WHY
LINUX?
Why to go for Linux operating
system
Surely you have heard about Linux. Anyone who has anything to do with
computing, or is interested in contemporary events would have. You would even
know that Linux had its beginnings in the efforts of a
So again, what’s Linux? Is it any different from other operating systems? And
more importantly, what is it about Linux that’s making it so popular and making
it grow so fast?
Many are apt to say, without thinking twice, that the increasing acceptance
of Linux is because it doesn’t cost you much. Sure! The fact that Linux is free
has made it easier to distribute—like we do every year. But that’s hardly the
prime reason for its success. Let’s take an example. There are a million free
mail newsletters out there. Do you subscribe to all of them just because they
are free? A good number of free newsletters, printed on high-quality paper in
attractive colors would be arriving on your desk every month. How many of them
do you even bother to flip through? Obviously, the cost has nothing to do much
with the Linux momentum that we are witnessing today.
To understand Linux’s success, first we need to understand the Linux model of
operation, and how it has evolved.
First, there’s no single owner for Linux. Linux is the combined effort of
many a thousand programmers. But then so is Windows, and NetWare, and Mac OS and
The second cornerstone of the Linux effort has been the peer review, that not
only the software but the source code itself is subjected to. It’s one thing to
put out betas for evaluation and feedback. It’s an altogether different ball
game to put the code itself out for evaluation and correction. Companies
regularly put out early versions of their binaries as betas for feedback (and of
course, for the publicity). The feedback, in this case, is at best limited to
what problems were encountered.
In the case of Open Source software, the feedback doesn’t end there. It goes beyond, to improve the code, as the reviewer has access to the original code and can work on actually improving the software. The starkest example of this is perhaps the Mozilla effort of Netscape. For those who don’t already know the story, Netscape opened up the source code of Navigator in March, 2000. One of the objectives of this opening up was to refine the layout engine (the part of the software that actually renders in the browser the text and graphics that you see in a Web page) of Communicator 4, and then develop a new layout engine. The end result was not quite what Netscape had expected. Halfway through, the "volunteer developers" had abandoned the revision effort, and instead came up with Gecko, a smarter, compact layout engine. Shocking? Before you pass harsh judgment, think of the advantages you get as the user—a better, smarter, more compact product.
Third comes documentation.
Linux’s documentation—the HOW-TOs as they are called — is some of the most
extensive hands-on guide that you can get. It literally guides you through the
full process—right from a simple install, all the way to adding the most
esoteric of peripherals and functions. And the documentation comes in multiple
languages. Again, documentation is more often than not done by someone other
than the programmer, and you can be assured that it’s well readable.
Fourth, Linux is customizable like no other software. Not only that, you can
pick and choose what you want, and use just what you want. You want to run it
off a floppy with just network support? You can have that. There are many single
floppy distributions out there including the Linux Router Project. Want to run a
fully configured enterprise server with RAID and high-bandwidth Internet gateway
and firewalls? Take any good distribution of Linux. Want a supercomputer running
Linux? BeauWolf will give you that too.
Fifth is support. One of the stated plus points of commercial software is
that there’s a structured support program that you can avail of. But reality is
often different. Those of you who have had occasion to ask for help would know
that often it’s not from the structured support programs, but from
non-structured ones like user groups and Internet news groups that you get more
precise and faster help.
The informal channels of Linux support have now matured to such an extent
that these days many magazine have started the best support award to the Linux
user groups. For last one year or so, the Linux-India news group
<Linux-india@grandtedon.cs.uiuc. edu> and various city user groups like
those in Bangalore, Delhi, Cochin, Chennai, etc, have been instrumental in
providing support to many users in the country, both individual and corporate.
The advantage of such a support system is that your question goes out not to one
or even twenty support technicians, but to hundreds or even thousands of users.
Chances that at least one of them has actually encountered and overcome the
situation, and is willing to share the solution with you are extremely high.
Sixth, Linux doesn’t need the latest, fastest, hardware to run on. Hardware
that you brought last year or may be the year before, and are now in the process
of replacing can happily run Linux. Your ancient 386 and 486 can become routers
on your network. The Pentium 100 that you are about to junk could perhaps become
your mail server. So, especially if you are on a tight budget — and who is not
these days (specially students) — you should be taking a look at Linux, like a
lot of corporations are doing.
And last but not the least; because it’s free, it gets into schools, colleges and universities, into the hands of a generation that’s eager to experiment. And some of you, gentle readers, are possibly amongst those students of yesterday who already have a few machines up with Linux, running critical functions.