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Operating System Reaction Times
When you’re driving a car, the road in front of you changes fast and, in order to avoid a collision, you have to turn, speed up, and slow down in response to these changes. Now imagine if you couldn’t change course or speed until the person sitting next to you told you. Before too long, you’d probably crash. That’s exactly where Windows is right now.
The tech world is changing faster than ever before. Did you know you can buy a flash drive with an eSATA connection
Just look at what happened with netbooks. Microsoft may have caught itself, but they were not prepared for the emergency of netbooks. Netbooks are currently forcing them to keep alive an operating system they wanted to kill years ago. New technology doesn’t wait for 5 year release cycles. It just comes.
This isn’t necessarily about open-source vs. proprietary software. In theory, you could develop an incredibly flexible piece of proprietary software that could be modified to react as soon as the new technology hit, but at this point, the only operating systems that can consistently be there for the people releasing new, cutting edge technology are those that are open source – specifically Linux.
Microsoft is being the backseat driver in an era when there is no time for a delay.
Considering that I have been writing daily posts basically without missing a day for around a year now, there is obviously a lot happening in the world of Linux and open-source software. The question is: what do you want to happen in this upcoming year? Last year I asked for reader’s Linux dreams, and received a great response, so this year I am doing it again.
If you don’t remember from last year, the idea is to see what people would like to see happen in the upcoming year (related to Linux, of course). The “dreams” do not have to be realistic, specific, general, or anything, although they can be. The only rule is that they must be something you would like to see happen to Linux in the next year. To get an idea for this, check our the most popular dreams from last year.
This year, though, I am also adding another component. Throughout the process, I may pick out specific dreams/ideas and ask for broad ideas of how this could be accomplished. If this all sounds complicated, it really isn’t that hard. Here is an example:
A commenter responds to this post says “I would like to see more netbooks running major LInux distributions, not lesser-known distributions.” I might then pick that wish out and put it into a new post, asking for suggestions of how this might happen. Another commenter might come along to this new post and suggest that every major distribution should contact one manufacturer and try to get on their netbooks.
For now all you have to do is leave a comment with whatever you would like to see happen to Linux in the next year, realistic or not. The deadline will be around the end of December and will be announced when we get closer.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
What Linux Needs to Stay Competitive
For some time, Windows Vista’s perceived failure has given Linux a free ride. It has been nice, but it will not remain. From the looks of things, Windows 7 will be a solid release for Microsoft, possibly even one of the best. With this competition, what does Linux need to stay competitive?
- More Pre-Install Deals For so long, Linux has spread through people installing it on random computers. Although this has gotten fairly easy, there are still so many problems. First, it is practically impossible to support all of the harware out there. Second, most people just don’t install their own OSs – they buy new computers with the OS pre-installed. For both these reasons and more, Linux needs more computers shipping with it pre-installed.
- Better Netbook Distros Some people are saying that Windows 7 will crush Linux on netbooks, which might be true, except that the difference in quality between the original Eee PC Linux distro and the kind of stuff you will be seeing by the time Windows 7 has been released will be huge. That said, it is important to improve Linux distributions for netbooks so that Linux continues to dominate netbooks.
- Better Out-of-the-Box Experience When I got my M1530 from Dell with Ubuntu, most stuff worked great, but a few things still needed some tweaking to get working. That tweaking should be done before I got the machine. The user should open the PC and have it work.
- Better Windows Compatibility No matter if it means improving OpenOffice, improving WINE, or promoting Windows virtual machines, compatibility with Windows and Mac OS X has to be perfect. Without this, many people will be unable to switch to Linux or have initial unfavorable impressions, which may shape their views on Linux.
- Make Companies Offering Linux Comfortable to Promote It Unfortunately, Dell has hidden Ubuntu away for the most part and almost pretended it does not exist, despite offering it on some of their PCs. I cannot claim to know the exact reasons why, but companies like Canonical need to find out and solve any problems that can be solved, so that Linux can get some good promotion through hardware companies.
Recently I have been thinking about the question of who should use Linux? Some might say that everyone should use Linux, but I disagree. (Wait! Hold off on the hate mail for just a sec. The truth is, I don’t think that any operating system should be used by everyone.) I don’t always feel comfortable recommending Linux to everyone, nor would I feel comfortable recommending Windows to everyone (anyone, usually.) Operating systems, at least those made today, just don’t suit everyone equally. This returns me to my original question: who should use Linux?
