dacs.doc electric

 

Linux . . . the other desktop

By Don Pearson

 

Tux.Why do I want another desktop. Well I don’t like Windows; D0 you really like Windows? Anyway, we are here to talk about linux. For many systems administrators, linux is a great server; both in the corporate network and as a Web server. But we’re really interested in the desktop.

What is linux? It was written by Linus Torvalds. He would have liked to use Unix, but as a graduate student, he could not afford the operating system.

So he wrote Linux with the help of a lot of programmers on the Internet. That was in 1991.

It is now made available by a number companies that package it;and you say " I thought it was free!" It is--if you want to download it from the Internet yourself, Install it and then put all the pieces and packages together. Most of the packages cost ranging from the simple package for $29.99, to the pro package, for $89 ;to commercial packages for all of $150.

You’re used to a lot of things in Windows. "If I switch to linux, how will I learn to use all those programs all over again?" We’ll show you.

... This is just the first article, in a group of small articles, that we in the Advanced Operating Systems SIG are going to be writing, in the months ahead. Each of the articles, will show the many, many similarities between Windows and Linux and how easy it will be to get along, in the transfer. You Netscape users will be happy to know that a very good version of Netscape exists within the linux community. There is other browser support; one called “Opera” (which I think is an interesting name).

This article was written using IBM’s Via Voice dictation program, which is free, on the Linux platform. In future articles, we will be looking at the various packages that are availble and the strengths / weakness of each. Also, reviewing application packages, for example, Star Office, a FULL featured office program, (which has been put in the public domain by Sun Microsystems) and is transforming into "OpenOffice"; which brings up the whole subject of "open source"--which Gates & Co. thinks is "subversive."

'Till next time...


Don Pearson, CCP is leader of the Alternative Operating Systems SIG. He is a member of DACS from the beginning, and currently serves on the board.

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