Sun in August joined IBM, HP and Dell in offering Linux as a server operating system. A month later, IBM expanded its prepackaged Linux server offerings. Even Apple computers can be purchased with Linux preinstalled. Clearly, the Linux bandwagon is gathering speed — Sun has said it anticipates a 30 percent annual growth rate — but where is it going? For the first time in years, Microsoft’s unassailable lead in computer operating systems is being challenged by manufacturers offering Linux software. Even a puny challenge is better than none. Read more at Economist.
The State of Linux in 2002
About The Author
Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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i am a regular desktop user of linux, and love it. i made the switch after getting sick of the endless blue screen of death and will never go back. i have crashed programs but have never crashed the entire operating system. i think the Mandrake install is easier then installing windows.
With Windows you have to go through at least 4 reboots before the OS is installed. With linux, it’s one. i think it is a long time off before Linux makes a run at the desktop market, but it has me. i will never go back to MicroSloths OS’s.
MS needs to offer a free box of crans with XP. it’s just too damn fruity and sloppy for me.
When will appear a review of UnitedLinux?
I need to read one!!!!
That’s _two_ reboots (one after the kernel build), unless you prefer to run the stock install kernel with 589 unnecessary drivers.
I don’t really see Linux as just a toy OS for geeks anymore, but not quite ready for prime time (Joe User) either .. it’s somewhere in between.
It would also seem as though Linux is forking a bit too. I mean, here you have companies like Lycoris, Lindows, Xandros, etc. adding their own little tweaks to the GUI interfaces so that one distro doesn’t exactly feel or look like another.
Since I have only tried Mandrake 9 so far, I don’t know how much different all of the distros really are, but I suspect that (if this isn’t happening already) in the future, using one distro will be an entirely different experience than using another. Of course, the commanline will probably be the same though, but the GUIs will take on a life all their own. This kind of thing could either encourage users to try them all and see which one they like best or just say fsck it because there are too many options.
Back in ’98 all the magazines were carrying articles about how Linux was now a “threat” to Microsoft, people might change to Linux in hordes now that it was “ready for the desktop”, etc. The only thing that has changed is that the thousands of people that had never tried Linux have now been replaced with thousands that have tried it and flatly refuse to use it. As these people reach adulthood and find their way into positions of responsibility they will oppose the use of Linux on servers etc just because of their earlier negative experiences on a desktop. Silly penguins, *nix are for kids.
Which magazines? And haven’t I heard the silly penguins line before?
Don´t lose your time.
I too have been using Linux on the desktop for years. It´s very good, to the point I´m now focusing other things (like apps, for instance).
Linux is gaining a lot of grown in the server market – a market where Microsoft ISN’T dominant. I think Linux is assaulting more UNIX than Windows.
So Linux is catching on with cash registries, IIRC, this is taking market from OS/2, DOS and a few other stuff, not entirely from Windows. Heck, I heard about people using OS X for their cash register 🙂
At the same time, Sun Microsystems said that it planned to offer Linux as part of its line of StarOffice programmes. Like Microsoft Windows, these cover word processing, spreadsheets and graphics.
Uhmmm, Sun’s StarOffice for Linux ISN’T new. Plus Windows isn’t the same as Office. It is mostly used hand in hand, but Office is also available for the Mac.
Unlike Windows, however, StarOffice is able to work not just on Sun’s own Solaris operating system but on Linux or Windows too.
So you want Windows to work on the Mac and Linux? Wow 🙂 IIRC, you can with Virtual PC, Win4Lin and other stuff. I think he meant Office, which is also available for the Mac.
Corel, a Canadian company which bought a word-processing programme called WordPerfect from Novell in 1996, has recently done deals with Hewlett-Packard (which is merging with Compaq) and Dell Computers. Both companies are to sell personal computers installed with WordPerfect as well as Corel’s Quattro Pro software for spreadsheets. Hewlett-Packard and Dell chose WordPerfect over Microsoft Works, a scaled-down version of Microsoft’s ubiquitous office software.
Accroading to all the analyst I have read about, this ISN’T a threat to Microsoft. Most of Office sales come from the corporate market, not OEM deals, and this doesn’t pose a threat to Microsoft dominance. Also, the money Microsoft makes from Works isn’t big enough to consider this as a threat.
Besides, Microsoft would also benefit from these major OEMs using WordPerfect instead of other things like Gobe Productive, or StarOffice. Unless you haven’t realize, Microsoft has an investment in Corel.
That is why Sun Microsystems is giving away thousands of copies of its software to schools throughout Europe and Africa.
IIRC, Sun donated StarOffice in Europe and Asia, but considering donating them to African schools. Unless you haven’t realize it, the economic growth in Africa is way below par compared to Asia and Europe.
Which means there is a bigger job market in Europe and Asia.
Sun’s generosity is finding favour with governments that are keen to avoid their domestic markets becoming ever more dependent on Microsoft and also want to help their own computer manufacturers become more competitive. China, for one, is watching the development of Linux with interest—as are politicians in Germany, where national and municipal offices are urged to use cheaper, open-source software.
Bad example given. China’s and Germany’s adoption of Linux has NOTHING to do with Sun’s generosity. It is also charging for their software for governments, only donating their software to schools.
I’m suprise, seing this is written by the Economist….
akira: i am a regular desktop user of linux, and love it. i made the switch after getting sick of the endless blue screen of death and will never go back.
I have been using Windows 2000 for two years now, and Windows XP for 6 months, never seen a blue screen of death in either OS except when I accidently knocked the main harddrive out of its IDE socket and that crashed Windows 2000.
Your comments makes as much sense as a BSD user saying it wouldn’t return to Linux because he once had problems with its VM….
But then again, if you are happy with Linux, USE IT. Use what’s makes your most productive and most cheerful.
akira: With Windows you have to go through at least 4 reboots before the OS is installed.
When I installed Windows 2000, I needed ONE reboot (never installed Windows XP). Sure, I reboot everytime I use Windows Update, but I normally hold off rebooting until I’m done with my work and when I off my system for the day.
akira: MS needs to offer a free box of crans with XP. it’s just too damn fruity and sloppy for me.
Funny. Cause I found Linux all this while more sloppy than Windows (that’s before new distributions coming out with GCC 3.x, for your information, and yes, i’m talking about speed).
Trix Rabbit: Back in ’98 all the magazines were carrying articles about how Linux was now a “threat” to Microsoft, people might change to Linux in hordes now that it was “ready for the desktop”
Those were back in the days of hype. Hype always happen. That happened for Linux on the desktop. Yet I haven’t read one, not even one, article from 1998 that says Linux for the desktop is ready.
Besides, most people are more pagmatic that you think they would be. A lot of people that got dissapointed with Linux on their desktops wouldn’ hold off using Linux on the server just because of some bad experience.
Besides, I really got to wonder…. if Linux on the desktop is doing so bad, why is it doing better in terms of market growth, than Mac OS X? And that’s with sales only, not the bunch of people that download it or bought a bunch of CD-Rs… Think about that, buddy.
Windows have proven to grow in the market you DON’T need something so super easy to use. Windows won because it ran of commodity hardware. Linux would win because it is commodity software on commodity hardware.