Linked by Mystilleef on Mon 29th Sep 2003 06:30 UTC
Linux will become ubiquitous in the year 3000. Okay, that was a horrible joke. Linux is just a kernel, the engine that runs an operating system. By itself, it is essentially useless. Kernels shouldn't be discussed or noticed by normal users. And as such when providing these users with reviews, previews and "professional" opinions, computer consultants, computer reviewers and computer journalists should not spew headlines like "Linux is not ready for prime time", "Linux on the desktop by XXX", "Linux to takeover Windows", "Linux is not ready for desktop" and so on.
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I'm a 4th year computer student. I did 1st and 2nd year of my course 6 years ago, took a few years out and now I'm back finishing my degree. In 1995 when I started here all the computers were running Windows 3.11 but we used DOS for all our projects. In 1996-97 the college started to upgrade to Windows 95. Nobody really knew that much about Linux. It was in no way part of the course.
Last year, in contrast, about 70% of our 3rd year projects incorporated Linux. Now in 4th year (IT management degree) Linux is a major part of the course. To my knowledge it didn't feature here until 2000.
What am I talking about? Basically it comes down to this. The kids that were leaving college in Ireland in 1997 were likely going to work on Windows systems. If they were working as IT Managers or System Admin people and were responsible for installing systems, they were likely going to install what they knew... Windows.
The 54 guys and girls in my class are going to think twice. Perhaps 70% of them will install Linux if given the choice. Let's give it a few more years and see how much Windows stuff they do when my brother is doing his degree in a few years.
I would disagree with the author that Linux is just the kernel. Linux is an OS. Regardless of how a technically minded person might want to view the use of a word the fact remains that a Linux distro is an Operating System not just a kernel.
Linux is not the greatest OS ever. And something better will come along. But at the moment it is the only alternative to Windows. It's free to nerds, but to the average user it costs more than Windows. Why? Windows comes free with their new computer (as they see it, go on ask average users). Linux costs them about $69 for a boxed distro. Come on, you don't expect the average user to download three 650Mb ISOs and burn them onto CD. Linux will have to get onto hard drives of new Dells, not just $199 cheap machines. If it wants to crack the desktop market. This will happen.
Anyway my original point should have been simple, and I could have just said: As college kids start to get educated on Linux as well as Windows, graduates will make their choice. While this may only be the case for computer students, it is fair to say that computer students can play a part in effecting the industry. A lot can change in 5 or 6 years.