mistrusting M$ and its Office software. On-Disk provided me with a selection of 4 distro’s that I regarded as promising, of which (Ubuntu F) MINT finally became the lucky one and performs now completely to my linking! (PCLOS2007, Sabayon, MINT and Wolvix Hunter – the latter being a quite interesting compact “hobbyist” distro worth some deeper views!)

I need NOT inform you about the advantages of Linux, or MINT. However: of course we must not compare an outdated Microsoft DOS-based, locked up, operating system with a modern, open architecture like Linux (and Unix). Linux is no XP and v.v. One should never forget that. It is a completely different OS. The modern Linux DeskTop, for geeks with Compiz Fusion Cube, superseedes the Vista environment in speed, flexibility and allround safety to use. That is no comparison. What is far more important: Linux prevents the wear and tear on your computer that f.ex. Vista causes, its installation blowing up 2 of my PC’s after overheating things.
A CPU running 85% for trusted installments, HDs starting and stopping every few seconds and getting red hot, fan noises high pitched even screaming, must mean that something is darn wrong inside. Not so with Linux (Mint, et al). A spreadsheet ran on 35% CPU…. Temperature now 27 Celcius, Mobo 29. Vista didn’t run below 50 Celcius here, hitting 76 when installing. It killed the computer of my son. This phenomenon is worth mentionning I believe!

I wonder why so many people have a kind of “religious adoration” for Micro$oft and its OS’s. I can’t explain this as a love-of-ease, but rather sectarian behaviour. Stemming from a self-imposed fright “to loose everything” on computers when deviating from the “trusted faith”. But there is Life after Death, one can rightfully claim! Use Linux… download it or buy a LiveCD and get going. There is nothing to it – if I could do it, you can too, I always claim. The most important “block” I myself had to overcome was FEAR to indeed loose precious data when trying and installing LINUX. Had Vista performed as advertized (which it absolutely failed to do at all) I wouldn’t have tried, I am sure. Loss of productive hours, computer damage of sorts and frustration about unsollicited changes (so-called updates) within my OS made me loose patience and indeed take the gamble after studying Linux’ websites and analyzing Forums on distros. That took me about 2 weeks. In 3 days I got the distros from On-Disk and in 35 minutes I was up and running when finally installing MINT. The NTFS partitions with my data perfectly accessible, files completely compatible and all AV wizardry running better than on Vista (no DNR). And most tt-fonts come from my Windows collection, simply drag ‘n dropped into Linux.

Is it stubborness not to test Linux? Or is it FEAR? I wonder! My guess is, it is about 70% fear of the unknown. It is like making love a first time, or having a first glass of wine. You won’t die from it. You’ll rather come revitalized out of the experience. Now you are free, indeed. Free to shape and do the things you want your way “right out of the box”. Spreading fear and lies are apparently the hallmarks of these years. The test is simple for PC-users: try Linux and you’ll know it. For me it is: Auf niemals wiedersehen, Microsoft!

John
Spain
2 Robert Pogson Dec 2nd, 2007 at 8:23 am
Thanks for the wonderful comment. FUD is one of many tools that M$ uses to maintain its monopoly. Others are:
- pride. People never want to believe they have spent money foolishly or made poor choices in their IT. Some of the trolls on DesktopLinux.com seem to take it as a personal insult that anyone would say that other OS is not the best/only choice.
- pressure. The salesmen at M$ are like junkyard dogs in their persistance and aggressiveness. Techniques that have been used recently: threatening an audit so you will welcome a salesman in to help you out of the EULA mess, threatening to sue GNU/Linux users for unspecified (non-existant) patents, buying up competitors’ products to keep them out of the hands of consumers, charging more for a licence if a business sells another OS, and on and on.
- lock-in. By constantly changing file formats, M$ hopes users will constantly have to buy new software from M$ because they cannot otherwise use files from people who have already bought the new stuff. Also, M$ makes it difficult to interoperate so people are afraid they will lose data if they switch.