[TriLUG] Where is Linux today?

[Tim Jowers]

I agree 100%. The era of "Windows is better for the home user" ended
sometime last year. Have you seen Vista? It's a nightmare. This weekend my
sister-in-law had me troubleshoot opening Excel docs from Outlook. It opens
blank. She even demoed by creating a new Excel doc with one cell and saving
it to the desktop, closing Excel, and then double-clicking to open the doc.
Blank. Of course we figured out the workaround to use the File->Open menu
every time (Its actually some magic icon in Ofc 2003 with no File menu).
This is typical of Windows: the usability and quality are worse nowadays.

Linux is easier to use for the desktop. I think Mac is a great desktop Unix.
I recommend Linux as its free, has more apps, works great, and is the most
standard OS you can find. Mac is a good Unix distro but so is Ubuntu and
Fedora among others. Honestly, I have only booted my Windows box one time in
the last year to try out some Adobe Flex Builder which is only 1/2 featured
in their Linux version so far. Adobe did not realize the Linux domination
until recently. So, Windows still has special cases; but, for the home user,
basic user, power user, and software developer, Linux really is the best
choice. Ubuntu for the home user who is prone to mess things up. Fedora for
the software developer, in general. A software developer who is not using
Linux is wasting cycles.

Also, Microsoft has lost in the web space. In this space Java as clearly won
for IT. In fact, I interviewed a medium-sized company yesterday who kept
referring to "legacy". I finally asked them what mainframe footprint they
had and they clarified by legacy they meant Microsoft technologies.

Linux is the defacto server for the data center for many companies but many
others are still "Sun Shops", "IBM Shops", or "Microsoft Shops". Heck,
Mainframe sales were still growing even until the end of the 1990's!   In
order to save money one has to learn about new and better technologies. When
you run a government or insurance boondoggle data center then you do not
have to worry about saving money so just fork over $70K, $1M when you could
have just have easily spent $20-$40K. We really are living in the
"Technology Singularity" as the hardware and software power has accelerated
faster than system architects and software architects can adapt.

Linux dominates embedded. I think that is pretty clear. Of course there are
still DOS-based and VxWorks/real-time but Linux looks to be the dominant
force ovrerall. Windows CE? Didn't Microsoft drop the price to like $5/copy
and still get limited penetration!?!

Linux is dominant in supercomputers (over 50% of the top 100 run Linux from
what I remember). See, the argument for mainframes is weaker than some might
think!

If Linux improves anywhere near as much in the next two years as it did in
the last two - and I'm really talking GNU and all the other Open Source atop
Linux - then Macs and Windows will clearly be about as useful as Netware.
Looks like it is happening. The Internet is the largest Open Source project
of all and simply running away with the user base. Did you download your FF3
yet? :-) Oh yeah, if you're on the latest Ubuntu then you are already using
it!  Linux rocks!

TimJowers
P.S> I could go on case after case for how Windows sucks and Linux is
better. E.g. adding a network printer by using he IP address. This is a
really mess and user hostile process in Windows. E.g. what happens on
Widnows once you run out of RAM? Performance goes to pot and NEVER recovers.
Sudo implementation on Vista is just plain retarded. Windows beiung unable
to unmount USB drives or improperly unmounting them! Etc ad infinitum.



