Bill, I'll make it painless. I swear!
Is Linux really the next up and coming OS, slowly sneaking up behind Windows, ready to pounce and rend Bill’s love child to shreds?
I believe by now a fairly large percentage of the populace is aware of Linux. Take my office, for example. Given that our work evolves around the hi-tech industry, Linux isn’t really a foreign term to most. However, the majority of my colleagues have all grown up with Windows. Linux, while known to everyone, wasn’t something most had really spent time on.
And thus the tale begins of why Linux had such a short lived existence in our offices.
As if Windows vs Linux articles aren’t already running rampage through the web like the Spanish Inquisition, Techrepublic published yet another article detailing the greatness of Linux over Windows. The author delivers an account of success with Linux like it has been done uncountable times before. Such articles are contagious and are one of the main contributors to the spread of Linux. When browsing google for OS related issues, stumbling over an article such as that is inevitable.
Thus it happened that at some point the Linux wave hit our offices and pretty much everyone with their own laptop at work wiped Windows from their machines and went for Linux - one after the other. The excitement was large at first and everyone marveled at the greatness that is sudo, the joy that is Gnome, the ease of installation, the excellent repositories of Ubuntu, the driver compatibility and the awesomeness of the community.
No doubt, at first Linux was just a gift from heaven.
Software existed for pretty much everything that we needed ranging from office tools to multimedia packages, full compatibility with web apps and communications software. The desktop was pretty, customization was great, it was fast and furious and everybody was soon talking about anti virus software as if it was a thing of ancient past. Viruses? Prft! Welcome to the world of NOS!
Come Monday morning the following month:
[Me] “Hey guys. What are you doing? Are you installing Windows again?”
[Jeff] “Yep.”
[Me] “How come?”
[Karl] “Call of Duty 4, man.”
[Me] “Have you tried Cedega for that?”
[Jeff] “Blah. Hassle.”
[Me] “What about dual boot? You don’t have to scrap Linux all together.”
[Karl] “Hard disk space is precious, man.”
And that ended the Linux era in our offices. These days they’ve switched to Company of Heroes as their game of choice and Adobe’s creative suit collection is the latest fad amongst our photography fans. Nobody bothers with the Gimp. Soon Spore will be the next big hit and many are anticipating the upcoming release of GTA IV for the PC.
Of course, this isn’t a justified death sentence for the Linux OS. I am sure that these games, like most others, could have been run on Linux with the help of Wine or even the purchase of the Cedega service. I am sure that somehow, with a lot of tweaking, a lot of fiddling and a lot of patience, they could have gotten the entire Adobe package running on their systems. And I am confident that if they had enough patience, they’d eventually also get GTA IV running on their machines. Linux is a very versatile, stable, peace giving and optimized OS - no doubt about it.
The problem, however, is that nobody cares. At least not the people that matter - Video game companies and mainstream production software companies. In our case, we’re gamers. We game on everything we can get our hands on and the easily accessible mainstream of the gaming industry is located around Windows and the various console systems. Gaming makes up for a huge, gargantuan percentage of the computer industry. Gamers want to spend effort on mastering and beating the game; not on mastering the OS on which their games have to run. Wine and Cedega may be great options, but they are hurdles. Nobody likes hurdles. Like with Sony’s first walkman, the key to success is ease of use, one-button-push, instant exposure to content. No hurdles.
A militant Linux defender’s answer to that may be, “RTFM, dude. It’s not that hard. Give it a chance.” While he’s right with this statement, it is also the core of the problem. You have to make preparations before you get exposed to the content. With Windows you don’t have to do this. People tend to choose the clear path over the rocky, obstructed one. That’s how simple the formula is.
The solution for all this would be the magic phrase “Works out of the box”. Make this possible and Windows is history.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
You left out a small detail I believe. Your office mates were switching back to XP, weren’t they? People who stay with Microsoft are, by and large, staying with XP. That’s not a vote of confidence in the company. When I switched to Linux over three years ago I left behind a game. That was the trade-off for me. If people want the benefits of Linux with no trade-off, then they will have a long wait. It’s not the fault of Linux. It’s the fault of a lazy public who didn’t see the dangers of handing away the keys to the kingdom to a proprietary company like Microsoft.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:03 pm
And you are 100% right. But thats how it went. Does that change the fact that Windows is the OS of choice for gamers? No.
Is it good? No.
Would I like it to be different?
Yes.
Now, all I can hope for is for the Linux community and all the developers to work on a solution. A good one at that.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:04 am
“Now, all I can hope for is for the Linux community and all the developers to work on a solution. A good one at that.”
