About Linux & Windows I

Windows, Linux (and Mac OS X).

All three of them found a home under the humble roof of our house.

(WARNING: I will not get deeply into Mac OS here. I don't use it frequently, my last real experience with Apple itself is ... dow... 8 years or so back. Linux distros and Windows will be the main candidates here.)

My girl friend has a Mac, I have a desktop computer running Win XP & (currently) Linux Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon as dual boot. I also have an old notebook with SUSE 7.1 running happily on it.

Every few years the Operating Systems war starts all over, with zealots for all of them eager to join their comrades in the trenches, not so eager to look beyond...

Joining one camp ain't that easy, as far as I am concerned. I mean, what do I care about market shares for Microsoft, Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu, Mandriva... and Apple?

Honestly, I'm driven by egoism: What can the different OS&distributions provide for me? How much must I invest?

So, trying to look calmly at the current situation: Where are we right now?

The open source and proprietary worlds got more mixed up during the last few years than many folks might realize.

I think a nice and entertaining approach to the subject would be to... fantasize a bit... Let me explain my view by creating some fictional characters here...

Walter Harris - Your typical Joe Average user

So Walter decided to buy himself a nice new desktop computer.

Walter mainly uses his computer to write emails to his friends, the occasional letter to the industry to complain about the rising prices of cat food.
Sometimes, after his usual eight hours work, he feels like being creative.
He might want to create a database of his whole stamp collection, perhaps edit some pictures.

And then there's this friend of his who just had a bachelor party and Walter wants to surprise him with the edited movie he shot.

On the side Walter enjoys the occasional game.

Walters company uses Windows. Hey, he even knows some hotkeys to save time!

These days - with some suppliers - he can save about fifty bucks NOT having Windows as a pre-installed system, but using a free Linux instead.

Well, Walters pay-check ain't that bad after all. So he decides to have the Windows XP or VISTA OS pre-installed, pays the extra fifty and gets his new beauty home.

Now, the barebones programs supplied with Windows aren't bad... But hardly ful-filling either. A very much down-graded office suite, a paint program even kids would laugh at... Video editing? Neat database?

A whole lot of extra bucks to spend for poor Walter, going down the Microsoft road.

Upgrading his OEM version, buying MS office suite...

So one day he grabs that copy of Linux Magazine, a neat up-to-date (mostly) free Linux distribution supplied on a shiny brand-new DVD!

Should he get rid of good ole Windows?

My answer would be a definite: NO!

All he is looking for is some free software. He can get his free office suite for Windows at OpenOffice.Org. [Edit: Also available for MAC... (see comments)]

There is a version of GIMP for Windows around for photo-editing.

Let's face it, many of the more commonly asked for open-source programs ARE now available for Windows!

The change certainly will be easier for him than to switch to Linux or Mac OS X.

And if he can afford the Windows Office or a better version of VISTA? Go for it! Work with the stuff you have known all your life. You don't need Linux. Don't even try it, you might be disappointed.

So Linux and Mac OS X have no crowd? Well, wait for my next example in another posting.