Raiden's Realm: Linux is ..... amazing

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Linux is ..... amazing (Page 1 of 1)

Written by Dave Blythin
Posted on: Jul 01, 2009 at 02:03pm
Section: Editorials
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All too often people concentrate on what Linux isn't .... they look for anything lacking and make a huge big deal about it, and in doing so miss the simple fact that Linux - this little community project (when compared to big dollar proprietary software) - can so so much.

Linux is on about half of all the servers in the world, most of the super-computers, and zillions of mobile devices, and 1-5% of all other PCs (depending on who you listen to). Not bad for something that (if you listen to the FUD) was developed by the famous 2 men and a dog in someone's basement.

"You shouldn't use Linux because there's such a small market nobody will develop any apps for it" .....except they did! There's not many things you can't do on Linux, there are thousands of applications - not just micky mouse apps, but good, solid applications that are the match for any high-priced proprietary apps.

"Chances are Linux won't work on your PC because there's no drivers" ..... except it does work, on the vast majority of machines. Think about that for a minute. There are gazillions of possible combinations of hardware out there - and despite the fact that the manufacturers keep the drivers under lock-and-key, Linux will run on most of them. That is amazing.

"If you install Linux on your PC you are on your own - there's no support" ..... yeah right. Setting aside for the moment that you can BUY support from Novell or Red Hat (and get better support for less money than you can get from the other guy), there are literally thousands of groups and forums who will be more than happy to help out. The fact is there is BETTER support for Linux than there is for (no names).

"Nobody uses Linux". ...... well, not quite. Sure we are a small minority but we are growing - FAST. And if we can get this far with so few people, what is going to happen when (not if) we get to be 10% of users, or 20%. Every day more people get interested, more manufacturers realise it's in their best interest to contribute drivers, more software companies realise there's a market for their software running on Linux ...... and every day Linux becomes a better alternative to ..... the alternatives.

Maybe amazing isn't the right word. Miraculous is going a bit far, so I'll stay with amazing for now.

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