Then help us. Join us. Standing on the side lines and pointing out problems is heckling. Standing on the inside and pointing out those same problems is helping. You are not talking to Linux Inc. like you would Microsoft Inc. That is the first “not” in “Linux is not Windows”. There are many more. Could a consortium of proprietary companies build, market and maintain an operating system to be used by 90% of the population? I doubt it. What’s the alternative? One company in control of the operating system used by nearly everyone? What’s good for Microsoft is not good for everyone else. Would Apple be any better? There is no question about the technical superiority of their computers over Microsoft’s offerings. But Microsoft only controls the software we use. Apple controls both the software and the hardware. How could that possibly be good for the consumer? Would you like Apple in control of 90% of the market? Look what they did with the iPhone, “your carrier will be AT&T and nothing but AT&T”. The operating system is just a vehicle to deliver services and products. Who ever controls that vehicle can levy a tax on anything that passes through (like the iPhone/AT&T deal). The operating system should be public property. Linux belongs to everyone. Companies cannot subvert it for their personal gain, the GPL guarantees that.
Use Apple products or Microsoft products for whatever technical or aesthetic reason you want. Just understand that a large part of their business depends on abusing the rights of their customers.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:20 am
Thats all nice and well what you are writing. And I am aware of these things.
But let take another shot at clearing up the issue here:
We just want to play.
I’m not in the least qualified in contributing anything productive to the cause of mainstreaming Linux.
And I am not really an activist. Just give me a controller.
What do you guys do to mainstream Linux?
August 21st, 2008 at 2:47 pm
You don’t have to be an activist to put your IT skills together and contribute. From writing/editing/translating documentation to developing much needed drivers for Linux, you can contribute in many ways.
But you really summed up what keeps Linux chugging along in Microsoft’s wake: “We just want to play.”
Linux has to place themselves in the market of gamers. And to do that, the people who consider themselves elite Linux users have to be willing to contribute. Because “Linux belongs to everyone” it is up to “everyone” [that cares] to help it evolve.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:22 pm
M, you couldn’t have said it any better. :)
August 23rd, 2008 at 4:28 pm
You still don’t get it Cytizen, Ms. Foo was talking to you. When Linux becomes a capable gaming platform, and it will, it will not be because of people like you. People who stand on the sidelines and complain that other people aren’t working hard enough. But they won’t exclude you from partaking in all the fun.
August 25th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I did get it, Richard.
But I am not an “elite Linux user” and I never claimed to be. Thats the whole point.
Have a brief look at the slogan of the page. I am just a user. Not more.
And I am far from complaining about the progress of Linux. On the contrary. I have no complaints at all.
All I am saying is that I am content with what’s out there. And if Linux can replace it all one day, then all the better.
I am the consuming masses. I am not better or worse than anyone else.
Everyone has their part to play.
August 25th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
Additionally, please be sure that on the issue of Linux I am never going to take a judgemental position. If you read my article as a judgemental piece, then you’ve misinterpreted my rather simplistic depiction of what happened in our offices.
In return, you’ve been rather judgemental of me, yourself. You don’t have to preach to me or look down and prophesize the success of Linux in spite of ignoramii like myself.
There isn’t a need for this as I am simply not against you.
September 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 pm
[But I am not an “elite Linux user”]
Are you saying I am? You don’t understand how Linux works, your statements prove that. I don’t think you want to understand how it works either. Nothing wrong with that, unless you are spreading misinformation about it.
Linux will become a gamers’ playground just as it has become a server playground when enough gamers become Linux users. That’s how it works. You are happy with what you are using now. Great, keep on using it. Other people are not so happy with the way they’ve been treated by Microsoft and Apple. They are looking for a change. People who are spreading FUD about Linux either intentionally or by way of ignorance are potentially delaying their discovery of Linux. People using Linux on their desktop are not hurting the users of other operating systems. They may even be helping them. So the next time you pay less than $400 for an operating system, you can thank Open Source because if it wasn’t there, you would be.
September 4th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Oh boy. Listen, I’ve received your messianic message long ago. How many times do I have to repeat for you that I am in agreement with you?
I’m just not so hardcore, praise the Lord, about all of it.
Is it perhaps that you need to feel that you’ve won some kind of argument? Or perhaps feel that you’ve successfully patronized someone or showed them the path to wisdom, out of the valley of darkness that is Windows or Apple?
Please, man. There isn’t a need for it.
You’ve made your point long ago.
I agree, I agree. But you’ve got to understand that not everyone has to get directly involved in the great exodus. Not everyone should.