Linux is ready for your desktop

So why should you look at a new fangled and strangely named operating system? What difference does it make? What is all the fuss about? Operating systems should be seen and not heard, or is that used and not seen? well you know what I mean.

As time has past the role of the operating system (OS) has evolved significantly. It was the case that operating systems were personality free. They provided a silent, hidden service working their magic way below the surface of the user's consciousness. The only interaction one had with this hidden intelligence was simple command entry at a flashing green cursor. It was the applications that attracted focus and attention and quite rightly too. There was a key division between the OS which provided "life support" and the applications that provided the value and output for any given task. Today the lines of demarcation have blurred. OSs like XP, Vista, OS X and the various Linux distributions embody applications in addition to the base OS capability. Many of these applications are tightly integrated into the OS itself. As a consequence, the Operating System beauty contest has become the primary competition. The emergence of a new OS release generates the same kind of celebrity fervour as your average summer blockbuster release. I'm sure our political leaders crave the column inches and attention bestowed upon the release of the next Microsoft or Apple release.

All of this to say operating systems are important, they now define the way we work, play and communicate. They begin to have such a central part in our daily lives that thoughtful consideration should be applied.

So let's get into it. Why Linux? why Ubuntu ( http://www.ubuntu.com/ ) in particular? We all know, or should know, that Linux is Free to download and use, but that alone is not a sufficient justification. In order to attempt a meaningful answer to these questions I will deliberately avoid the dark nooks and crannies of technical intricacy. Instead I want to make the argument from the perspective of the everyday user. If my argument holds and Ubuntu really can be a mainstream alternative, it has to offer value to everyone irrespective of background or knowledge. Linux must embrace a broader church than the bearded-geeky-sandal-wearing-tech-freaks.

It provides all you need (well almost)
When you install Windows for the first time, it will spring into life (eventually) and then...That's exactly it, then what? If you have a pre packaged machine you will have some applications but generally they will be the stunted short forms of their elder siblings. Microsoft Works for example. Why is it so many machines running Microsoft Works also have Microsoft Office installed? Unless the Office installation was acquired by nefarious means, that application suite alone represents a significant investment. Ubuntu's productivity applications come by way of the wonderful Open Office project sponsored by Sun Microsystems (now Oracle)

All of Ubuntu's Open Office applications are fully functional grown ups capable of real work. Let's look at the Evolution email client for example. It is a very good analogue of Microsoft's Outlook. PST files (The files that store all of your Outlook data) are easily imported. Evolution now supports the protocol that Microsoft use to connect Outlook to an Exchange e-mail server so it even has potential for large corporate users. Take a look at the office applications, Spreadsheet looks, works and manipulates files like MS Excel, Presentation the same for Powerpoint and the Word processor is a dead ringer for MS Word. All import and save MS file types even supporting the new .docx format produced by Office 2007. Pidgin provides a very good, light weight multi network IM client and Brasero (I know, it's a weird name) provides Optical disk burning capability sufficient to make Nero blush.

In addition to the standard issue tools, a plethora of utilities and applications are available from the Linux repositories. These wonderful structures provide a kind of application super market where one can explore, browse and finally choose the item required. the applications in the repositories are essentially approved, quality stamped and safe to install. they are provided and supported by the community and, as is the case with Linux generally, are free of charge to download, install and use. Even the installation is a cinch, either use the "package manager" under the Administration menu or venture to the command line and type " sudo apt-get install xxxx" where xxxx is the application you are after. simple!

The thing to note, and we'll explore this in more detail later, all this is FREE!
Ubuntu 9.04 provides the following applications
F-Spot Photo manager, Gimp image editor, Open Office drawing, XSane image scanning
Ekiga Softphone, Evolution mail, Firefox, Pidgin, Transmission Bit Torrent client
Dictionary, Evolution Mail and Calendar, Open office presentation, Spreadsheet and Wordprocessor
Brasero Disc Burner, Movie Player, Rythmbox Music Player, Sound Recorder

It's reliable
Linux can be found in many surprising guises. take a look at your humble home router, chances are it's running Linux. The suitability of the technology extends far beyond the playthings of the average man on the street. Instances of the Linux operating system are to be found at the heart of many industrial grade, so called "mission critical" devices and applications. Much of the telecommunications infrastructure that provides the modern Internet is Linux based. Host a web site with your friendly ISP and they may well be offering you server space on a Linux server. many of our largest banking establishments (I know, not popular right now) use Linux extensively and at the heart of their data centres. A bank's data centre is its most important asset, without the reliable storage and management of all that account data and financial information the bank would not be viable. I've gone through this long diatribe in order to demonstrate the inherent reliability of the Linux platform. There are many varieties of Linux but all are built upon THE Linux kernel and embody significant helpings of this natural born robustness. No room here for the "blue screen of death" !!! It's not uncommon for Linux systems to run unattended for months or even years! When was the last time your Windows box rebooted or shut down because of some unexpected update or bug?

It's fast
While one operating system's relative speed to another can be measured, it's the subjective "how-does-it-feel" performance experienced by the desktop user that is equally important. Trust me, compared to the mainstream OSs Linux is very slick. From the time taken to boot to the time taken to shut down Linux is rapid. once up and running (as little as 28 seconds on my system with Ubuntu 9.04) the desktop environment itself feels light weight and agile. Install one of the compositing window managers, try Compiz fusion, and even graphics intensive operations like rotating desktops are smooth and lithe. Just to put some numbers on this, I use a very simple benchmark just to test the performance of a machine's processor. Super PI provides an algorithm that calculates the value of Pi to any desired number of decimal places. The standard benchmark calls for a calculation yielding 1,000,000 decimal places of significance. On my system running Windows XP pro, the calculation takes about 21 seconds. Not bad by any means. Boot into Ubuntu, run exactly the same algorithm and a heart stopping 13.5 seconds later the calculation is complete; that's a difference of 35% !! this is by no means a complete test and there are many other factors that define performance but it does give a useful indication. Linux is a swift operating system.

