The Evil Empire
My dad is a big Microsoft fan. He uses XP and is happy with it. He cannot see what I see is wrong with XP or its parent company. He has modest requirements in an OS. He uses his computer for only a few things such as playing games, doing email, and burning the occasional DVD. In short, XP meets his needs and he sees no need to change. Nor should he be expected to and I have given up trying to tell him of the benefits of open source, also called FOSS.
The first thing to note is that he builds his own computers, but knows little about software. I have always been there to bail him out when needed. His solution to most Windows problems is to re-format and start fresh, which is not a bad policy, anyway. Windows XP bogs down with time and a fresh start is often just what the doctor ordered. So, for the most part, he is able to manage on his own.
He needs me occasionally when things begin to slow to delete startup programs or to change settings when things go crazy, usually because someone has messed with them and he does not know how to get it back to the way that it was. He runs anti-virus software and is not averse to paying for anti-trojan, anti-spam software as well. He is fully protected.
His sister, who lives thousands of kilometers away on the other side of the country, ships her computer to him whenever she runs into similar problems which seems to be fairly often. He then goes about backing up and re-installing. He will often boost the RAM or do some hardware maintenance and then ship it back to her at great cost. She, of course, uses XP. What amazes me is that they both see this as normal. They expect XP to misbehave and take it all in stride. Even crazier, I know dozens of more people just like them. Their computers start to slow down or crash because they have too many programs running in the system tray and they don’t know how to stop them and most of these programs are resource hogs. It is just a matter of time before they throw in the towel and ask for help.
You might be thinking that you cannot blame the operating system for what vendors do. Yes, and no. Yes, vendors have made some poor decisions, but the OS encourages such behavior by the slap happy way things are installed and the use of the startup folder and the central registry makes it easy for them. They don’t even ask your permission half of the time. Password protection is non-existent.
If you want to install Quicktime, and you are not careful, you will not only have Quicktime start at boot up, but iTunes, too. Microsoft has made it far too easy and convenient and trusting users can only watch as their computers grind to a halt. That is not the only problem. Resource management in Windows XP is poor and bloated software and inefficiency are the norm rather than the exception. And it starts with Microsoft. They set a poor example with their own bloat and weak security. This is to say nothing with lock ups and BSOD and the inevitable corruption to the file system and registry that sometimes results.
Despite all of this, Windows users are very forgiving of the operating system and Microsoft who made it. They think that this is the way it should be. However, it isn’t the way that it should be, nor is it the way that it has to be.
I know differently because I use Ubuntu which is an open source operating system, a type of Linux. Linux is in many ways Windows’ opposite. It is user centered, so it is a totally different experience. Linux gives the user total control over the way he uses his computer. It is very configurable and it is modular, so that you can use it in many different ways. Linux allows the user to take back ownership and gives her freedom to choose what she wants, where she wants it, and when she wants it.
Gone are the list of musts, such as you must run anti-virus software, must defragment your hard drive and the biggest one of all, must re-boot. Linux is different, so expect more of it, not less. Expect more choice. Expect more options. Expect better performance. Expect a new experience.
Linux is many things to different people. There are hundreds of varieties. The choice can be mind numbing for a newbie. If there is so much choice how can a newbie know what to do? Well, here is another great Linux invention, the Live CD.
I told you to expect better performance, right? The reason you can expect this is that Linux itself is quite tiny. You can run a full version of Linux in under 50 MBs with a full graphical interface and much less than that with a text interface. You can run it from floppies, usb keys and Live CDs. The larger the capacity the more features you can cram in, but Ubuntu, the Linux that I use, comes on a CD and it runs from the CD before you install it. That is why they call it Live. You can try it out before you install it. Try that with Windows!
How do you get the Live CD? You can order one from Ubuntu. It is free, but it can take 10 weeks to arrive. You can pay for a CD from a third party and get it more quickly. Most people download it as a single file called an ISO for free and burn it to CD following the instructions for burning the ISO. If you have a broadband connection it will take under an hour. You can download the Ubuntu ISO from Ubuntu or Distrowatch. If you have dial-up try downloading it by bittorrent or to use a download manager. That way, you can pause and restart, without losing what you have downloaded so far. To find the torrent do a torrent search.
To boot a Live CD, you need to have your BIOS set to boot from CD. Most newer computers do this by default. You insert the CD into the drive and re-boot the computer. The CD will boot an give you a brief menu. If you do nothing it will boot after 30 seconds and take you to the Ubuntu desktop. Remember that it is running from the CD and not from your hard drive. Nothing is being changed. When you take out the CD and re-boot, it will take you into Windows as previously with no changes made to your system.
