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By Dan Lawrance

It's all very well dreaming of a world where Linux takes over Microsoft. But, it's not going to happen, at least not in the way most people here seem to think. Linux is a wonderful system, and I've been using it for more than 5 years. But, on my main machine, I have NT and Windows 98.

Why? Because I, like 100+ million others, like to play games, and use a decent word processor. Neither is possible under Linux, YET. I know about Wine, and the strides being made there, but what's the point of crowing about open standards and all the anti-Microsoft stuff we hear every day, when those same Open people have to then devote a huge amount of time duplicating and reverse-engineering what Microsoft have already done? DirectX is a fact of life, for instance, and it's going to take something a hell of a lot bigger than Linux to change that - and even if Linux had DirectX, it's never going to catch up to MS's implementation!

Linux has a place in the world, and that is not the place that MS currently has a huge hold in - the corporate market. I hope and pray Linux continues to grow and develop, but I can see the day when a company (Red Hat maybe) has to deliver a corporate-desktop standard of distribution, and in order to do that they will have to change the way it's developed and delivered - which is of course against everything Linux people stand for!

Linux must go its own way, and not try to ape MS. If the current development trends continue, we're going to end up with a cheap, tricky-to-install version of Windows 9x, although technically 'better' underneath. I think that would be a tremendous waste of what Linux could and can do.

It currently delivers a superb, and free, web-serving platform (with Apache), and a useful, free tool for students, hobbyists and programmers alike to have UNIX to play with, develop for and learn on.

It is also ideal for small and medium scale file-, print- and network service-serving, and that part of its market seems to be growing nicely. People aren't afraid of Linux any more, because they're seeing its name being mentioned in the press, and even distributions are apprearing on the front of popular magazines.

But what most people want is to be able to pop in a CD from the local store and play the latest games, and churn out their posters, letters, whatever, in a friendly and consistent way that they can swap stuff with their mates, use the latest hardware straight away and so on - and MS is the only system where that happens now. Live with it.

Linux does not have to attack MS, although it seems certain to need defence against MS. And hey, if MS has to change the way it does things to reflect a Linux-aware world, then great! Linus (Torvalds) won!

The world for Linux is a very different one than for MS. Concentrate on making Linux a bit easier, better at what it already does, and by all means widen what it can do - but don't get all uppity about what MS is or is not doing. Linux is better than that. Ignore Bill, stick to Linux.

Index Mode   |   Flat Mode   |   Thread Mode   |   Thread Flat     Talkback(s) Name  and Date   No apps for Linux...again...?    Steve Hall Nov 10, 1998, 12:06:44     Dan Lawrences Post    George Metz Jan 24, 1999, 18:20:58     ew, more fud....    Joel Stone Jan 6, 1999, 00:26:13     Paper clip = word processor?    Felix Finch Jan 28, 1999, 16:04:58     Linux can do different things for different people    Perry Piplani Dec 26, 1998, 18:47:41     From a certain point of view    Dennis Edmonds Dec 18, 1998, 09:13:08     Untrue    Sengan Jan 28, 1999, 16:08:24     Get with the 90's, dude    Tim Ellis Feb 3, 1999, 19:58:46     Non-geek Linux    Gareth Barnard Feb 3, 1999, 20:23:22     How do you spell W I N E ?    Richard Tilmann Nov 10, 1998, 12:53:12     Direct X and other stuff    Chia, Chin Yau Jan 22, 1999, 23:03:11     http://www.kmfms.com    jfm3 Nov 10, 1998, 13:41:19     small-medium scale?    Crowbar Nov 10, 1998, 14:02:02     Real focus ?    Prasad Samarajiva Feb 3, 1999, 10:14:58     Grand Vision.    Shane R. Stixrud Nov 10, 1998, 14:51:43     Beyond the IT Event Horizon    Simon James Nov 29, 1998, 20:11:38     I want only Linux    Corey Appleby Nov 10, 1998, 16:48:04     Why Linux will win    Henry Cross Jan 14, 1999, 20:28:33     Huh?    John Bell Feb 3, 1999, 19:14:03     Lack of foresight    Matthew Pavlovich Nov 10, 1998, 19:38:27     Huh? Dan, have you been asleep?    Jerry Kreps Jan 30, 1999, 12:28:20     Be greedy    Greg Mildenhall Jan 14, 1999, 02:10:18     FUD...    Eric Walker Nov 10, 1998, 23:27:14     Being a newcommer, I dont agree    Ludwin Fischer Nov 25, 1998, 10:09:53     Who's Dan Lawrence?    Victor McCoy Nov 11, 1998, 14:32:36     Maybe I can help you Mr. Lawrance...    Michel Dumais Nov 11, 1998, 13:34:54     Home | Search Talkbacks | Customize View    Top of Page   Enter your comments below: * Your Name: * Your Email Address: * Subject: CC: [will also send this talkback to an E-Mail address] * Comments: Tags allowed:<I>,<B> and <U>. See our talkback-policy for more about talkback content. Fields marked with * are required!