Linux on the Desktop - Part 1

The introduction of the new version of Microsoft Office has me thinking a lot about Linux for my desktop. Microsoft has performed many technical fetes in their software. Many of the features in Windows XP and Office are impressive and many are even intuitive and easy to use. However, many features are not intuitive or easy and worse yet impose decisions upon the user and at times border on harassment. We all have our favorite examples of Windows/Office frustrations and I won't bore you with mine. Microsoft is taking security issues seriously but I believe that they believe that the answer to achieving better security is to make the world "windows everywhere". I feel the noose tightening. One path to freedom is Linux. More and more servers at the world's e-businesses are running Linux and the open source community continues to make major progress on scaleability, reliability, and manageability. The desktop is another story. Microsoft dominates the desktop more strongly than any product in any market that I am aware of. I decided to begin the journey toward Linux for my desktop, to learn more about Linux, and see how far I can get. I'll be writing about my experiences here on patrickWeb. At IBM, there are thousands of desktop Linux users, but I would have to say that they are not average users by any means. I have confidence in the future of desktop Linux, but I do have some questinos and I intend to explore them -- and also learn from the experience of others. (read more).

Personal Computing October 29, 2003 10:20 PM