At the Ubuntu desktop, you will see lots of brown and orange with a edgy looking heron. That is because the code name for this release was called Hardy Heron and brown and orange are Ubuntu’s colours. The menu bar can be found at the top. Click away and use programs from the CD just as you would in Windows. Once you have had your fun, then you can either go back to Windows by clicking on the red button at the top right. It can also be found under System on the menu bar. When prompted remove the CD and press enter.
I told you that Linux offers choice. There are many flavors of Linux. Different kinds of Linux are called distributions and most users shorten this to distro. So, Ubuntu is a Linux distro. There are hundreds of distros. The choice does not end there.
You also have a choice about window manager. There are many of these. This is what you see once you loaded Ubuntu. Remember the heron and the brown and orange with the menu bar at the top. The heron and colors are only a theme. The window manager is called Gnome and it is used by many Linux distros. It is one of the two biggies. The other is called KDE.
Gnome has the menu bar at the top and KDE has it at the bottom. Gnome therefore looks more like a Mac and KDE works more like Windows. But don’t let that fool you. They are much different. KDE is much more configurable than Gnome and many people prefer it for that reason. However, Gnome is simpler and sleeker and as many people prefer it for that reason. It is really a question of personal preference.
Well there are dozens of window managers to complicate things even more. The amount of choice can be intimidating. For that reason, the folks behind Ubuntu have simplified matters. You can download Ubuntu which uses Gnome or Kubuntu which uses KDE. If you have an older computer you can use a smaller desktop called XFCE and they have a version of Ubuntu called Xubuntu for that. Let’s leave the choices at that for now. There are more, of course.
If you want to install Ubuntu or one of its family (Kubuntu or Xubuntu), you do it from the Live CD at the desktop or from inside Windows using the wubi installer which works for both Ubuntu or Kubuntu. Wubi instructions are fairly straightforward. You have limited choice and it installs just like any Windows program, and until you re-boot you won’t even know it is there.
Desktop instructions are more complicated because it involves more decision making. However, with a little coaching it is possible for almost anybody to install. The easiest choice would be to replace Windows with Linux or, if you don’t have any operating system, to use the whole drive. However, Linux is very flexible.
One of the neat things that Linux can do is that it can share space with Windows. It does this in several ways. It can install inside Windows just like any program using the wubi installer mentioned above. In this case, Ubuntu resides as one big file on your Windows drive. It can be found under C:\ubuntu\. It can be removed by using the control panel in the same way you would remove any other windows program.
However, Ubuntu installed by wubi acts differently from other programs. To use Ubuntu installed with wubi you must leave Windows and re-boot (no CD this time). You will get a brief menu that says Windows and Ubuntu as two boot choices. If you choose Ubuntu, you boot into it and it will run from your computer. The first time it boots, it will continue to install for several minutes, but it will stop and take you to the desktop you saw before, except this time it is on your Windows drive. You can install other programs in Ubuntu and it behaves quite a bit as it would if it had its own drive or partition.
When you install Ubuntu from the Live CD desktop icon (instead of wubi), you modify your system and Ubuntu resizes your Windows drive and frees up space. It creates a separate partition for Ubuntu where it will place the files, using Linux’s native file system. From the newly installed Ubuntu, you can access your Windows NTFS or FAT drive and share files, but from Windows you cannot see any of the Ubuntu files unless you install a third party program to do just that.
So, I bet you wonder why I called this “the Evil Empire” when all I’ve done is talk Linux. Well, it is because Microsoft has people brainwashed to think that they should control how you use your computer, even going so far as to install programs such as WGA behind your back to check if your copy of Windows is legitimate. They want people to feel that what they choose to give you is enough. Computing is to be done their way and that you are not to have much say in what that way is. It is a totally different way of looking at computers.
The Linux way is to offer freedom and choice. There are no in your face intrusions. If you are asked to re-boot, it is rare and, if you are told to re-boot, it is optional. You are never reminded again and you can run for weeks or months without re-booting, if you choose. Linux does not require anti-virus detection since there are few viruses and you would have to give your consent by typing in your password for it to do any damage. You do not have to defragment your hard drive since Linux uses a different approach. You do not have to worry about the registry getting large and slowing you down or getting corrupted since Linux has no registry.
You never have to pay for Linux. It and all of the programs that come with it are free. In fact, there are few commercial programs available for Linux. But, don’t think that free open source programs are worse, just because they are free. Many of these programs are the labor of love of programmers who work for big companies by day. Open source programs are often better because of a higher degree of collaboration and the support of many users who test for bugs and help to troubleshoot problems before they start. People use the programs because they believe in them, not because they are free. Of course, developers appreciate donations. You can always choose a few of your favorites and throw a few dollars their way every once in a while as your way of saying thanks. However, these programs have no nag screens or expiry dates. They are just what they say, free.
