Get the Facts Straight(GNU/Linux)

[praka123]

Get the Facts Straight

Posted on June 11th, 2008 in Uncategorized by SnowCrashv5


Linux is the best kernel there is, and the OSes built off of it are the best around. Period. There, I said it. Normally if I was to write an opinionated piece about Linux, I’d explain the history of Linux, the importance of open source and open standards, and ramble on and on about the benefits of it’s lack of cost, but that’s not what this is about, and usually this site strays away from opinion but I couldn’t resist this time.

While LinuxHaters (a Linux hating blog, ran on a Linux hosted service) is grabbing a bunch of attention lately by carrying the flag of Microsoft’s FUD in a rather explicit way and while the atmosphere on certain social sites are becoming extremely anti, it’s time for a rather extensive but to-the-point reminder why Linux, may not be the most popular, but never the less, is the most flexible, secure, fast, free (as in freedom and beer), well supported OS on this planet. All of us “Linux geeks” must believe in the power of this kernel, the toolset built around it, it’s GPL license, and the OSes built off it, for some reason right? So lets get down to business and see what this little OS does for the world.

Microsoft may have many products: Windows Mobile, Vista, XP, the Xbox, the Zune, various server solutions, etc.. but do they all have the same code base? At the very least the Linux kernel is at the heart of all the following projects. Unlike other OSes, or even kernels, Linux’s strength is the sheer number of architecture’s it can run on (PowerPC, SPARC, x86 32 and 64bit, Alpha, just to name a few. ) So by no means are we displaying the power of a company to develop (or purchase what someone else developed), but the power of the technology itself. The only little kernel that could.

• Supercomputers - as of 2007 Linux ran 85% of the worlds top supercomputers. Only 6 ( 1.2% ) were Windows based. .4% were Macs, and the rest are various flavors of BSD and Unix. http://www.top500.org/stats/list/30/osfam

• Clusters - Whether you are a company or research facility needing a high powered clustering solution, or a kid in his basement with a bunch of old computers laying around, Linux/Unix easily can cluster these machines together with efficiency that no other OS has really achieved; notably, a Beowulf cluster. The ability to use cheap off-the-shelf hardware together with open source software makes Linux an ideal platform for supercomputing. Linux clusters are either: “Beowulf” clusters, “MOSIX” clusters or “High-Availability” clusters. Cluster types are chosen depending on the application requirements which usually fall in one of the following categories: computational intensive (Beowulf, Mosix), I/O intensive (supercomputers) or high availability (failover, servers…). In addition to clusters, there are two related architectures: distributed systems (seti@home, folding@home, Condor…) that can run on computers with totally different architectures spread out over the Internet; and multiprocessor machines (those, like the SGIs are much superior to clusters when memory needs to be shared fast between processes). (Source)

• On the Server - I don’t need to explain much here, Linux was built to be a server (database, application, web, email, etc) first and foremost and has some major corporate backing from Dell, HP, IBM, as well as paid professional support from the Linux makers themselves, Redhat, Novell, and Canonical, among others. Apache, PHP, and Mysql (all open source in their own right) provide the most popular stack on top of Linux and are used heavily creating the web as you know it today.

• Desktops - Linux takes up about 1% to 3% of the desktop market, depending on where you get your numbers. The faux-fear of having to know the command line still works against its adoption as well as the availability of proprietary software solutions being natively available for Linux. That being said Linux on the desktop works fine for many and has its strong points. On most Linux distributions you can install 100 pieces of software in 102 clicks. You can upgrade from one version to another without wiping your drive clean, and again only clicking 2-3 buttons. Linux is mostly free of viruses and someone being infected with one is rather rare. Spyware in a Linux system is almost non-existent. The need defrag your hard-drive is gone due to smart file systems that do their best to not fragment your hard-drive. You can install the OS and most of the software you need in under an hour with user-friendly distributions such as Ubuntu, Mandriva, Suse, Fedora, PCLinuxOS, etc.. You no longer have to go hunting for codecs and drivers, apps like CodecBuddy and Restricted Device Mangers aid you installing proprietary necessities with ease. For the more advanced, you can customize a system to specifically fit your hardware with only the bit you absolutely need with systems like Gentoo. You have a ton of choices when it comes to any problem you may need a solution for, and most of those solutions are as legally free and the OS itself, including office suites, graphics manipulation, audio and video creation and editing (see Ubuntu Studio ). There are scientific specific distributions ( SL ), educational distributions (Edubuntu ), and many more that have software sets that cater specifically for your usage of that machine.

