No – that's not a typo !! I'm referring to the Free Open-Source Software and not the practice of dental hygine. I began my journey into this strange world a month back, after starting to try out Ubuntu's Hardy Heron Linux distro on my laptop.
Well, so far, my experience has been positive. While I admit that mine is not a full blown Linux installation since it is running as a loop-mounted device, it did offer me ample scope to get a feel of the new OS before taking the plunge into a full-blown installation. Overall, I feel Linux is a worthy alternative to users who are looking to break away from Windows and cannot afford, or do not prefer, the Mac OS X.
The first and foremost thing I noticed is how much a linux installation has improved. When I had last attempted to install Linux around 4 years back, I was so frustrated at making things work that I had to finally abandon the attempt. With Linux distros floating around today, you get Live Cds, Wubi, USB installation and what not. I feel this will go a long way towards easing newbie worries. Further, the installation went off remarkably smoothly. Everything on my machine was detected out of the box. There was some minor tweaking required to get the OS to run like I wanted, but it didn't amount to more than a couple of hours.
As regards the stability of the system, I have not expirienced any major crashes with Gnome, although KDE (the Kubuntu version) did cause me some headaches. Further, it follows the repeatibility rule – every operation if repeated in the same circumstance yields the same result. Always. This is not the case with Windows. For example, for no apparent reason, Vista sometimes refuses to connect to my router.
Linux security is not even comparable with Windows. Running without any explicit firewall or anti-virus protection, my system has been doing fine – no hacks encountered. Further, because of the lack of these resource-intensive programs, my mid-range laptop positively flies !! From what I have read, viruses on Linux only exist as proof-of-concept, since the user-access-based security makes it really difficult to gain control of the vital resources of the system via a virus.
As a developer, I feel it is of the utmost importance that Linux ships with almost all the necessary compilers for C++, Java etc. This is one of the pillars of FOSS, since it allows the user to look at what lies beneath the hood and make changes if required. It allows a developer like me to be productive. Given the tools, most people will put them to use. I feel this is one of the major drawbacks with Windows – users are assumed to be too lame to take matters into their own hands.
The eye-candy is amazing as well. The effects available with Compiz and emerald far outstrip the default ones provided by Windows Vista – all at a much lower hardware cost. While I use Gnome, I've seen KDE offer even more eye-candy. Besides, there are different types of desktop managers – Xfce, KDE, Gnome, etc, which allow the user to choose the desktop as per the hardware configuration and their preference.
I've heard complaints that Linux doesn't offer the same variety of programs that Windows does. I think that's a load of hogwash. Linux doesn't offer the same programs – what it does is offer the user a much larger variety of open source programs which are more elegant and get the tasks done in a better manner than the windows programs that people are used to. Sure, there is a learning curve, but believe me, it's worth it.
Linux makes people think. It makes people use the command line, edit hitherto unheard of configuration files and understand almost all the principles of computer science. It teaches the user to be unafraid of crashing the system and returns control of the relationship between a user and the computer to the user.
Finally, Linux is free. Free as in beer and free as in freedom. I believe this is a HUGE motivation to most users. Imagine a system which is better than everything Mr Gates has to offer, at zero cost to the user. I agree that there might be many who may not like Linux. However, what nobody can deny is that Linux has given the user a choice where none existed before. Ultimately, the user can decide what OS to use. To quote HP, it has made the computer personal again.
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