For someone who only uses their computer for basic tasks, Linux can do everything that other operating systems can for a lower price, both in terms of hardware and software, just as easily. In other words, for basic computing tasks, I would definitely recommend Linux. Likewise, for a real geek, I would recommend Linux for obvious reasons.
So who wouldn’t I recommend Linux for? People in between these two extremes. It seems to me that the group for whom Linux does the least is power users who aren’t interested in getting into the details of the operating system. This would be the group of people who would be interested in messing around with things, but not with messing with text configuration files and the terminal to fix or change things. There is almost never a need for a basic users to mess with anything outside of the GUI, but for more advanced tasks, it can still be nessessary.
I realize that this topic is likely to draw a fair amount of heated discussion, but, that said, I am curious to see what you think. Specifically, do applications like Ubuntu Tweak fill this apparent gap?
Attracting the Young, Tech-Savvy Generation
A recent Linux Journal article point to Apple’s selling of heavily discounted Macs to schools and asks what Linux is doing to attract the young, and more tech-savvy, generation. It is very important that Linux does target this group, because they are the generation of the future and the generation others are increasingly turning to for solutions to their technology problems. So what can we do to target this group?
I propose a competition, sponsored by individual donations and contributions from as many Linux distributions as possible. This competition could also be done in connection with college software development classes.
In order to compete in the competition, developers would have to create an open-source application for Linux that targets any segment of education – particularly high school and college students. This would spur true innovation and, hopefully, turn out some incredible Linux applications for students.
For example, what about an application that provides a collaborative platform for note-talking and group projects? Additionally, with a good plug-in system, the functionality could be expanded practically forever. Or how about a better system for handwriting recognition? How about a system for communication among students, and between students and professors? How about a specialized Linux distro for elementary schools (yeah, yeah, I know that some already exist)? The possibilities really are virtually infinite.
Especially if this competition was run together with colleges and universities, in addition to whatever prize was already being offered, winning applications could be pre-installed on top of a Linux distro on laptops, and the participating colleges would recommend these laptops to students.
This competition would give universities a chance to get their names on some really cool applications, give students a chance to show their coding and design skills to the world, promote Linux and open source software, and create a wave of new college students using Linux laptops pre-installed with cool applications. In other words, everyone wins.
We have already seen that this sort of model works with Firefox’s Extend Firefox competion and Google’s Adroid Developer Challenge. Now all we need to do is apply this model to Linux applications designed for students.
Linux's Market Share: Is There Any Way To Know?
One thing many of us would like to know, I am sure, is how many people out there use Linux? The usual numbers, those from Net Applications, would indicate that less than 1% of people use Linux. More recently, though, there have been some more optimistic numbers. Canonical is claiming that 11% of businesses use Ubuntu. (If that is the case, just imagine how many use Red Hat or Suse.) Gartner says that Linux’s market share is 4%, putting it about even with the Mac. And Context says that almost 3% of PCs sold in the UK have Linux pre-installed.
While none of those numbers are huge, they mean the difference between Linux and Mac OS X being about equal and Linux being a speck of dust in the sea. The fundamental problem is that it is really, really hard to know how what the marketshare of Linux, or any open-source software, is. After all, one download might never be used, or only be used for a short time, and another might be used to install Linux onto 100 computers.
In addition to the standard market share numbers I mentioned above, there are at least two others projects trying to determine how many Linux users there are.
The first is the Linux counter. Their idea is to get people to visit the website and register as a Linux user. Obviously, this has some flaws in that anyone can register many times and most people will not bother to register.
The second project is the Open Source Census. The idea is similar, except that you download an application. This presumably gives them better control over double submissions, but it cannot be perfect and it is still voluntary.
Short of every Linux distro calling home, which I hope will never happen, there may never be a way to know how many Linux users there are. Perhaps the downloads of some cross-platform application would give a rough idea, but that application would have to be something that a Linux user, a Mac user, and a Windows user would want equally. If anyone has a better idea, I would love to hear it.
