Business Administration Education Guide

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Microsoft may get bit by Linux


As always, this is written from the view as a consumer and not that of a computer knowledgeable geek. If I haven’t introduced my self-depicted title yet…



I’m SierraNightTide and I’m a geekhag. If you’re offended by that title, you’re
not a geek. But that’s okay, because this isn‘t about me, it about Linux finally receiving the recognition it deserves outside the technology consumer enhanced community. Brand loyalty is a cutthroat maneuver to ensure company’s products are seen, heard and bought and companies are finally listening to what customers want.

Unless you had your mouse pointing the wrong way and figured this out through Tech Support than I can safely assume you have at least heard of Linux.

Linux Summary.

Much like Linus from the comic strip Peanuts, Linus Torvalds, a Finland Unversity student created a simplified computer operating system based on Unix. With additional assistance from a variety of sources including Richard Stallman of The Free Software Foundation, he spent several weeks in his room and rarely leaving it (true fact) developing and fine-tuning the system. Linux is available for anyone to use, modify, and redistribute freely and many developers and programmers love it because they can go in and make changes more easily than with a commercial program such as Microsoft.

Note: Servers (Computers that share resources (applications, files, etc.) with other computers (ie, clients) on a network. )

It’s said that servers are where Linux has really shown their value. Large servers are expensive because that is where all of your information is held
. In other words if your computer crashes (dies) you still have recent copies of documents saved on the Server. For a small business or even a “work at home” entrepreneur the start up and set up costs is a mighty bite. Even though people have come to realize that they can use a spare desktop as a server, and have saved thousands and even millions, it’s a delicate system that only people who know what they’re doing (most of the time) should look at let alone make any changes.

I have no doubt that there are numerous additional reasons I could name why Linux is better, but I would need a IT Degree and about 300 hours of computer programming frustrations. What is happening though is that companies are now unfolding their arms in brat like fashion and realizing that people want Linux. Comparing Linux to Windows

Sun Microsystems gave in and offered single processor desktop computers a Linux OS back in 2003 and IBM made a huge investment i
nto Linux as well. Earlier this year Dell the No. 2 computer maker introduced IdeaStorm where customers told Dell what they want. The most popular customer offered request was that Dell should offer pre-installed Linux on their computers. So many people agreed and supported this idea that on March 28th Dell confirmed that they will offer the Linux OS option.

On DesktopLinux confirmed that Ubuntu 7.04 has been selected. New machines will start shipping by the end of May and will cost approximately $408 for an e-series box without a monitor. In addition, Four XPS (Xtreme Performance System) machines will also have the option of pre-installed Linux, as will three e-series laptops.

For the average consumer Linux is better because it is more stable, it requires less computer resources, is said to have more security in prevention of viruses and your computer is less likely to crash. All of which are common complaints among the average computer user.

What will be interesting to watch for is how will the competition respond? If you’re a geek or a geekhag like me how will Microsoft compete with Dell? Will Dell be a challenge and do any real damage to MS? Pre-installed Linux (and non-installed Windows) is going to hit them where the sun doesn’t shine. If Dell and Ubuntu can convince consumers that Open Office can be a ‘just as good’ substitute for MS Office, it can't be good for Microsoft.



Resistance Is Futile



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1 Comments:

At 8:02 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

Received email:
Cost: Linux is free. Can't really beat that, huh?

Support: Help documentation within the operating system, webpages dedicated to the O/S and programs that run on it, and lots of wikis and forums filled with helpful geeky techies, all dying to help you with your questions. Seriously. Some of them were once non-geeks like you!

Ease of use: As long as you stay on the graphical side of things (as opposed to typing text commands to do everything), everything's pretty much point, click, drag, drop, and so on. On my flavor of Linux (Ubuntu), it's very good about organizing my programs according to category automatically. Makes it easy to find what I'm looking for.

Flexiblity: If you're an artistic sort that loves to custom design your computer look, you'll love Linux. Especially Enlightenment. I was blown away by some of the screenshots I saw when I first found it... and that was over 10 years ago! Check these out to see what I mean. It will let you customize just about style="font-weight: bold;">everything in your operating system.

Configured out of the box: For the most part, Linux is pretty good about that... especially the latest version of Ubuntu. There have been times when I've been a bit frustrated with mine, but I've always been able to find some kind of solution on the forums.

Compatibility: You can actually run Windows programs (using 'wine') in Linux. However, all of the most frequently used applications in Windows have a Linux counterpart that works just the same (if not better) than the Windows one.

Stability: You will style="text-decoration: underline;">never see a Blue Screen Of Death in Linux. Seriously, Linux kicks ass in stability... if a program dies, it won't take down the whole O/S.

 

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