As a kid I hated mayonnaise and tomatoes. When I was eighteen I decided to
break this habit, so I went to the refrigerator, cut a big, juicy garden tomato
in half, heaped a huge spoonful of mayonnaise on it and put the whole thing in
my mouth. After chewing and swallowing every last bit of this juicy construction,
I realized that it wasn’t that bad. Ever since then, I’ve liked mayonnaise
and tomatoes.
And so it is with most things in life, even Linux. As a Web developer, I have
always avoided Linux as something that would “probably cost more time than
good it would bring” - in any case, learning Linux is a long-term investment
for anybody.
Learning Linux will eat hours of your time
Make no mistake. If you are an average Windows-user today with no knowledge
of Linux or UNIX, there is no way you can pick up a copy of Linux on the way home,
install it in an evening and be using it productively the next day I tried this
and here is what happened:
After installing Suse Linux 7.0, I booted the computer and it said “LI”
on the screen and then hung. No Linux, no Windows. Nothing. Five panic-filled
hours later, I finally had Windows back (clobbering Linux out of the Master Boot
Record with a handy DOS FDISK command). Three more days of e-mailing Suse support
and editing cryptic configuration files got me to the point where I can boot Linux
and Windows ME successfully on the same machine.
Even after multiple installs and deinstalls, Sun’s Star Office 5.2 started
with an “unrecoverable error” and then shut itself down. To get it to
work, I had to completely reinstall Linux.
It took 5 days of e-mailing Suse-support and editing config files to get Linux
to recognize my ISDN card and go online.
Using Netscape 4.7 for Linux is like taking a trip back in Internet time to
1994: it’s painfully slow, renders tables incorrectly and displays ugly,
non-anti-aliased text in Times Roman 4 to 6 so that you can barely read it. I’m
currently looking around for a better Linux browser (Opera?).
When I tried to print text files from the Linux prompt to my HP Deskjet 890C
printer, I got pages full of cryptic printer codes. In other programs it printed
text pages one pixel row at a time, completing a full page every 12 minutes (!).
I had to try over 15 different settings before the printer finally printed correctly.
Trying to install my WACOM Art Pen led me to semi-secret cadres of Linux programmers
“working on WACOM drivers” and writing instructions which you cannot
understand because they assume you are a Linux expert. I finally gave up trying
to install my Art Pen and am waiting for WACOM to finally just write a driver
that works for it.
I still need to install my HP Scanner, Phillips Web Cam and Fast Clip Master
Video Digitizer. I expect these to be near impossible tasks which will consume
days and weeks of my time.
But Linux has momentum
However, to appreciate what Linux is, all this difficulty needs to be understood
in terms of Linux’s recent growth. In the last two years, I have seen Linux
make tremendous jumps in usability:
In December 1998, I tried to installed a Red Hat version but could not even
get it up to the text login prompt.
In November 1999 I tried Suse Linux 6.1, had to create a messy “swap partition”
among other technical hurdles, but got it up to the text login prompt and was
able to log into Linux for the first time.
In March 2000, I installed Suse Linux 6.4 with 6 easy CDs, it automatically
installed all partitions, recognized my mouse and automatically displayed a Windows-like
desktop.
In October 2000 I installed Suse Linux 7.0 with one DVD disk, it automatically
recognized my mouse, sound card, graphics card, and after two weeks of the configuring
described above, I have a usable system which for the first time compares to a
Windows system. Quite an awesome two-year catch-up record!
Linux as up-and-coming graphic based desktop PC system
So far I have referred to “Linux” as a graphics based operating system
for use as a personal desktop home PC. This is something that Linus Torvalds never
intended it to be and something which Linux has been forced to be only in the
last couple years. As a graphics desktop operating system, this “Linux”
is actually a constellation of dozens of pieces of software and hardware components
interacting together, all made by various companies or individuals. The disadvantage
that Linux has now is that many companies (WACOM) have simply not had time or
have not realized the market yet enough to create Linux drivers for their products.
Give these companies a couple years to catch up and most of the problems I had
with my Suse Linux 7.0 installation will vanish.
Linux as stable network server
Although Linux will eventually be a viable alternative to Windows as a PC desktop
operating system, its power lies in that it is a stable, text-based Web server,
file server and print server. Where Windows has simply added networking capability
to a single-PC core, Linux is based on UNIX and is hence at its core a networking
operating system. It does not have the .dll-conflict problems of Windows and it
has an open text-based configuration architecture where Windows is hidden in proprietary
code.
Linux is cost-effective
As soon as Linux hits a critical point of acceptance and standardization, its
cost-effectiveness and scalability should make it irresistible to wide sections
of the corporate community (e.g. companies who want to buy one $60 CD and install
it on 100 or 1000 or 10,000 of their computers at no extra cost). The cost of
hiring a team of Linux experts will be small in comparison to the license fees
that companies would otherwise pay to Microsoft. Costs of upgrading and scalability
will be negligible in comparison.
Learn to like Linux now
As a 21st century Web developer, you need to become familiar with Linux at
some level. Linux is very different than Windows and will burn away many of your
learning hours before you are productive with it. Yet Linux’s growth shows
that it is on the way to becoming both the front and back office operating system
of choice for many businesses, organizations, schools and individuals in the 21st
century. If you are still a Windows-only Web developer, learn to like Linux now.
You may actually like what you’re missing!