Would More Expensive Linux PCs At Wal-Mart Work?
In a recent Datamation article, Matt Hartley put forward two suggestions for making future Linux PCs a success in stores like Wal-Mart. As many of you may know, Wal-Mart’s experiment with selling the gPC, a cheap Linux-based PC, was essentially a failure. I certainly agree with Hartely’s second suggestion for making future “Linux in Wal-Mart” experiments more of a success, which is to give consumers enough information to be sure that everything they use will work with Linux. Unfortunately, I am not as sure I agree with his first suggestion.
Hartely’s first suggestion is that Linux PCs sold should not use such low-end hardware. At first this makes sense, but if you add higher end hardware, the PC gets more expensive. The problem with this is that the $50-ish price saving you get from Linux is much less relavent if the PC costs $1000 than if it costs $200. That might be fine if someone was looking for Linux, but most Wal-Mart shoppers are probably just looking for a good deal. Perhaps a better solution than adding more expensive hardware is to use a less resource-intensive Linux distro such as Xubuntu or DSL. It would certainly be interesting to see a stripped down Linux compete with Windows Vista.
Also, if you are interested in a live group distro review, please vote in the poll by clicking on this link.
The Explosion of Linux
Most people watching the Linux news will have noticed not just how much momentum Linux is getting, but how many different markets Linux is getting in to. This diagram shows some of those markets.
The Desktop Expierience Is Only Part of the Story
A lot of focus is put on the Linux desktop. “Is Linux ready for the desktop?” “Will this be the year of the Linux desktop?” “Is the Linux desktop usable by regular people?” All of this is, generally, asking the same thing. When is Linux finally going to be commonplace on the desktop? The average user’s experience is not all that matters, though. Developers must also be attracted to Linux before it will become commonplace on the desktop.
As shown by a recent Fortune article, Linux already is appealing to the developers, but it is important that Linux becomes not just appealing but irresistible for developers. Why is this so important? Because with developers come applications that have previously been Windows only. As developers switch to Linux, applications that used to be a reason why some could not use Linux as their only OS will become cross-platform or even Linux only.
Look at the Mac. Do you think it would have come as far as it has if Microsoft had not brought Office to the Mac? I don’t. Even though OpenOffice/NeoOffice would probably have worked for many of the people that bought Office for Mac, people are just more comfortable using the exact same application they are used to.
So how can Linux appeal to developers? There are a number of ways that come to mind. Of course, the best thing to do would be to ask a developer, but seeing as I am not a developer here are some ideas:
The most obvious, of course, is to make it easy to develop for Linux. There are other things too, though. Easy application distribution of free and commercial applications through systems like CNR is a definite plus. Also, providing a good introduction to programming on Linux would be helpful for those just switching to Linux.
Because of these sorts of advantages, hopefully more and developers will switch to Linux and bring users along with them.
Is The Linux Eee PC 900 More Expensive Than The Windows Version? (Now With Real Numbers)
For a long time the question has been going back and forth: is Asus messing with us and making the Linux version of the Eee PC more expensive than the Windows version? Previously the numbers have all been speculation, but now, finally, we have real numbers to look at!
So now that the Eee PC 900 is out, it should be easy to get to the bottom of this mystery, right? Naturally, no. For some reason, only a few places seem to be selling the Eee PC 900. Worse, those prices are not all the same. Basically I was only able to find three places that sell both the Linux and Windows versions: Buy.com, Newegg, and OnSale. (I also found both at one more place, but from that store both cost more than $600.) So what are the prices?
Eee PC 900 Windows: $550, $550, $595
Eee PC 900 Linux: $590, $550, $550
Groan. It has been so long. Couldn’t you just give us numbers that make sense??? All I can assume is that Asus is really selling both versions for the same price and Buy.com and OnSale are just making one version or the other more expensive for some reason. Especially since Newegg has them both for the same price, I think that is the best assumption.
So in summary, because the Linux version has more storage space, which cancels out the price of Windows, I think Asus, at least in the US, has done the right thing and made them both cost the same so that no advantage is given to either OS. Now I just wish OnSale, Buy.com, and anyone else messing with these prices would just make them both cost the same as they should. That way, the price advantage of Linux will be clear to all shoppers.