It's developed and maintained by the community
For me one of Linux's most compelling characteristics is its development model, the community contribute content and fixes to the operating system together with the contents of the repositories. This has a number of implications. Fixes to problems appear swiftly a regularly (Ubuntu's automatic update process is a thing of beauty). These updates are made available as soon as available, downloaded and installed with the minimum of fuss and very seldom require an application to be closed let alone a system reboot!

The community's contribution runs much deeper however. the Linux development team is very large indeed. Although there are designated application and subsystem owners, pretty much anyone can suggest a modification, improvement or completely new application. The community as a whole has the opportunity to inspect source code, discuss alternatives and, ultimately, approve its inclusion. This means new capabilities appear with great frequency. It almost seems to be the case that if you can think of something you need, someone else has already provided it. It really is a very powerful development model and has lead to Linux's comprehensive capabilities, security and system robustness.

it's very secure
Security in this context means many things to many people. In this section I'll be considering this subject from the point of view as the average home based PC desktop user.

Firewalls
It is generally the case, these days, that most home PCs sit behind a router of some description. That router will either be a stand alone routing unit installed to enable the sharing of a broadband connection or it will be integrated into an ISP provided integrated ADSL Modem/router, these routers nearly always include a built in firewall capability. It is less and less the case that a single machine sits on a direct connection to the Internet. It is for this reason that I am particularly pleased that Ubuntu ships without a firewall enabled by default, home networking is so much easier!. Ubuntu, like any Linux distro does deliver an extremely powerful command line based Firewall in IPTables. IPTables can achieve the kind of selective protection and configurablity found in Enterprise grade devices but, for the average punter, it's a bit of a sledge hammer when one only wants to crack small nuts. If your Ubuntu desktop is directly connected to the net, or a simple firewall is required for some other reason, there are a number of Firewall GUI front ends available from the repositories (for free) that make the task simple. Two such examples are Lokkit and Guarddog. lokkit is simple and straightforward, Guarddog is much more configurable and designed for the more advanced user.

Virus protection
Virus protection on Linux systems is effectively redundant. there have been a few mail worms in the past that have been propagated through Linux mail servers. However the generally accepted form of Malware that embeds itself in innocent looking downloads and then runs amok on unsuspecting and unprotected systems is effectively non-existent in the Linux world. there are many reasons for this, not least the fact that most software is acquired from the repositories where it's source code and resultant binaries are scrutinised by the community. There are also architectural reasons that make it less likely to attack. In reality Linux's modest user base is also a major contributor to its apparent immunity. While we shouldn't be complacent, it's unlikely that Linux will ever suffer the same abuse that has blighted Microsoft's progeny.

User administration
Linux offers extremely flexible user, password and access administration. For me, the separation between general user access and Administration user access is particularly well defined. In Windows based systems, you are a privileged user or you are not. Once you have logged in as that user, you are free to do essentially anything without prompting, further warning or protection. Linux has the notion of the Sudoer list. Users on this list are permitted to perform "dangerous" or system administration task if they prefix those operations with the "sudo" prefix and can then provide the admin password when required. this has many advantages, but the combination of smooth work flow (not having to log in separately as admin) and protection (not having the opportunity to forget you are logged in as admin) make for a flexible, highly usable yet secure system. As a further key protecting element, Linux will always prompt for the admin password when requested to install or uninstall system components.

It's establishing itself with the PC vendors
Dell deliver Ubuntu 8.04 on the Dell Mini 9 Netbook PC. This fact shows the level of maturity Linux is achieving as a commodity desktop solution. The fact that it's appeared on low power netbooks first is an interesting development itself when one considers Linux and Unix's background. It just shows how efficient and portable Linux has become.

It's not perfect - Sometimes you have to use Windows / OS X
Ok so far everything has been rosy in the garden. If you've read this far I would be surprised if you haven't already downloaded the Live CD and have your finger hovering over the Enter key. But before you leap into the unknown without your Bill Gates approved safety net, consider the following. There are certain applications and tasks that have yet to be implemented under the Linux banner. If you are a digital photographer or certainly a vidieographer all is not quite so positive. Although GIMP is a powerful digital image manipulation application and it is possible to construct a solid digital photo production workflow, there really is no alternative for Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom for most pro photographers. I have no real experience in the video production arena but I suspect the same is true when considering video production where Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premier are considered the de facto standards. these applications don't have a portation or analogue under Linux right now. Things may change in the not to distant future; it is already possible to "skin" GIMP to look very much like Photoshop and applications like Kino may well mature into a strong video editing contender. In most other areas, linux stands up very well.

And finally...
In most cases throughout this post I've compared Linux with Wndows OSs. Apple's OS X does offer many of the attributes that define Linux and Ubuntu. To many, OS X looks "prettier" and does in many cases have a more sophisticated workflow orientation. All of this however comes at a cost both in terms of software and certainly hardware. Linux is and always will be free to download and free to use. The list of hardware supported by Linux grows at a furious rate, everything from the smallest netbook to the largest server. The community continues to grow, industry acceptance is in place, the range of applications is vast and now, with Ubuntu 9.04, the desktop user at home can install and operate a fully functional, productive, secure and well maintained Operating system at home for free without the need for a beard, sandals or a degree in Computer Science.