One of the great things about Linux is that it is more than an operating system. It is a community. Ubuntu is an African expression of community where all humanity moves forward together. There is no English equivalent. When you use Linux, then you join the community and everybody tries to help you and mentor you.
There are forums, wikis and help groups everywhere on the internet. There are podcasts, RSS feeds and magazines and journals to keep you informed and to serve you. In addition, Linux is constantly updated. New versions of Ubuntu come out every six months. Some distros use another approach where there are constant updates, called a rolling release. Debian, a major Linux distro, uses this approach.
All of this is pretty amazing and most people do not even know of its existence. It is a community that keeps a low profile, but it is as active as any on the internet.
So if Linux is so big, why don’t you here more about it? First, Linux users do not advertise. It spreads by word of mouth. Linux is sometimes pre-installed on new computers, but for the most part, it is a do it yourself thing. Secondly, the Evil Empire does not want you to know and they do everything they can to frustrate the open source community. They spread FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) about Linux in order to undermine it. Yet, despite their efforts, Linux continues to grow and Microsoft is losing ground. Where it hurts them most is not on the desktop. Linux owns the server market. Many of the world’s biggest companies, such as IBM, Novell, Amazon, e-Bay, Google, Yahoo to name a few, and most of the internet runs on Linux. Most of the sites that host web pages run on open source. The other big area of growth for Linux is in embedded devices such as music players, cell phones, appliances, DVD players, TiVo, and just about anything with a graphical interface. Unless it says Microsoft explicitly, it is likely Linux.
There are other reasons to choose Linux. It is safer and more secure because there are so few viruses and because it requires your permission to alter the system in anyway. You can’t just click, “yes” or “no” as in Windows XP, but you must input your password. In a recent security test, Ubuntu beat both OS/X and Vista and was the only OS not to be hacked. This is old news, as it won last year, too.
Linux is more responsive and will run on new and older equipment with equal ease. It is good for the environment because it extends the life of of old computers that would otherwise be put into landfills. Yes, it will run on old 386s with as little as 128 MBs of RAM. Some really basic distros will even work on 64 MBs or RAM!
Linux also looks great. There are many ways to dress it up and customize it. In KDE, you can have any number of virtual desktops that you can switch to with the mouse wheel or from an icon on the task bar. This means that you do not need more than one monitor and that you can spread your work out. And you can have a different wallpaper on every desktop if you choose and that is just out of the box. There is also KDE 4.0 which has a new look and many new features.
If you have a 3D video card you can get cool desktop effects via Compiz Fusion. Or you can add widgets via several different programs, including Screenlets, Karamba, or gDesklets. You can add a fancy bar like the Mac courtesy of Avant Window Navigator or AWN for short. Essentially every part of your desktop is yours to do as you choose and the sky is the limit.
If you are considering Linux think about these things. You cannot run all Windows programs in Linux. You can run some via a program called Wine. It gives you some measure of compatibility. If you want more then you can install Windows XP in a virtual machine. For this option, you will need a licensed copy of Windows, a fairly new computer with a fast processor and loads of RAM. However, all of your programs will run because they are running on Windows inside of the virtual machine, not on Linux itself. The virtual machine can share the clipboard, folders and devices with the Linux machine. You can even have a Windows bar at the bottom and a Linux bar on the top, if you use Virtual Box and run in seamless mode. Oh yes, Virtual box is also free. So is VM Server from VMWare.
A better way is to get used to the many free programs that can replace Windows programs. There is a long list and most of them can be found in most Linux package repositories.
So Linux is fast, flexible, friendly and free! It is easy to get. It is easy to install. It is something to consider. You do not have to accept second best just because “the Evil Empire” says that there is only one way and that way is through them.
(I don’t actually believe that there is an Evil Empire. I believe that there is evil and there are empires. However, there is good and bad in all things. I use this term loosely to express coerced or forced conformity to a false standard that may or not be in the interest of those who it purports to benefit. There are many Evil Empires to my way of thinking.)
Addendum: Linux is not for everyone or every situation. Some people will need to keep Windows around for a few things. The big one is games. There are hundreds of Linux games, but they will not be the ones that you are familiar with. Commercial games are made to run on Windows and they are best played there.
If you have unusual hardware then drivers may be an issue. Check that they work in the Live CD before you install or do a search online to see if there is a driver. Linux detects hardware very well, but OEMs are reluctant to provide drivers in some cases. Laptops, graphics cards and wireless cards can be problems because of the high amount of proprietary parts they contain.
In some cases, you should consider installing Linux and running it in a dual boot situation. In this case, you will get am menu that allows you to boot into either operating system. In other cases, you may find that Windows is what you need at this time and put Linux on the back burner.
Wikipedia has a good head to head comparison which is fairly unbiased. When reading, it keep in mind which version of Windows you are running.
