Linux on the desktop

In early August of this year, I requested for Ubuntu Linux installation CDs from shipit.ubuntu.com. About three weeks later, I received a notice from the post office to pick up a package. As I was busy with work, and with the post office closed on Saturdays, I couldn't retrieve the package until about a month later. I was expecting the package to contain the Ubuntu CDs, and I was right.

Before I made the request for the installers, I already downloaded the ISO image file of the Ubuntu installer as well as a ready-to-run, virtual machine file of Ubuntu preloaded with the Mono development environment. Suffice it to say that I found Ubuntu as well as Mono impressive. Nevertheless, I requested for the installers to be sent via snail mail as I wanted to see if Canonical, the South Africa-based company that is supporting Ubuntu, will send them to me here in the Philippines. And I was pleasantly surprised that they did send the CDs.

I remember a few months earlier, when the topic of Linux desktop distributions came up in a discussion with friends, that one of them recommended Ubuntu. One or two others went for Red Hat Fedora. I had some experience with version 8 and 9 of Red Hat Linux, and in recent months had worked with Suse OpenLinux 10 and RH Fedora Core 5 at home (the office I worked for is a predominantly Windows shop, although it is experimenting with installing Linux on the mainframe). Both recent distros I found to be excellent, features-wise. But I was intrigued with Ubuntu, having read positive reviews about it, and wasted no time installing it on my PC.

Of the few Linux distros that I've worked with so far, I think that Ubuntu shows the most promise. The graphics are impressive, it is fast and user-friendly, and I daresay, more Windows-like than any other distro. I might offend Linux proponents out there when I say Windows-like, but the truth is, we judge Windows competitors by how much they measure up to the leading OS in the market today. And it really is hard to dispute the fact that Windows is the top OS as far as number of users are concerned.

What's the point of all these? Well, the point is that Linux has the potential to eat a few more percentage points from MS in the desktop OS space. This is particularly true now that there are many Linux distros that are slowly bridging the gap with Windows in terms of user-friendliness, deemed by many as the most important factor for selecting an OS today. Linux has always been seen as "DOS-like", and that is no longer true. It is much more secure than Windows, although it has indeed its share of vulnerabilities, contrary to popular belief. With Microsoft set to release the more expensive Vista next year, will Linux become a viable desktop OS alternative? I believe so. Whether it will overtake Windows remains to be seen. But expect more free Linux distros to appear on desktop PCs within the next three years.

You know what else I think will happen in that same time, particularly here in the Philippines? Retailers will begin selling PCs preloaded with Linux, with government and schools taking the lead in using Linux PCs. More home users will also took to Linux, avoiding the licensing costs associated with Windows and Windows-based software. It may take a longer time for businesses to buy in on Linux but, even then, it will make an appearance on business desktops. Maybe not enough to overthrow Windows, but still enough for Microsoft to take notice, and for it to lower software costs.

I'll have more on my experience with Linux in my next posts. Until then, see you.