March 08, 2009

Linux has turned out to be a totally different experience than what was thought earlier

Linux has progressed a lot in the last two years. It seems unbelievable to go back to KDE after the fourth version touched the servers back in early 2008, but it was not ported into many distributions until the second half of the year.

Now most of the distributions are pre-packaged with KDE 4, an eye candy! Just two years back, KDE was dull and ‘ugly’. But the recent releases of Kubuntu 8.10 Intrepid Ibex, openSUSE 11 and Fedora 10 are preferable over Vista as far as beauty goes.

Now Linux is a totally different experience than what was before. It is wrong to call it complex as distributions are coming with ‘one click’ installs of software! Most distributions are now even targeted to give the Windows users a taste of Linux.

It does need some discussion why Linux has not yet been able to penetrate through the market even after Microsoft’s fuss about counterfeiting. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of this OS.

Pros

• Free and legal access to thousands of software with alternatives to what we already use on Windows.

• Never use an OS older than six months (as goes the release cycle of some common distributions). Ubuntu (www.ubuntu.com;  shipit.ubuntu.com) offers genuine CDs delivered at your doorstep free of charge while you have to spend as much as Rs25 for a pirated Windows CD! The only drawback being the time taken for delivery (four to six weeks).

• Dozens of different desktop environments to choose from, you are sure to find one that matches your taste.

• Say goodbye to viruses and anti-viruses.

• Up-to-date system with more or less the same requirements as that of ‘ancient’ XP.

• Enter in the new era of flexibility. Who can tolerate the rigidity of Windows? (You’ll understand the rigidness of XP once you get a taste of Linux!) It isn’t anything stupid!

• Never feel alone as there are numerous forums to get help (which you will need in the beginning). After all, a foreigner needs a roadmap wherever he goes.

• Linux community is friendlier while the Windows community is always formal.

• Have a reason to show off. There is no showing off in a usual Windows environment.

• Forget about genuine and pirated. Work in more fruitful environments.

• Cut yourself from the illegal chain of piracy.

• Break the monotony. Who can tolerate the same arrangement of a desktop for decades?

Cons

• WINE (Windows Emulator) continues to improve but lots of Windows software are still incompatible with WINE. But there are always Linux alternatives!

• Some (rare) software may not be already packages with your distribution. ‘There are no software CDs for Linux!’ You have to download the software packages from the internet! But it may be done only once and a person like me can always reuse the packages and you can too, as long as you are not a download junkie and do not keep on updating your software. But you can always update! That’s a common problem on Windows as well! For this reason, people having dial ups may not like Linux!

• Software installation may be fussy for the first time, but an art the next! There is not much to master in there.

• There are not C:\s and D:\s on Linux, but more professional names. It can be /mnt/hda1 or /media/hda1 or simply /mnt/c or whatever you desire. But that is no problem, only a change.

• Most ISP’s like mine wrongly claim that they do not support Linux. What they deserve is a shut up call and what you should do in this case is to consult an online forum. That always works, for everyone.

• Availability is the worst problem. You may not like travelling long distances to go to a software store but there are chances that you just will not find the distribution you want, but some old distributions that no one pays heed to. And those DVDs may not even work.

But who spends as much as twenty five rupees on the first try? You just need to request a free CD from shipit.ubuntu.com or shipit.kubuntu.org, if you want to use GNOME or KDE desktop environment respectively. But behold, it takes four to six weeks in delivery! But this is effortless way. Download from the internet giant. So what is the wait for?

Hope these guidelines help you deciding whether or not you should go for Linux. But you can always give it a try, can’t you?