On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 4:35 PM, Kevin J. <mrkevinj at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Wow, awesome answers Cristobal (I keep forgetting how to put the little
> mark above the "o"). I can't add much  except to further agree with your
> statements in regards to users needing or asking for ongoing Linux
> assistance. We've given away dozens of computers through the Free Linux PC
> program (www.freelinuxpc.org), and have had almost no issues with users
> requiring assistance after they got their system home. Outside of someone
> needing a root password change one time, and a mother who called me because
> she had forgotten how to log-in to her glubble.com account (we show them
> how to lock down Firefox with Glubble if they have kids and are interested
> in that option), there have been no problems. We had one gentleman who had
> never used a computer in his life come to an event and receive a FLPC and
> some (very) basic training. He then came back to the next event to help
> others. While there he offered his phone number to new FLPC recipients in
> case they needed
>  any assistance. That just blew my mind. Some folks learn rather quickly
> given the opportunity.
>
> Kevin
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Cristóbal Palmer <cristobalpalmer at gmail.com>
> To: Triangle Linux Users Group General Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 3:30:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Where is Linux today?
>
> On Tue, Jun 17, 2008 at 12:56 PM, Maxwell Spangler
> <maxpublic08 at maxwellspangler.com> wrote:
> >
> > I recently recommended that a
> > good friend get a new laptop WITH Vista (for a high quality yet
> > inexpensive out of the box experience) and I generally tell anyone
> > asking about selecting a computer to look hard at Apple Macintosh (for
> > an excellent overall hardware + software experience.)
>
> If people ask me directly, I recommend that they get a Mac. If they're
> asking, they need a Mac. Unless they're college sophomores or younger,
> in which case I ask if they like to tinker. :)
>
> > I don't recommend Linux.  Why would I recommend Linux to a typical user
> > who wants to do simple tasks that OS X and Vista both do so well and
> > require no specialized training or support with?
>
> Specialized training? I set up an Ubuntu box for my mother almost two
> years ago and the only major bump she hit was trying to open MS Office
> 2007 files awhile back. What is this specialized training or support
> you speak of? Ubuntu really is kid tested, mother approved.
>
> > I especially don't
> > want everybody's brother calling *me* personally to support their Linux
> > system when it can't get on the net or "runs really slow" (as every
> > computer seems to do over time.)
>
> Every computer? Really? You've been in windowsland too long.
>
> Also, you're sending people the wrong signals if you feel like they're
> always turning to you for free desktop support. Just tell people flat
> out: "I'm a computer professional who charges for support, and I do
> NOT do desktop support. Period. I know _________ and _______ provide
> support if you need it."
>
> I have a friend who has a different approach: "Suuure. I'd be happy to
> help you with desktop computer support, but I have to warn you that my
> rate is $120/hour for Windows-based systems and $70/hour for
> everything else."
>
> > If you put your personal politics and preferences aside, you have to
> > admit that Linux, Mac OS X and Vista are all very powerful and capable
> > operating systems.
>
> Yes, and? Now that we're back in the real world where our politics and
> preferences matter quite a bit, are we going to recommend systems that
> we believe represent a broken approach to software? Are we going to
> steer people towards doing business with a company that violated
> antitrust law and managed to navigate the political waters (kudos to
> their legal and lobbying teams... and the Bush administration) out of
> being broken up, or any real consequences for that matter? Are we
> going to advocate lock-in and abuse of patent and copyright law with
> our purchases and recommendations?
>
> The OOXML ridiculousness should be interesting to watch as it unfolds.
>
> > It's a much better computing world than it was just
> > over ten years ago when Windows 98 would have been the default operating
> > system used by the world.  Back then I would have said Linux multi-tasks
> > better, crashes less, has a mountain of freely available programs, etc.
> > But now all three operating systems multi-task in multi-CPU environments
> > extremely well and the quality of applications available for Mac and
> > Vista seems to be easily surpassing Linux.**
>
> You were actively promoting Linux on the desktop ten years ago? Seriously?
>
> > I think Linux is stalled and I think that's why we don't see community
> > events anymore.
>
> Stalled how? I don't call Dell's or Asus' push with netbooks stalling.
> Open your eyes a bit. You're not seeing the progress you're hoping for
> because you've defined progress too narrowly. I think Linux-based
> "ultra-portables" and low-cost Linux-based desktops for browsing the
> 'net are going to make a huge difference. You might see some
> interesting network effects if sales of systems with Linux
> preinstalled pass 5%.
>
> > So what do you think?  Are you excited about Linux?  Why?
>
> Hell yes. Ubuntu keeps Fedora on its toes, the 1st-gen OLPC (which
> arguably paved the way for the netbooks) would have gotten precisely
> nowhere if not for Linux, the mainstreaming of the terms "Linux" and
> "Open Source" have consequences for law, politics, etc.
>
> Turn your eyes for a moment to the amazing Dean campaign of recent
> memory and also the ongoing 'net-powered campaigns of Ron Paul (yes,
> they're still around) and Barack Obama. Obama's website is a SNS. It's
> a thing of beauty when you take a step back and think about it, and
> it's made possible in part by Linux/Apache (in a technical sense) but
> more by the Open Source Philosophy, by the Bazaar. The brilliance of
> Obama's and Paul's campaigns isn't how they use hardware or software.
> It's that they've empowered all their supporters with existing stuff.
>
> That's what Linux and other Open Source projects can do: they can
> democratize innovation [0] faster. Linux keeps me excited both for
> what it can do technically and for the ready metaphors that it gives
> me. I can make the honest argument that an army of strangers with a
> common cause can produce (in many contexts) better results than
> Microsoft. If you want to go to conferences, just look for the
> projects or groups that _are_ having conferences. There are plenty out
> there. Hell, Red Hat Summit starts tomorrow:
> http://www.redhat.com/promo/summit/2008/
>
> Stay excited. Linux will never "make it" on the desktop the way many
> of you might have wished, but that's because the desktop is not the
> future. This is not a loss or even a setback. Keep looking forward and
> keep enjoying the amazing times we're living in.
>
> Cheers,
> --
> Cristóbal M. Palmer
> http://tinyurl.com/3apraw "They also abandoned other volumes, later,
> while fleeing from the librarians."
>
> [0] http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/books.htm
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