When will Linux be the Alternative?

How does Linux and Apple compete in a working environment? It depends on IT support, really. At work, we have very little IT support for these two operating systems, although Windows support, like many institutions, are the normative behavior.

Place a Windows Operating System in front of people for fifteen years, and all of a sudden, Apple and Linux Users seem to speak a foreign language to the rest of the community. But, that may be changing in the world of the student population.

I sit in Border's. I run Ubuntu, a Linux Operating System. Two other people run Microsoft XP or Vista, and the other two laptops are Apple. The Asian girl in the corner even speaks on an IPHONE. In terms of Border's then, there is a solid mixture of operating systems, but that style is not the norm at most corporations or institutions.

What keeps an institution from changing? I have spoke to this idea before, I believe.

1. They pay volume licensing for many years and stay trapped in this system without thinking that any alternative exist.

2. Software applications related to Microsoft Windows work best on Windows XP or Vista. How much might it cost a corporation to tweak these programs to Apple or Linux when the majority of applications and, yes, games, still operate best under Microsoft mainly because of the domination of Windows for the past ten years?

3. Windows just feels right, some say, and maybe the familiarity of a product keeps us returning to a product, even though there are aspects of Windows environment that are NOT user friendly or even useful, such as locating the double space icon in Microsoft Word. (How many clicks does it take to double space a document? Three? Four? Why does the calendar NOT stay open when you tap it once? Yes, Vista, of course, fixes this issue, which should have been fixed years ago with Windows 95.)

4. We use Microsoft because we are locked into its proprietary coding, such as .DOC and now .DOCX. If you make decent code and sell it on every computer from Dell, Gateway, and other distributors, then that code or codec becomes GOD. And, typically Microsoft automatically adds the various codecs to your machine to make it work without thinking, but honestly, that is NOT the case. The companies distributing the computer add extra disks to install next to Windows so that JAVA, PDF, FLASH, and your drivers work effectively with Windows. Just give me a clean Windows XP disk on this laptop, and I would have to search online in seven or eight (or more) different places just to make the system work seamlessly.

So, the Windows Experience is not simply that simple. It never has been. Internet Explorer contains security questions. Processing speed diminishes by running expensive firewall services, virus protection programs, and other security software to protect what should automatically work without intrusions from various websites or attackers. Let us also not forget how many programs self-install into the program services, as once again the processing speed begins to crawl, unless you install another program to watch the processing speed. Why is it that we must use a separate program to monitor what Windows OS should be doing on its own? Please, do tell.

So, what are the alternatives?

Well, I don't know APPLE well enought to discuss it, but I have heard Linus Torvalds--padre of the Linux system--describe the issues of APPLE and Microsoft as problematic from a programming perspective. Instead of focusing specifically on the Graphical Interface, Linus is interested in the security of the shell or the core of the computer before it even reaches the apex of the desktop, visual environment. Linus has even stated once that Microsoft's shell is more efficient coding than Apple's, but let's move beyond his quoting to explore the opportunities of Linux.

1. Linux represents strong security for institutions and corporations. Currently, my institution is moving toward a Microsoft Exchange model, but we still have servers secured with such Linux systems as Fedora Core.

2. While my colleagues must have IT move through various windows and windows to create a direct alignment from a colleague's computer to the server printer, I simply search quickly and connect to my HP printer without any help whatsoever. In fact, if I need to print to a color printer, I am self reliant and can input a direct line to the printer downstairs. (Perhaps institutions do not want their employees having this much control, but there is something positive and liberating when you have self-reliant workers who do not depend on others to handle their errors, especially when it may take a week to fix a computer because IT in many places is perhaps the most understaffed and hardworking field.) Self-reliance is the key to successful business strategies.

3. I can load most Linux Operating systems, and they work now for the most part. I cannot say that five or ten years ago because the majority of the hardware companies typically made drivers specifically for Microsoft. They are now changing, and there are many open source workers who tirelessly make sure that drivers work successfully on Linux, Apple, and other operating systems. So, Linux many not ALWAYS work easily at first glance because it typically uses FREE software, and to add proprietary software to Linux would mean they would have to charge the consumer to use the product similar to the Windows model. Nevertheless, Ubuntu Linux, for example, contains no issues for me except for having to load the Adobe Flash plugin on my own. But even that is a simple process. I open up the Web browser, Mozilla, and click on a site using Flash. It asks if I want to install flash. I say, "Yes." Then, like a Windows Operating System, there are no more issues.

4. Can I play Windows Media Audio (or WMA files)? Why would I want to? Why not use OGG, FLAC, MP3, or some other audio coding? ITUNES does not use WMA, and it is the hottest selling store in our country? ITUNES pretty much has decimated the WMA form, except for some music subscription services, such as Napster. ITUNES, despite its own monopoly of the music industry, can surpass the ingenuity of Microsoft, yet we continue to load ITUNES on our XP systems instead of use Linux or Apple. Once again, old habits are difficult to die.

I can provide more reasons to look into other products, but people who are not techies do not want to play around and break something that works. So, it is really up to our IT people to educate us, and as long as IT and institutions remain behind the expensive alternative (yes, Microsoft is an alternative and not the only choice), then institutions may continue losing money. Perhaps that is why GOOGLE and YAHOO have been so innovative. They use Linux Operating Systems. NASA uses Linux or UNIX, too. And, the majority of cellular phone markets also have moved to the linux formula because it is open source coding that is free to access, adapt, and use to meet the needs of the hardware requirements and the consumer's needs.

Well, as I stop writing this email, another woman enters Border's and is currently typing away on an APPLE computer. Can't wait to see a shop filled with Linux computers, too. For now, I will wait until Vista explodes to its own death and some amazing Chinese company gets smart and mass markets a Linux Operating System that corporations will not ignore or refuse.