Read the full article here: (a must read!)
http://tuxtraining.com/2008/06/11/ge...acts-straight/

[sourav123]

Great article. And this is the most hilarious line:

The world’s most popular web services - Did you notice that every time you use Google, you’re using a Linux machine? Is there anyone out there, except possible Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer, who’s online and doesn’t use Google at least occasionally? I don’t think so.

Ballmer well very good article. I love Linux more than Windows if only i wud be able to play ALL windows games in it......tsk..tsk.......all wud have changed. I have dual-boot, Ubuntu 8.04 and [nagged] Windows XP. I try to use Ubuntu the most as its waaay better than XP .

Linux rules and Windows [L]users are dumbos Ya i am bashing only-windows users.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by paranj

Ballmer well very good article. I love Linux more than Windows if only i wud be able to play ALL windows games in it......tsk..tsk.......all wud have changed. I have dual-boot, Ubuntu 8.04 and [nagged] Windows XP. I try to use Ubuntu the most as its waaay better than XP .

Thanks for the comments.
I would still advice you as I did in the IRC to switch to mint.
I tried both systems, and mint is simply much more likable.
The only new packages you get are mint menu, mint tools and mint themes though.
But these extras are a must have for anybody who wants Eye Candy.

Originally Posted by paranj

Linux rules and Windows [L]users are dumbos Ya i am bashing only-windows users.

Never say that. Linux users can't just go and insult windows users. Its not our culture.

[nitish_mythology]

Thanks praka...
Lets see what LinuxHaters has a say too!

[karmanya]

While I agree that linux is undoubtedly the more stable system- I doubt it or OSS will go mainstream for atleast 4-5 years as of yet.

[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by karmanya

While I agree that linux is undoubtedly the more stable system- I doubt it or OSS will go mainstream for atleast 4-5 years as of yet.

Its ALREADY mainstream. Damn too mainstream for its own good. Only BSD and Solaris are not mainstream.

[NucleusKore]

Originally Posted by karmanya

While I agree that linux is undoubtedly the more stable system- I doubt it or OSS will go mainstream for atleast 4-5 years as of yet.

Don't confuse the too. OSS is already mainstream in windows, with Firefox, Thunderbird, Peazip, FreeDownloadManager,OpenOffice 2.4, AviDemux, Audacity, CamStudio, Azureus, SUPER, VLC, Mplayer, etc.

Thanks to the Microsoft raids here in Mangalore, vendors of news PCs are installing Vista Starter Edition (original), Microsoft Office 30 day trial, and Open Office (OSS)!

A professor of mine consulted me and I ended up loading Ubuntu for him. He is very happy with the OS and is regretting buying Vista for Rs. 2000 (he was told Rs. 2000 worth OS or I'll give you accessories). The bottom line is he is new to computers and so does not find any difference between learning Vista or Ubuntu, they are equally difficult/easy for him

Linux adoption will take time, but adoption of OSS on windows is happening, and I am promoting that here too among windows addicts as I see it as a very important transition step. At least all your software, except the OS will be free and Open Source.

[unni]

Originally Posted by NucleusKore

OSS is already mainstream in windows, with Firefox, Thunderbird, Peazip, FreeDownloadManager,OpenOffice 2.4, AviDemux, Audacity, CamStudio, Azureus, SUPER, VLC, Mplayer, etc.

Thanks for telling me about AviDemux and CamStudio. I think Mediacoder can also be added to your list in the video category.