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.